Step into the shoes of a Chicago Police Officer, and accompany him as he embarks on his career in the fall of 1986. See what cops really do and say when there are no cameras rolling. and relive the author's experiences, from recruit training through his years as a Patrolman and Tactical Officer working the South and West Side of Chicago, as well as the city's notorious Public Housing Projects. See the world through his eyes and experience the highs as well as the lows, culminating in the high-speed pursuit and the horrific crash that ultimately ends his police career. This riveting and insightful account covers a wide range of real life situations and events, and offers a rare glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, and takes us into the squad car, inside the police station, and into the officer's mind. This book is about Chicago's Blue Shirts, as they fight crime, as well as the trickle-down stupidity of the bureaucracy. As one old-timer put it succinctly, this job consists of three equal parts: "Wit, Grit, and Bullshit." The author also addresses the difficulties experienced by Officers who have been catastrophically injured in the line of duty: "We find ourselves in a particularly difficult position. With our careers - and the sum of our accomplishments - frozen in time, we are neither here nor there... We dwell on memories of events that our comrades have long since left behind, or would just as soon forget altogether. Like the Department and the City, they have moved on, for better or for worse."
About the Author: The author was born and raised in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and emigrated to the U.S. in 1972, and settled in Chicago in 1973. He received a graduate degree from the University of Chicago (MA '79), and joined the Chicago Police Department in 1986, and later also worked part-time for the University of Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Housing Authority. The author worked the streets of Chicago as a Patrolman, Tactical Officer and Field Training Officer until 1997, when he was catastrophically injured in the line of duty, suffering numerous fractures, a collapsed lung, and a torn Aorta, which ultimately left him paralyzed, legally blind, and partially deaf. He has gone through numerous surgeries since, and continues to battle recurring infections and complications. It was during the darkest days of his recovery, after six weeks in a coma, that he had to reconstruct his memory of the preceding ten years. It was then that the foundations for this book were laid, long before he gained access to the special computer software that would enable him to put the first word on paper. All in all, it took thirteen long years to complete this book. The author now resides in a Chicago suburb with his teenage daughter, and remains active as a Survivor, spreading the gospel of Officer Safety to police recruits before they hit the street...