Customer Reviews

Fort Apache: New York's Most Violent Precinct

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This is a book that I read about thirty years ago when I was a rookie police officer on a large county department. My copy has been lost these many years, so I am glad to see it back in print. I recall that the story was so riviting that I could not put it down. The action was grity and non-stop. There was real "cop humor" of that time. It captured the almost unreal drama of police work at a time, when only the few tactical teams that existed wore ballistic armour and carried rifles. Portable radios barely got reception for a few blocks (on a good day). We carried wooden nightsticks, flap saps or black jacks, handcuffs, a six-shot revolver and our patrol cars had shotguns with 00 Buck. We relied on our mobile radios, pay phones, and even call boxes. There were no PCs, only rotary dial phones, teletype machines, typewriters and carbon paper. Hard to believe that these were the tools of the trade a relatively short time ago. Back to the "story"; it was a scary time to be a cop (some things never change). Police Officers were often ambushed with bottles and bricks from rooftops, unruly mobs and even shot in the back for no reason other than wearing "blue" and a badge. Do not confuse this book with the film "Fort Apache the Bronx" starring Paul Newman. Although I am an old Newman fan, the movie was a stinker; NOTHING EVEN REMOTELY resembling the book.

I worked in this command and knew Tom Walker the Lieutenant and later the XO of the command. The stories are all true as he took them from the written reports that officers prepared. He added humor where he could. It is a book you won't put down. I am awaiting for the follow-up to come out.