Over 800 Cop Books

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books surpassed 800 books written by police officers with the addition of Joseph C. Hoffman, John Manca, William (Bill) H. Lippert, John Anderson and Alan Burton.

Joseph Hoffman was New York City’s First Deputy Police Commissioner in the first administration of Mayor Edward I. Koch. He served in all ranks, from patrol officer to deputy chief during his 29 year career with the New York Police Department. Post NYPD, Mayor Koch asked him to serve as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. He has written to police procedurals, Acts and Omissions, and The Last Mayor.

According to the Acts and Omissions book description, “The investigation of the killings takes some strange turns and hits some unexpected detours, creating serious personal and political implications for McCabe and Russo. The Chief Medical Examiner will raise some forensic questions, the Bronx chapter of the Genovese mob will get some unwelcome scrutiny; and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York will eagerly jump into the investigation when some surprising, almost inconceivable conspiracies emerge.”

According to Publisher’s Weekly, Tin for Sale “rather than glamorizing Mafia figures, lays to rest the myths of the quintessential loving, cohesive and protective Italian-American family on the fringes of New York City organized crime. John Manca grew up in a home presided over by a brutal grandfather--one of Lucky Luciano's boys--who beat him regularly while his parents sat by, not daring to interfere. In due course John Manca became a police officer and within a few weeks began using his badge as a way to steal, cheat and extort, which he portrays as standard practice in the New York Police Department of 1954-1963. Dismissed from the force, he worked all sorts of scams as "half a wiseguy," allied with but not a member of the Cosa Nostra. Eventually he was imprisoned, then put in the Federal Witness Protection Program.”

William Lippert retired as police detective from the Salinas Police Department (California) after 35 years of public service. Bill specialized in latent fingerprint identifications while working major crime investigations. Through his studies, training and experience Bill became an expert as a latent fingerprint examiner and has testified as an expert witness in various cities in California. He also possesses a lifetime teaching credential in the field of police science and has taught College, police academy and in service law enforcement training classes. He is also an accredited member of the American Federation of Police.

His book, Forensic Justice, is a series true case files in the form of short stories. According to the book description, “Shocking revelations are reflected in this book describing abuse of victims by their attackers. The purpose of these descriptions are not meant to be entertaining but rather a wake-up call so we may become aware of the dangers that face our society. Awareness hopefully will motivate us to take precautions against becoming victims of such heinous crimes.”

John Anderson retired as a chief with the California Highway Patrol. His book, The Newhall Incident: America’s Worst Uniformed Cop Massacre, recounts the shooting deaths on April 5, 1970, of four California Highway Patrol Officers. This incident is probably used as a field tactics training exercise or lecture in every American police academy. According to the back cover of the book, “Shortly after the tragedy, Anderson interviewed the victims’ families and the on surviving killer and conducted extensive research on both killers’ backgrounds. He wrote this frighteningly true, Capote-esque account but held off publishing it for over two decades to give the children of slain officers time to grow to adulthood.”

Alan Burton's first book was published while he was a student at the FBI National Academy.. He served 25 years in the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office (California). He retired as a captain. According to one biography he has published 18 books. However, we have located nine books, seven of which are academic works centered on police department communications. As an example, he wrote Police Communications Guide: For Managers in 1984.

Alan Burton has published as least two novels Terrorist and Duty!: A Cop’s Story. Duty follows the career of a fictional officer from his first day to running for election as County Sheriff. According to one reviewer, “I have been a law enforcement professional for nearly 10 years and this novel is full of stories that could have only been written by a cop. The story follows a young deputy through out his career and into the stresses of the job. Many pages in this book had me laughing (out loud) and shaking my head when I recalled similar incidents.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 364 police officers (representing 152 police departments) and their 807 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.