Surviving Street Patrol: The Officer's Guide to Safe and Effective Policing (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Nearly 10 years ago, two agents from the FBI conducted an in-depth study of cop killers in custody..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this book, veteran San Diego Police Officer Steve Albrecht advises fellow officers of proactive measures they can take on a routine basis to improve their odds of going home in one piece. Whatever the challenge at hand, be it handcuffing noncompliant suspects, preventing suspect escapes, surviving group attacks, fighting on the ground, dodging bullets, protecting homicide scenes or dealing with the media, Albrecht has time-tested advice for handling it safely and effectively. In addition, on topics such as managing meth freaks; responding to domestic violence calls; avoiding AIDS, TB and other killers during searches; attending to the elderly; investigating rapes; and more, he offers invaluable insight on balancing compassion and integrity with aggressive, professional policing. This book will serve as a valuable learning tool for those street cops who, regardless of the size of their beat, agency, county or city, are out there on the front lines every day, putting their lives on the line while trying to do the right thing.

About the Author

Steve Albrecht is the managing director for Albrecht Training & Development. A retired San Diego police officer who served on the SDPD’s Domestic Violence Unit, Albrecht now provides training and consulting on workplace violence prevention and threat management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581601298
• ISBN-13: 978-1581601299
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,271 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, real, rapid fire info for working on the street, October 8, 2001

By	W. Herndon "Not the SMARTEST guy in the world" (California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having read the author's prior work of similar format and content ("Street Work"), I was a little worried it might simply be a re-hash of the same material. However, the previous book was so good, I felt that the new one was worth a look. It is, in fact, new and updated material. All of it is relevant to actually working on the street.

For those not currently working in law enforcement, or interested in it as a future career, you might also find it worthwhile. While the main purpose of the book is not to illustrate "what it's like to be a cop", you can find it if you read between the lines. Lots of the topics provide insight as to _why_ law enforcement officers do certain things when on the street.

The format, which works very well, is about 60 self-contained topics (magazine column size). Each is to the point and full of information that makes it clear the author has "been there, done that".

If I had to pick 5 or 6 books for new peace officers to read, this would be on the list. It is excellent for both training as well as review for experienced officers. It is filled with lots of stuff that many of us remember when we get reminded...

I hope Mr. Albrecht has more of these up his sleeve...

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Practical advise for beginners and experienced cops alike, July 24, 2003

By	Seppo Vesala (Helsinki, - Finland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author is well-known tactics instructor: his previous works include Contact & Cover, a fundamental book on officer survival, which he co-wrote with John Morrison. He has extensive experience as a street cop, so the advise you get from this book are field-tested throughly.

The book is comprised from over 50 articles which have been published in a police magazine before (San Diego Police Officers Association publication 'The Informant'). This approach is a two-edged sword. On the other hand this book covers a wide variety of issues, but on the other hand, because most articles are only about 3-4 pages long, the advise you get is quite basic in nature. This creates a problem that the more experience you have on police work, the less useful this book is for you. However, no matter how expeirenced you are, you are still likely to learn something new, or are at least reminded of something that you have forgotten a long time ago.

The articles have been arranged in a alphabetical orded according to the title of the article. In my opinion, it would have been wiser to group the articles by the subject they are covering. Now you get a chapter on avoiding blood-transmitted diseases, followed by article about court survival, followed by article on ground fighting, and so on. And, to make things worse, sometimes it is surprisingly hard to tell what a given article is covering just by the name. So, if you are looking for advise on certain subject, it can be hard to find the right article, if you don't know the name of the article.

Another complaint is that the book is printed in a font that is a bit too small to my taste. It's not too small to read, but if you want to make sidenotes or underlinings to the book (which I like to do), it can be hard because the size of the text.

To sum it up, I would say that for a novice cop, this book is a treasure chest, but experienced cops will benefit from reading it also.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book for beginners, November 16, 2002

By	Carl Franklin "Author and Professor" (Cedar City, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a good book for those who have less than five years experience on a police department. Most of the material is explained fairly well and is easy to understand. I would like to see the author write a more advanced book, it appears he has the experience and ability.

Recommended for new police officers or those who need to refresh themselves on good tactics.