Customer Reviews

Armed and Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the most realistic account of policing in Chicago that I've ever read. I'm a Chicago Police Officer and can attest to the authenticity of the descriptions contained in this book. Gallo doesn't sugar-coat anything--she describes the Academy like it was, uses language true to policing, and hits it on the head with her definition of "game face". Mostly though, she nails the descriptions of the bosses--from the superintendent through the street sergeant--right on the head. It's exactly what the "real police" think, but can't say, because they would be buried in the Duece on midnights if they did. Thanks, Gina. I hope all the bosses read it and cringe when they recognize themselves! I know I can put names to many current and former P.O.'s from your vivid descriptions. Nice to see the deserving squirm a bit. Assuming they have the conscience to do even that much!

Gina Gallo's memoir Armed and Dangerous raises this question in one of its more vivid anecdotes. Sometimes outrageous, frequently hilarious, and always thoughtful, this book provides an up-close, gritty, honest look at the lives of Chicago's "Po-lice." Gallo brings us inside the training academy, squad cars, and district headquarters. Then she takes us to the streets, housing projects, and crime scenes she came to know during her 16-year career with the Chicago police force. After reading this book, you will perceive police officers differently. Stereotypes are shattered as we see how the cop lifestyle affects individual officers in very different ways. If you know Chicago, Gina Gallo's book is a must. Even if you don't know Chicago, this is a fascinating, unforgettable read

I remember at one time I thought about being a policewoman. Even took the test, passed and got a letter to appear for training. Never did follow up on it. Couldn't see myself packing heat in the long run and didn't think I'd be up for horsey patrol right out of the police academy. And after reading this book I know I made the right decision. Being a policeman is no easy job and being a woman cop is even harder, forever proving yourself worthy of the profession. And after reading this book the media only gives half of what is really going on in the streets. This book is an eye opener. It shocked me, sickened me and saddened me but it was never ever boring. It really made an impact on me and made me more aware of a policeperson's life. This is one of my favorite books and I just ordered Crime Scenes so I could read more. Gina, I hope you sold the rights to this book either as a movie or a cable TV series. It deserves it.

Reading your book made me laugh, remember and even cry Gina. Thanks for all the memories that have been put somehwere in the back until now. Hope someday to meet you and buy you a beer and give you a big hug. From a broken down old retired insane fish. Gina...you da best!

...ARMED AND DANGEROUS...is the story of an evolution. A memoir of the author's cop life from her days as a recruit through the events that led to her retirement, this book sets all the events, bizarre and mundane, that take place in the cop life within the context of one person's experience, and it is a moving, unforgettable read. You really do come away from this book knowing what it must be like to be a cop. And evidently if you are a cop you come away with all your own particular experiences confirmed by the universal truths that Gina Gallo, in unpretentious, direct and hardhitting language, so ably and vividly describes. This is a terrific book. It reminds me of some of the best Vietnam literature...--it's that intense, that personal, that memorable.

Do NOT leave ... until you buy this book.

Gina Gallobrings us the straihtforward, honest, too-strange-to-be-anything-but-real story of her 16-year career as a Police Officerin the City of Chicago.

From the first day of the Training Academyto the "routine" call that ended her career, Gina tells itlike it is in the world behind the badge. If you've ever read a bookthat runs the full gamut of emotions, you'll understand what I'mtrying to say here. From laughing out loud to holding back tears withthe turn of a page, you'll be spellbound.

Go ahead....try to remainstoic as Gina relates the story of having to kill a man just aftercompleting her training. Try not to laugh as she paints a word pictureof a domestic dispute that ends up with one of the combatants walkingaround, fully concious, with a hatchet sticking out of the back of hishead. Try not to flinch when she gives every detail of the assaultthat ended her career.......I dare you.

Gina's ability to put intowords the emotional and physical challenges of a thankless job iscertain to catapult her to the top of the charts. Be one of the luckyfolks that can say "I read her first books and have been hookedever since"

BUY IT NOW

Armed & Dangerous is an excellent book whether you are considering a career in law enforcement or not. Gallo begins her story with her father, who was shot on Easter, describing the pain of being a child of a police officer. She vowed never to become an officer, but life's circumstances forced her to change her mind.
From there, she takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride from her days at the Academy to the day she resigned from the Chicago Police Department. Her depiction of the Academy made me wonder if this was fiction because I couldn't believe the brutal fashion in which the trainers handled future officers. A few of them left the Academy with permanent disabilities and no chance at a law enforcement career. She tells us how the rest of them made it through that grueling period, by banding together and forming a team. Being a team player is the most important skill in police work.
I felt like I was right there with her as she described her first day on the job with a slacker for a field trainer and how that trainer deserted her when she needed him to back her up. She tells us what it was like to kill a man and what that did to her soul. She tells us what it's like to see a mutilated baby and then have to be professional in dealing with his murdering mother. And, she tells us what it's like to have to go to the same neighborhoods to deal with the same people day after day. There are lots of heartbreaking stories in this book and some incredibly funny ones, too.
I found myself laughing out loud at the craziness and the stupidity of both the criminals and the corrupt officers. More often than not, however, I felt disgusted by the drug addicts and the political games of the department brass. Throughout this book, I wondered how she managed to keep her humor when faced with the pain, the terror, and the good ol' boy mentality that tried its best to keep her in the trenches. The end saddened me, but it was typical.
Armed & Dangerous stripped me of all my notions about police officers and what they do for a living. Gallo is a powerful writer, and I applaud her for having the courage to write this book. Throw away those police procedural novels. They pale against Gallo's book.

After reading this book I can really appreciate the "blue wall of silence" and what it must have taken Gallo to break it with this writing. With an Aunt and a Brother in law who are both big city cops, I now have a renewed appreciation for what they go through. Heartbreaking stories which bring the job to life made me appreciate all the more the cops that go out there and do the job every day. More than anything though, I think this memoir does a great job of touching on cop life from many different angles -- the dogs, the harrassment, the gangs, the drugs -- extremely effective. This one will ring in my mind for a long time, but very worth it.

'Armed & Dangerous' and 'Crime Scenes' are two of the best books written by police/and or about police officer's work since David Simon's 'Homicide' back in 1991. You really get a feel for the victims, for the whole picture painted of a crime scene as it goes down, and it breaks your heart or makes you furious in equal measure... You hate the indifference and evil of the bad guys, and bleed for the pathos of the innocents whose lives are ruined. Excellent book. An objective look at the life of a police officer in any city -- an an accurate expose of the bureaucracy, the sometimes incompetence and pettiness of the top brass, the secrets, the lies, the cameraderie and the CYA. Run out any buy these -- and whatever else she writes in the future ! You'll never be bored by Gina Gallo's evocative tales. A five star without question !

It's so great to see one of my NY Cop Online Magazine comrades hitting it big with her two books. Gallo is a cop's cop regardless of gender. And she is a Top Cop because she just is -- not because it's politically correct to praise female officers. What I enjoy about Gina Gallo is her natural tough but sexy tone in her prose. Do I sound like a fan? You bet I am. I hope this book makes Gallo a member of the cop/writer elite that includes Joe Wambaugh, William Caunitz, Joe McNamara and Robert Daley. She deserves such recognition.