The Real Police [Hardcover]

David Ziskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

This book is about what it is REALLY like to be a street cop and why it should be done differently. The real police are the people who work the street - the first officers on the scene of trouble. They are not supervisors or administrators. They make all of the most important decisions in police work, but are at the bottom of the hierarchy. This is a view not covered in popular media and includes social history, historical background material and humor, as well as a model for reform.

Most of the author's twenty years on the street was in Seattle, and The Real Police has a lot of Seattle history and local color, especially about Seattle's archetypal Skid Road. Seattle serves as the example in discussions of police work, but the principles of policing apply everywhere.

The Real Police is written in a conversational tone and explains the ethic and traditions of the officers who work the street. The twelve principle chapters are thematic and the book includes sketches of memorable characters. Many readers say that they gained a new perspective on the subject and "couldn't put it down."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Ziskin is a retired police officer. He lives in Seattle and pursues business interests and does consulting work for selected clients. The Real Police is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wind Gap Press (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975372203
• ISBN-13: 978-0975372203
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Want To Become A Cop Now, May 1, 2007

By 

Tami Jayne Jackson "Tamoon" (Lakewood, Wa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Real Police (Hardcover)

For anyone who enjoys reading about adventure and about the many eccentric personalities you might pass on any given city street, I'd suggest that you read a really cool "page turner" (in biography detail but written with entertainment value) that I just finished reading called "The Real Police."

The compelling and gifted author, David Ziskin is a well-seasoned Seattle Police Officer who shares fascinating policing details in the most compelling manner. With topics ranging from drunks, cadavers and violent crime found in both Skid Road and China Town (in Seattle) to what the life and attire of a professional police officer actually has looked like -- "The Real Police" is a must read!

By the time I finished reading Ziskin's hardback, I felt as though I had a new friend in the police business (okay, so I've known a couple of cops in person who I really liked, but Ziskin's book gives so much more intimate policing details than what most law enforcement officers will share while standing on a street curb with you).

Below is a very short excerpt from Ziskins masterpiece. I offer it here in an attempt to reveal his pleasurable writing style; which is consistent throughout his self-published hardback. The following is not at all the BEST story in "The Real Police" - but it is certainly one of Ziskin's shortest stories, and it remains very entertaining, besides.

"A lot of cops are great story tellers. At coffee one night, a middle-aged officer told us dryly that he had gone out to dinner with his wife on a recent furlough night. They were seated at a downtown restaurant when a hooker walked by their table and slipped a folded note to his wife. The note said "You're sitting with a cop."

"At first I got real mad," he said. "But then I thought, you know, my wife does look kinda cheap."

Repeatedly, each time I picked up Ziskin's book to read (one does have to work, and therefore must set the book down, regrettably) I'd find his words so entertaining I'd have to laugh out loud.

Thank you Ziskin for writing such insightful detail about the police force in such a rivoting and entertaining manner. There remains so many fascinating tales in your book, it is nearly impossible to write about so much adventure in reading here on Amazon.

Blessings!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Slice of Cop Life, January 6, 2005

By 

John D. Lewis "johnnylewis" (Issaquah, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Real Police (Hardcover)

David Ziskin writes with the insight of someone who has been there, because he has. In addition to the humor and pathos of any 18 years of street patrol in a good size city, he saw a dramatic evolution in technology, though not in management. From harmless, but highly eccentric "street characters" through one of the worst mass murders in US history, it's all here. Anyone interested in police work should read it. Everyone except aspiring police administrators will enjoy it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Police from a real cop., December 3, 2004

By 

Lowen W. Clausen (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Real Police (Hardcover)

How often do you read a book where the writer describes drinking a cup of coffee while sitting across a restaurant booth from a corpse writing a death report and waiting for the medical examiners to arrive. David Ziskin brings his 20 years of street cop experience into his book with incisive wit and compassion. He also offers provocative ideas on the state of modern policing. A fine book. Lowen Clausen