Customer Reviews

Danger, Duty, and Disillusion: The Worldview of Los Angeles Police Officers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a police officer in Northern California for 15 years. I started out young and idealistic. Throughout my career I have gone through different stages and I have seen other officers go through these stages. I was given this book by a coworker and I read it on my weekend off. I totally saw myself in this book and others I work with and others who are now gone. The one chapter hitting the wall was the most interesting because that period was the most difficult for me in my career and like in the book I sought outside resources to save myself, mainly my family, promotion and finishing my college education. If I had stayed in that rut of hitting the wall I most likely would have quit the job all together because i was burned out.

I encourage anyone who really wants to understand the job and what it can do over a period of time to read this book and those others can read it to think what is going on in the mind of that officer as you see him pulling someone over in the middle of the nite.

I have been a police officer for over 10 years with a large department in northern california. I have seen the good, bad and ugly. I look back now and I can see how my personality and attitude has changed towards this profession.

I read this book in two days. I was reading the chapter called hitting the wall and I had to stop because it was describing me to the number. I read other chapters that fit other officers personalities and I read how our personalities change with time, and the things that happen to us.

I passed the book onto my partner, who is not known to be a reader of anything besides the sports page and he also loved the book and finished it in a week.

Good book if you are considering this as a profession.

I just read this 228-page book in about two days, and I would consider this book a must read for anyone thinking about entering the career path of law enforcement in a large municipal agency. Although this book talks about what is like being a Los Angeles Police officer from the point of view of the individual officers themselves, many of the experiences and stages of their careers are probably similar to that of officers in other large agencies.

The book is the work of an anthropologist and based on research that began in 1976 and went on for approximately 21 years. In analyzing and studying the LAPD police culture, the author unwittingly pin-pointed many of the causes of the problems endemic within the LAPD today. The interviews with some of the officers also reveal the pride they have in being a police officer, above and beyond all the negatives with which they are bombarded on a daily basis.

The book identifies all aspects of an officer's career beginning with the recruit phase and ending with retirement. I don't think I have ever found such a detailed and all-encompassing chronological study of any career. This book should be read by all LAPD officers, young and old, LAPD management, Los Angeles city political leaders, members of the criminal justice system, and most importantly, by the citizens of Los Angeles. The citizens of Los Angeles would really get an inside view about what makes their officers tick and how they think. We, as LAPD officers are always asked to be sensitive to the community and we are sent to dozens of cultural awareness classes and given sensitivity training on an annual basis. The very least we could ask is that members of the public also take time to find out a little about us, and what makes us what we are when you see us in uniform. That's not too much to ask.

The only regret I have is that I didn't find this book sooner, because by reading it I've identified some issues that are particular to me at this stage in my career. I will be in the process of addressing them soon, which will improve my view of the job. Thanks, Joan.

Joan Barker has taken her anthropologist eye and given us all a peek into the world of the Los Angeles Police Department. For those of us who are non-professionals but curious about the world we inhabit, this book satisfies that curiosity. I, for one, have often wondered about the true nature of the police department. Who are the men and women doing this difficult, and often thankless, job? Read this worldview of the LAPD and find out. This ethnography is a fascinating and scholarly work.

I have a friend who is a retired LAPD Officer of 27 years. I have know him for a little over a year and he is a wonderful person with a great outlook on life. I bought this book to get a better idea of what he went through while he was with the Los Angeles Police Department. He is now an officer with another, extremely small, police department after taking a few years off from police work. I read this book over a couple of days while on vacation and it was quite enjoyable. I discussed the book and its contents with my retired LAPD friend and it was amazing how accurate the book was when compared with my friend's recollections of the department and its subculture. Speaking with him was, at times, almost like hearing excerpts form the book! He told some of his memories about the way a lot officers look at things after spending a few years on the force and it matched up exactly like the author's work. If you want a look inside the LAPD subculture, this book would be a great way to start with having to make the trip to Los Angeles and spending time at the department. It would also give you a very accurate look at what police officers in LAPD go though on a daily basis. This book gave me a new respect for my friend and for all of those men and women who have honorably worn the badge of the Los Angeles Police Department. My reading this book also gave my friend a new respect for me because I took the time to learn and understand what he and other LAPD Officers have gone through while on the job. I highly recommend it.

Beyond the fact that every student who takes a class from Joan Barker agrees that she is a goddess, this book is extremely informative and should be given to any person that wants to begin a career as a cop or wants to understand this subculture enriching their own lives. Because this book is used also as a text for her cultural anthopology students, it also gives an brief understanding field work as an anthropologist. I highly reccomend this book as a way for anyone who has not had the privilage of taking her class to be able to be that much closer to this amazing woman.

We seem to think cops come from some seperate gene pool... That they are aliens brought in from some foreign land. We forget that policemen and policewomen are those we once stood shoulder to shoulder with in little league and at high school graduation. Police do come from our community. Today, we live in a world that if a lie is repeated enough times it is believed; lies about police are especially in vogue. It is good for the soul to see a book that challenges these urban myths...

In Danger, Duty, and Disillusion, Barker conducts one of the most in-depth and revealing studies of police culture ever undertaken. She begins by introducing her methods for gathering the information, as well as revealing possible biases and outside factors that may have influenced her work, and then continues with a chapter-by-chapter look at the various stages and aspects of policing. This covers everything from personal and group attitudes (particularly how they change over the course of one's career), how police officers react to situations, interact socially (including the jargon they regularly use), as well as the toll policing takes on officers, both emotionally and physically. Even though reading this book made me decide to never become a police officer, I still found it fascinating and very insightful. It certainly gives me a new appreciation for police officers and everything that they have to deal with and survive on a daily basis. The information - a compilation mostly of personal interviews - is well-written and presented concisely . Though this study was conducted many years ago and only on one metropolitan PD, the information is still very much relevant to today's police subculture, and applicable to almost any department in the country, to some extent.

This is a well written book. It is very acurate and concise. It paints a good picture for people not involved in the police sub-culture. For other officers I would suggest that you read this if you want a well rounded look into LAPD's reputation and outlook on policing. For civilians I would say read it to get the inside view on how policing really works.

Sociologic insights are important in understanding the nature of policing and how officers are viewed. This book is a good resource for criminal justice students and scholars. Women in policing face worldwide stereotypes in addition to the day-to-day struggles of working within our criminal justice system. Fortunately for society, a growing number are succeeding - even in the face of a still discriminatory system. The more we understand how society views officers, men and women - and the more we understand their own struggles and disappointments - the more we can do to create a stronger and better system.