Texas Rangers

Police-Writers.com is a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books. The website added the first two Texas Rangers to the nearly 500 state and local police officers who have written books.

According to the official history of the Texas Rangers, “The Texas Rangers are the oldest law enforcement organization on the North American continent with statewide jurisdiction. On August 10, 1935, when the Texas Legislature created the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers and the Texas Highway Patrol became members of this agency, with statewide law enforcement jurisdiction. The true modern-day Ranger came into being on September 1, 1935.”

Joaquin Jackson, a Texas Ranger, wrote about his career and the history of the Texas Rangers in his book One Ranger a Memoir. According to David Marion Wilkinson, “Jackson's tenure in the Texas Rangers began when older Rangers still believed that law need not get in the way of maintaining order, and concluded as younger Rangers were turning to computer technology to help solve crimes. Though he insists, "I am only one Ranger. There was only one story that belonged to me," his story is part of the larger story of the Texas Rangers becoming a modern law enforcement agency that serves all the people of the state. It's a story that's as interesting as any of the legends. And yet, Jackson's story confirms the legends, too. With just over a hundred Texas Rangers to cover a state with 267,399 square miles, any one may become the one Ranger who, like Joaquin Jackson in Zavala County in 1972, stops one riot.”

Born in Lorena, Texas, in 1914, Lewis C. Rigler attended Texas A&M University. He entered Texas Ranger service as a member of Dallas-based Company B, and retired in 1977. He is an investment consultant and owner of a bail-bond business. His book, In the Line of Duty, tells the story of his life and service as a Texas Ranger.

According to one Amazon reader/reviewer, “Lewis Rigler gives the reader insight into his life and experiences as a transition-era Texas Ranger. His was a time between the saddle-bound frontier types and the higher tech crime solving Rangers of today. The writing is clear and poignant with no apologies for the more primitive, yet more effective methods of crime fighting used by the Rangers of the previous generation. A devout Christian, Ranger Lewis Rigler acknowledges that he was somewhat atypical in appearance and demeanor, but no less effective in pursuing those on the wrong side of the law. An intriguing and satisfying read.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 469 police officers (representing 198 police departments) and their 976 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.