Customer Reviews

End of Watch:Chicago Police Killed in the Line of Duty, 1853-2006

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"END OF WATCH- Chicago Police Killed in the Line of Duty 1853-2006" offers a respectful and sometimes heartrending case-by-case examination of the 534 Chicago police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of public order and safety. This is no mere encyclopaedia: the authors give us a detailed narrative of each fallen officer's career and accomplishments, making the book as much a celebration of their lives as a tribute to their deaths.

Using municipal records, police files, contemporary newspapers, and interviews with families / descendants of the slain men and women, Burke and O'Gorman have managed to document the history of the Chicago Police Department from its earliest days to the present. As Chicago itself evolved from prairie outpost to Midwestern metropolis, its police force underwent a simultaneous transformation, changing from a collection of elected constables to a major urban peacekeeping force. With progress came new dangers, and corresponding casualties.

The postmortem roll call begins with Constable James Quinn, who died on December 5, 1853 after being brutally assaulted by local hoodlums, and ends with the January 2006 death of Patrolman Eric Solorio, whose vehicle crashed during a high-speed pursuit. Expert commentary on the Department's history, stunning illustrations and photos, and data tables that document arrests, causes of death, number of CPD deaths by rank, and officers killed by year make "END OF WATCH" an authoritative history of the Chicago PD.

I was especially moved by a grainy photo of Patrolman Casper Lauer (died September 18, 1854 after being stabbed by a criminal he was trying to arrest) in his coffin. This image was provided to the authors courtesy of Lauer's descendants. They gave it the perfect description: "an eerie image of a sad moment in Chicago's early history."

I really enjoyed this book,coming from a family of Chicago Police officers you see how dangerous this job can be. Ed Burke and Tom O'Gorman did their homework and got it right.A must read for all police families.

I saw it in a bookstore yesterday and I went through quite a few of the descriptions. It's very good. A lot of cops with kids were killed and it really hits you how dangerous the job is. There a number of family pictures included and I couldn't help but to wonder how they coped with such an instant loss and where the kids are today.

A tough job. Routine traffic stops turn into death.

When looking at the pictures around the '68 Democratic Convention, I was reminded of a documentary where an officer was interviewed and he said something like "I know Grant Park pretty well and there aren't many rocks or paper bags with bottles of urine inside laying around." After reading about so many deaths over the years in the book, there was such a great contrast in reading about the deaths and the danger of the job with the jerks throwing urine at them and attacking them. The people attacking them seem so small. They were laughing while these guys risk their lives very day.

Anyways, it's not for everyone, but it's very well done.

"End of Watch" serves a need in detailing the deaths of Chicago police officers on duty. However, this handsomely produced book is no more than that. The brief items are stiffly written in police vernacular,"the suspect...resided at...the offender...," and without any context linking them or an overview describing the challenges facing the police in each period. At least the numerous photos help understand the times.

This book gets down to the roots of the Chicago Pd end of Watch. A great Read.

Much research was done on this book. Great photos. You will enjoy this.