NYPD : A City and Its Police

by Reppetto, Thomas; Lardner, James

• ISBN13: 9780805055788
• ISBN10: 0805055789
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-23
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Summary

An insider takes us behind the blue wall of America's biggest, baddest police force Founded in 1845, the NYPD is the biggest municipal police force in the world, the oldest in the land, and the model on which the others-for better or worse-have patterned themselves. The authors-two seasoned experts of police operations-unearth the hidden truths behind the headline-making stories and explain how cops privately interpret incidents such as the shooting of Amadou Diallo and the Louima torture case. Episodes long forgotten-the campaign against German saboteurs in WWI, or the career of Joe Petrosino, the first Italian American in the ranks, who was gunned down in the streets of Palermo, Sicily-reveal an organization constantly fraught with turmoil, where an outward display of law and order belies the inner conflicts between politicos, bureaucrats, and the men and women on the beat. Beyond the inner life of a remarkable institution are the characters and stories, including baffling mysteries, horrific crimes, inspiring heroics, and dreadful scandals. NYPD illuminates the old maxim of the vet to the rookie on his first night on patrol: "Forget everything you learned in the academy, kid."Timely and sure to be controversial, NYPD will be essential reading for anyone interested in law enforcement in America.

Author Biography

Thomas Reppetto is a former Chicago Commander of Detectives and has been the President of New York City's Citizens Crime Commission for twenty years. James Lardner, a writer for The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly, has written cover pieces for The New York Times Magazine (including one on the NYPD). He is the author of Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese and the VCR Wars and Crusader: The Hell-Raising Police Career of Detective David Durk.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Ghosts on Patrol	ix
A Cry from the Bottom of the Hudson	3	(21)
``I Might as Well Carry a Club''	24	(26)
The Finest	50	(22)
The Great Detective	72	(18)
``Down with the Police''	90	(18)
The Glorious Retreat	108	(17)
``So Many Races Up Against You''	125	(21)
``Just a Little Lieutenant''	146	(23)
The NYPD Goes to War	169	(22)
Shoofly	191	(22)
The Celebrity Cops	213	(27)
Battle in the Lead	240	(21)
On the Pad	261	(14)
Twenty and Out	275	(17)
``Dave, Do Something!''	292	(21)
The Rediscovery of Crime	313	(22)
A Note on Place-Names	335	(2)
Sources	337	(12)
Acknowledgments	349	(2)
Index	351