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Bibliography for GURPS Cops

Nonfiction

Ball, Larry. Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona 1846-1912 (University of New Mexico Press, 1992). A historian's look at Old West law enforcement.

Ball, Larry. United States Marshals of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846-1912 (University of New Mexico Press, 1978). More Old West law enforcement.

Baker, Mark. D.A.: Prosecutors in Their Own Words (Simon & Schuster, 1999). A collection of anecdotes by and about prosecutors.

Bayley, David. Forces of Order: Policing Modern Japan (University of California Press, 1991). A discussion of Japanese police, justice system and courts.

Bergner, Daniel. God of the Rodeo: The Quest for Redemption in Louisiana's Angola Prison (Ballantine, 1998). A year at the Angola maximum security prison, focusing on its warden and on inmates who ride in its annual rodeo.

Blau, Robert. The Cop Shop: True Crime on the Streets of Chicago (Addison-Wesley, 1993). A reporter's story about his first years on the police beat (1988 to 1991).

Borniche, Roger. Flic Story: The Implacable Duel between a Merciless Killer and a Different Kind of Policeman (Doubleday, 1975). A French detective's autobiographical story of his most famous case.

Bratton, William. Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic (Random House, 1998). Discussion of reforming the NYPD in the 1990s.

Burgess, William. Piercing the Shields of Justice: Inside the ATF (Brunswick, 1996). A cynical look at ATF investigations, bureaucracy and problems in the mid-1980s.

Buttino, Frank. A Special Agent: Gay and Inside the FBI (Morrow, 1993). A 20-year FBI veteran describes his career and his firing after his homosexuality was revealed in an anonymous letter.

Cantalupo, Joseph and Thomas Renner. Body Mike: An Unsparing Expose by the Mafia Insider Who Turned On the Mob (Villard, 1990). A low-level gangster's view of the Mafia and of being an informant.

Chandler, George. The Policeman's Manual (Funk & Wagnalls, 1930). A handbook for police officers written by the first head of the New York State Police.

Chase, Billy and Lennie Grimaldi. Chased: Alone, Black and Undercover (New Horizon, 1994). A Bridgeport, CT undercover officer's biography.

Collins, Steve. The Good Guys Wear Black: The True-life Heroes of Britain's Armed Police (Arrow, 1998). Autobiography of a sergeant in SO19 (London Met's Special Firearms Unit) including descriptions of several operations, equipment and training (1978-93).

Connolly, Edward, and Christopher Harding. A Cop's Cop (Quinlan, 1985) Thirty-eight year veteran (1947-85) of the Boston Police Department writes about his experiences.

Conover, Ted. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (Random House, 2000). A frank look at life inside a maximum security state prison by a writer who worked as a New York State corrections officer at Sing Sing.

Corwin, Miles. The Killing Season: A Summer Inside an LAPD Homicide Division (Fawcett, 1997). A summer of homicides in South Central L.A. The main protagonist is a black female detective trainee.

Coulson, Daniel and Elaine Shannon. No Heroes: Inside the FBI's Secret Counter-Terror Force (Pocket Books, 1999). Discussion of the creation and noted operations of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team.

Daley, Robert. Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much (Houghton Mifflin, 1978). Corruption in the NYPD's Special Investigating Unit, Narcotics (1967-72).

Dietl, Bo. One Tough Cop (Pocket Books, 1988). A New York police detective's tell-all autobiography.

Domanick, Joe. To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams (Pocket Books, 1994). Journalist's history of the LAPD, ending shortly after Daryl Gates' resignation and Koon and Powell's convictions for violating Rodney King's civil rights.

Douglas, John and Mark Olshaker. The Anatomy of Motive (Scribner, 1999). FBI investigative profiler discusses serial murderers, mass murderers, and spree murders. Discussion of domestic and workplace violence and why people "snap."

Douglas, John and Mark Olshaker. Journey into Darkness (Scribner, 1997). FBI investigative profiler discusses serial killers and serial rapists. Discussion of pedophiles and how to protect children.

Douglas, John and Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter (Scribner, 1995). FBI investigative profiler discusses serial killers and some famous cases of the FBI Investigative Support Unit (formerly the Behavioral Sciences Unit).

Dulaney, W. Marvin. Black Police in America (Indiana University Press, 1996). A history of black law officers in America.

Earley, Pete. The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison (Bantam, 1992). Account of life in a federal maximum security prison (1987-89).

Elliott, Catherine and Catherine Vernon. The French Legal System (Longman, 2000). Academic look at the French civil and criminal judiciary.

Fletcher, Connie. Breaking & Entering; Women Cops Talk about Life in the Ultimate Men's Club (HarperCollins, 1995). Women police officers talk about their lives and work.

Fletcher, Connie. Pure Cop: Cop Talk from the Street to the Specialized Units (Villard, 1991). Chicago police talk about their lives and work.

Fraley, Oscar, and Paul Robsky. The Last of the Untouchables (Amereon, 1976). One of Eliot Ness' agents talks about his career in Prohibition Chicago.

