Mike Powell’s blood and guts stories go far beyond his days working as a plainclothes officer in one of LAPD’s Zebra Units—a unit tasked with tracking down violent criminals in South Central L. A. “Shootin’ Newton” was notorious for its many police shootings including the Black Panther and Symbionese Liberation Army shootouts. Two of Mike’s four shootings occurred in Newton.

You know I never saw an officer, an EMT, a fireman, or an ER crew ask anyone what their politics were and then refuse to care for them because of their answer. The color of skin pigment, the last name, the amount of money in a bank account, none of that mattered. All that mattered was someone needed help, and they had the skills as well as the burning desire to do so. Yes, they are only human and internally flawed and prejudiced as any other. But their true nature, their crowning glory in mortal life, is their ability to rise above those flaws and prejudices when called upon. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to patrol the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood? Or to work South-Central Los Angeles during the gang wars of the 1980s? Ride along with Cliff Yates, a real deputy who worked the streets from upstate New York to Los Angeles. Cliff worked for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for 30 years. There is the television show Deputy, and there is the real thing. There are shootings, chases, and laughter is these true stories by a real cop.

From Portland to Pakistan, Colombia to the Caribbean, Fredericks was working hard and playing harder, ripping and running, buying drugs undercover, driving fast cars, arresting felons and fugitives, busting redneck meth labs in remote Oregon sites, raiding clandestine cocaine labs in dense Colombian jungles, training with US Army special forces, investigating heroin traffickers in Pakistan, and working internationally to dismantle worldwide drug distribution organizations.

Cloyd Steiger worked the streets of Seattle as a homicide detective for 22 years of his 36-year career. During that time he worked some of the most notorious murders in Seattle, including serial murderers, domestic terrorists, and psychotic killers. In his true crime memoir, Homicide: The View from Inside the Yellow Tape, he describes some of the most interesting murders he's worked on. Often shocking, often inane, and surprisingly funny, it's a view you won't see on the evening news.

Sarge! is a fascinating memoir by the late Chicago Police Detective Sergeant John A. DiMaggio, one of the most decorated officers on the force during a career that spanned the years 1957 to 1991. Told in a conversational, “regular guy” voice in episodic fashion, Sarge! reveals to the listener what it was really like to be a cop. 

Randall Stevens, at 20 years old in 1966, was a wide-eyed, naive boy still a year away from being able to claim adulthood at that magic age of 21. Having come up with the idea to join one of the best state police organizations in the nation, he began the journey to become a Massachusetts State Police Trooper.

Six thousand New Yorkers shot and 2,000 killed each year. This was the way of life in New York City during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Having worked in Southeast Queens during the crack era, George Norris witnessed firsthand the decay brought to the community. NYPD True is told through a series of anecdotes and short stories, ranging from comical to dangerous. This autobiography combines the history of the Southeast Queens crack trade, the NYPD, and war stories from one of the NYPD’s most decorated officers.

For decades, Trooper Steve Raabe patrolled some of the most desolate and dangerous highways in America. Alone in the remote Nevada desert, miles from any backup, Raabe was forced to contend with murderers, thieves, perverts, dope peddlers, and the occasional runaway train. While often tragic and terrifying, Raabe's true tales also abound with his signature wit and playful good cheer. Policing can be a deadly serious business, but for Raabe it also entailed buying a prisoner an ice cream cone on a hot summer day, as you'll discover in Patrolling the Heart of the West. 

For 20 years, gang unit detectives Tim Brennan and Robert Ladd patrolled the streets of Compton. They witnessed the birth and rise of gangsta rap with acts they knew personally, such as N.W.A and D.J. Quik; dealt firsthand with the chaos of the L.A. riots, its aftermath, and the gang truce that followed; were involved in the investigations of the murders of hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and were major players in an all-out tug-of-war with City Hall that ultimately resulted in the permanent shut-down of the Compton Police Department.