What Cops Know: Cops Talk about What They Do, How They Do It, and What It Does to Them

Fletcher, who teaches journalism at Loyola University (and whose sister is a police officer), here interviews 125 Chicago cops about such topics as working on the street; crimes involving violence, property, sex, narcotics; organized crime. Readers learn that one of the most difficult jobs in law enforcement is raiding the quarters of drug dealers, that even hardened veterans have a rough time restraining themselves when arresting child molesters, that the Mafia is now branching out into supplying body parts for transplant surgery. The police officers are forthright, the narrative seamless as the author makes her case that ``what cops know isn't scientific, quantifiable, or statistical knowledge,'' but that they are ``privy to special knowledge.'' (Jan.)