Customer Reviews

The Badge: True and Terrifying Crime Stories That Could Not Be Presented on TV, from the Creator and Star of Dragnet

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On radio, in the 1950s television version of Dragnet, and in its 1960s resurrection, Jack Webb was Sergeant Joe Friday, the straight-shooting, no-nonsense exemplar of the LAPD. In this non-fiction book, Webb tells the real stories of crimes that were too violent to be broadcast on "Dragnet." Among them are the famous murder of the "Black Dahlia," a woman who was tortured for days before her killer slit her throat, drained her body of blood, bisected it and dumped her in an empty lot. Another story that made my blood boil was the murder of a 10-year old orphaned boy, whose own mother had just died days before. His father lost a wife and, senselessly, a son within weeks to a murderer who killed for the thrill of it.

Each chapter of the book is labeled with an LAPD rank, from Policeman, to Sergeant, to Lieutenant, all the way to Commissioner(s). The stories in the first few chapters are the most absorbing, as they demonstrate actual, hands-on police work. Yet, it was also interesting to read of problems which confronted, and still confront, Los Angeles and its police force at higher levels. The book particularly presents a good picture of Chief Parker, who is responsible for cleaning up the vice and corruption that marked the pre-1950 LAPD and setting rules that made officers proud to serve.

A warning to 21st century readers: This book was written in 1958 with the stereotypes -- and the language -- common at the time. Some sentences might make you gasp: i.e., in describing race relations in Los Angeles, Webb writes that "It is a dozen collisions, the Oriental, the Mexican, the Indian, the Southerner (both Negro and white), the Easterner and the Westerner; intra-racial as well as one skin pitted against another of a different color." There are a lot of sentences like that, particularly in the later chapters, where Webb was trying to argue that the LAPD of the time was cognizant of ethnic tensions and attempted to ameliorate them. (As an unabashed LAPD booster, Webb marshals evidence to make his case that the department was addressing racism.) And, from a 21st century viewpoint, the LAPD war against bingo parlors seems terribly penny-ante, although perhaps justified by the "broken windows" theory.

But the heart of this book is the stories of crimes great and small, and the police officers who solved them. A must for those interested in true crime stories, Los Angeles history, and the LAPD.

I remember watching "Dragnet" and "Badge 714" when I was a kid. I came across the book "The Badge" during my tenth year in high school, which was in 1960. I read it several times and remember being amazed by the contrast in the way Jack Webb wrote and the way he protrayed the Sgt. Joe Friday character. For some strange reason, this book has always been in the back of my mind, and so when the recent release of "The Black Dahlia" came about in the movie circuit, I, just on a whim, went to Amazon.com to see if an old edition of "The Badge" was floating around somewhere. I remembered that Jack Webb had written about this case in His book. I could not believe that, not only was it available, but available for under five frogskins, and new too boot!!!

I am now in the process of reading this book again, and am again amazed at Jack Webb's ability to write. He was so far ahead of his time, in his ability to tell a story back then that even now, his writing is beyond the typical codswample that is available today. Jack Webb was always so robotic in the way He acted, moving about like he had a two-by-four piece of lumber tied to his spine. His writing ability was another story.

I am once again amazed by this man's ability to write a story. Anyone who buys this book and reads it will NOT be disappointed. In fact, I would suggest that quite the opposite will be true.

THE BOOK GIVES A GOOD INSIGHT TO THE HISTORY OF THE LAPD.....IT LETS YOU INTO CRIMES THAT HAVE HAUNTED THE AREA FOR YEARS AND GIVES YOU AN APPRECIATION TO THOSE WHO HAVE TO WEAR THE ACTUAL BADGE.

It's amazing that 50 years after it was published this book is still a relevant account of police work in Los Angeles. It still captures the courage, determination, and even fear, involved with law enforcement. But, it now reads like a retro "cop talk" diary from the extraordinary Jack Webb. His language and tone is a peek back into the past, when Los Angeles was a much smaller place and a sense of community still existed. I love this book and I highly recommend it for anyone that has an interest in that time and place.

THe Badge is from Jack Webb creator and star of Dragnet and is a collection of cases from the Los Angeles Police Department highlighting their efforts to grow and improve the abilities of a fine crime fighting force. James Elroy read it as a young man and it helped shape his interest in the crime novel. Elroy eventually brought us a number of crime novels such as the famous LA Confidential as book and then brought to the big screen.

I ordered this book expecting it to be chock full of cases that were regarded as "too sensitive" to be portrayed on "Dragnet" in the late 50's. Instead, it's more of an essay on the LAPD of that time. Of the cases presented, I believe only two were really too depraved to have been presented on the show, and these get only a few pages each. The rest have to do with burglars, hold ups, and a few murders.

There are a lot of good stories within, and insights into how police work was conducted at the time, but the drive of the book loses steam about three chapters from the end.