TAKING BACK OUR STREETS: Fighting Crime in America [Hardcover]

Willie L. Williams (Author), Bruce B. Henderson (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 1996

The chief of the embattled L.A.P.D. describes his career as a crimefighter, sheds light on some of his city's most famous cases, addresses such key issues as assault weapons and gang warfare, and explains how community policing can help take back our streets. 75,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1992, Williams, then head of the Philadelphia Police Department, was about to become Chief of Police in L.A. when the riots following the Rodney King verdict erupted. How he helped to steer the LAPD on a new course is the subject of the first half of this book, written with Henderson, coauthor of The Sea Will Tell. In essence. Williams's philosophy was to eradicate the military-style, us-versus-them bunker attitude that had characterized the department for decades and to introduce community policing. This involved both paying attention to citizens' concerns and explaining why his officers could not always do what the public wanted. He also began an aggressive campaign to recruit more minorities and women. In the latter sections, Williams gives details on how community policing is taking hold in L.A. and how other cities and towns can adopt it. A book that might have been self-serving instead makes a solid contribution to educating us about problems facing law enforcement officers. Reform of the LAPD is ongoing, according to Williams, a process likely to take 10-12 years.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

That Los Angeles police chief Williams is upbeat shines through everything he has to say about his four years' tenure in L.A., his service before that in Philadelphia, and the country's prospects for fighting urban crime. Only a hopeful, positive, and competent person would sign on for a police department and a city wracked by the Rodney King trial riots and the exodus of elected officials from the city. Even as Williams was uplifting and retraining his demoralized police and giving the public renewed confidence in them, his department has faced a whole series of new traumas: the second King trial and its threat of riot; the Reginald Denny trial; the earthquake; the Michael Jackson child molestation probe; the Heidi Fleiss prostitution case; and the O.J. Simpson trial. Williams is the very model of a modern policeman. He is African American but considers himself "blue" first; he talks and listens to his officers; he believes in community policing, conceptualizing police work in the framework of the larger community, talking and listening there, too, and relying in turn on the community for support. The final chapter is a shopping list of what communities can do "to take back their streets." Recommended for popular and academic criminal justice collections.
-?Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st PB Edition edition (April 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684802775
• ISBN-13: 978-0684802770
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)