Gaines, Larry, Victor Kappeler, and Joseph Vaughn. Policing in America, 4th Ed. (Anderson, 1999). Textbook on police history, operations, culture, ethics and role.

Gates, Daryl. Chief: My Life in the LAPD (Bantam Books, 1992). Autobiography and discussion of his career by the well-known chief of the LAPD, covering the period 1949-1991.

Goddard, Donald. Undercover: The Secret Lives of a Federal Agent (Times Books, 1988). Biography of an undercover agent for the Internal Revenue Service, ATF, Customs, and the DEA during a 23-year career.

Graef, Roger. Talking Blues: The Police in Their Own Words (Collins Harvill, 1989). BBC interviews with over 500 British police officers.

Grosz, Terry. Wildlife Wars (Johnson, 1999). Fish and Game warden, later U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, talks about wildlife protection service.

Gould, Robert and Michael Waldren. London's Armed Police (Arms & Armour, 1986). The development of armed patrol and special squad officers in London, including detailed discussion of issued firearms and famous cases.

Hamilton, Mary. The Police Woman; Her Service and Ideals (Frederick A. Stokes, 1924). New York City's first female officer talks about the first women police officers and the Women's Precinct in New York.

Hanks, Melvin. Narc: The Adventures of a Federal Agent (Hastings House, 1973). Autobiography of a U.S. Customs officer on the west coast from 1920 to 1949, focused on narcotics smuggling in the 1930s.

Heilbroner, David. Rough Justice: Days and Nights of a Young D.A. (Dell, 1990). A new Manhattan district attorney learns the ropes in 1986-89.

Humes, Edward. Mean Justice (Simon & Schuster, 1999). The sobering story of a California district attorney's office run amuck, seen through the eyes of one murder defendant.

Humes, Edward. Mississippi Mud (Simon & Schuster, 1994). The murders of a state judge and a Biloxi political gadfly expose scams and corruption led by a prisoner at Angola Prison in Louisiana.

Hunter, David. The Night is Mine (Rutledge Hill, 1993). A Kentucky sheriff writes about his experiences as a patrol officer.

Jackson, Joe, and William Burke. Dead Run: The Untold Story of Dennis Stockton and America's Only Mass Escape from Death Row (Times Books, 1999). Life on death row in Virginia, based on the diaries of a man executed for murder in 1995.

Jacob, Herbert, et al. Courts, Laws and Politics in Comparative Perspective (Yale University Press, 1996). Academic comparison of courts in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Japan.

Katzenstein, Peter. Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Postwar Japan (Cornell University Press, 1996). Contains a discussion of Japanese police and organized crime.

Kelly, John, and Philip Wearne. Tainting Evidence: Inside the Scandals at the FBI Crime Lab (Free Press, 1998). Journalist's discussion of problems revealed at the FBI laboratory in the wake of a 1994 Department of Justice Inspector General's report.

Kessler, Ronald. The FBI (Pocket Books, 1993). Reporter's history and organization of the FBI.

Koehler, John. Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (Westview, 1999). Academic history of the East German secret police.

Lardner, James, and Thomas Reppetto. NYPD: A City and Its Police (Henry Holt, 2000). A history of the NYPD.

McCarthy, Bill, and Mike Mallowe. Vice Cop: My Twenty-Year Battle with New York's Dark Side (Morrow, 1991) A look at life on the NYPD's vice squad from 1966-87.

McDonald, Brian. My Father's Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD (Dutton, 1999). A biography and history of the NYPD.

Maas, Peter. Serpico (Viking, 1973). The story of the patrolman who exposed systemic corruption in the NYPD, leading to the Knapp Commission.

MacIntyre, Ben. The Napoleon of Crime (Delta, 1997). Biography of Adam Worth, famous 19th-century thief, model for Professor Moriarty.

Mawby, R. I.. Policing Across the World (UCL Press, 1999). Academic essays comparing police in various nations and criticizing the work of earlier comparisons.

Metz, Leon. Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman (University of Oklahoma Press, 1974). Biography of an 18th-century Western sheriff.

Middleton, Michael. Cop: A True Story (NTC/Contemporary, 2000). An LAPD sergeant writes about his career from 1966 to 1987.

Miller, Wilber. Cops and Bobbies: Police Authority in New York and London 1830-1870 (Ohio State University Press, 1973, 1997). Academic's comparison of the early years of London and New York's police departments.

Moore, Robin. The French Connection: The World's Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation (Bloomsbury, 1969). Detailed description of the 1961-62 investigation and seizure of 112 pounds of high-quality heroin in New York City.

Moran, David. Trooper (Quinlan, 1986). A Massachusetts State Police officer's autobiography (1960s to 1980s).

Murphy, Patrick. Commissioner: A View from the Top of American Law Enforcement (Simon and Schuster, 1977). Former NYPD police commissioner in the immediate aftermath of the Knapp Commission discusses his career (1945-73).

O'Sullivan, F. Dalton. The Detective Adviser (Detective Sciences, 1917). An advice manual for police detectives, insurance investigators, Secret Service agents, and private detectives. Includes a list of contemporary con games and swindles, as well as types of thieves.

