Boot: An L.A.P.D. Officer's Rookie Year

In the post-Rodney King era, the LAPD is still cleaning up its image, and this account of a cop's first year in the City of Angels could contribute to achieving that goal. Dunn joined the force in 1990 and was assigned to the Southwest division, one of the city's hot spots, with 25 identified gangs, whose membership numbered in the thousands, and double the city's felony-arrest average. In the course of the book, it becomes clear that the average L.A. cop is not a sadist or a racist but a conscientious worker mindful that, even in a high-crime area, the majority of residents are poor people trying to live within the law and avoid being killed by the warfare in their streets. Not that Dunn doesn't encounter oddball and embittered colleagues, but he also finds many who want to protect and serve. Among the cases he deals with are petty crimes committed by teen boys and girls without hopes and dreams, plenty of not-overly-bright burglars and muggers and some very hard types. Dunn ends on a high note with an account of an unusually vicious murderer put away for life. An effective, forceful report. (Nov.)