Pistone, Joseph, and Richard Woodley. Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (New American Library, 1989). An undercover agent's story of his six years undercover in the Bonanno family in New York. An excellent book on the daily life of Mafia wiseguys and how an undercover FBI agent broke into their circles.

Rachlin, Harvey. The Making of a Detective (W.W. Norton, 1995). A writer's biography of a novice detective assigned to the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn (1989-92).

Reichel, Phillip. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems, 2d Ed. (Prentice Hall, 1999). An academic text on international policing and criminal justice.

Roemer, William. Roemer: Man Against the Mob (D.I. Fine, 1989). An FBI agent's description of his career and his investigations of the Chicago Mafia from 1957 to 1980.

Segrave, Kerry. Policewomen: A History (McFarland, 1995). A scholar's look at the history of women police officers in the United States and the United Kingdom, with information on other countries.

Simon, David. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (Houghton Mifflin, 1991). An excellent look at life in the Baltimore Police Department's detective unit.

Soderman, Harry. Modern Criminal Investigation (Funk & Wagnalls, 1936). A handbook of criminal investigation.

Snow, Robert. SWAT Teams: Explosive Face-Offs with America's Deadliest Criminals (Perseus, 1996). An excellent discussion of SWAT teams from organization to equipment to training, with dozens of real incidents described.

Stead, Philip John. The Police of Britain (Macmillan, 1985). A history and description of British police forces, including a discussion of colonial forces, from the Middle Ages to the mid-1980s. Some details on training, organization and operations of U.K. police in the mid-1980s, but no details on equipment.

Stead, Philip John. The Police of France (Macmillan, 1983). A history and description of Parisian and French police forces from the mid-17th century to the mid-1980s. Some details on training, organization and operations of French police in the mid-1980s, but no details on equipment.

Stead, Philip John. The Police of Paris (Staples, 1957). A history of the police forces of Paris from the mid-17th century to 1955. Useful for 17th-19th century settings.

Terrill, Richard. World Criminal Justice Systems, 6th Ed. (Anderson, 1999). An academic text on the government, police, judiciary, law and prisons of England, Canada, France, Sweden, Japan, Russia, and China.

Vidmar, Neil. World Jury Systems (Oxford University Press, 2000), An academic survey of juries focused on American and Commonwealth countries. Some discussion of court procedure as it relates to jury trials.

Walker, Tom. Fort Apache: New York's Most Violent Precinct (Crowell, 1976). NYPD lieutenant's description of the South Bronx in the early 1970s.

Wensley, Frederick. Forty Years of Scotland Yard (Doubleday Doran, 1930). Autobiography of a former Chief Constable, CID (1888-1929).

Woods, Arthur. Policeman and Public (Yale University Press, 1919). An essay by a former New York City Police Commissioner about police work; how police become corrupt and indolent and how to reform police organizations.

Fiction

Asimov, Isaac. The Caves of Steel (Doubleday, 1953). A human NYPD detective is paired with a robot to solve a murder (first of a series).

Bester, Alfred. The Demolished Man (Shasta, 1953). Police procedural set in a society of telepaths.

Carr, Caleb. The Alienist (Random House, 1994). NYPD Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt secretly assembles a team to hunt NYC's first serial killer in 1896. A good look at late 19th-century "cutting edge" criminology.

Davis, Lindsey. Silver Pigs (Ballantine, 1989). A private detective investigates a murder in Imperial Rome (first of a lengthy series of excellent novels).

Forsyth, Frederick. The Day of the Jackal (Viking, 1971). A French Commissaire hunts a professional assassin.

Freeling, Nicolas. A Dwarf Kingdom (Mysterious Press, 1996). A retired French police inspector tries to rescue his kidnapped grandchild.

Garrett, Randall. Too Many Magicians (Doubleday, 1966). An English investigator and his forensic sorcerer solve a murder in an alternate world's London.

Hillerman, Tony. A Thief of Time (G.K. Hall, 1988). Navajo Tribal Police officers hunt a murderer (part of a series).

Matsumoto, Seicho. Points and Lines (Kodansha, 1970). A Tokyo police inspector investigates a "love suicide" (part of a series).

McBain, Ed. Lightning (Arbor House, 1984). A police procedural about city detectives hunting a serial killer and a serial rapist (part of the 87th Precinct series of novels).

Niven, Larry. The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton (Ballantine, 1976). Stories about a near-future UN cop with limited telekinesis.

Pratchett, Terry. Guards! Guards! (Roc, 1989). Adventures of an idealistic young city guard in a fantasy world (part of a series).

Saylor, Steven. Arms of Nemesis (Ivy, 1992). Gordianus the Finder (a private detective) investigates a murder in ancient Rome (also part of a series).

Simenon, Georges. Maigret in Montmartre (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1959). Parisian police inspector investigates two deaths.

Sjöwall, Maj and Per Wahlöö.The Laughing Policeman (Pantheon, 1970). A Swedish police detective in the 1960s investigates a multiple murder.

West, Christopher. Death on the Black Dragon River (Prime Crime, 1995). A modern Chinese police inspector investigates a murder linked to the Cultural Revolution.

Williams, Walter Jon. Days of Atonement (Tor, 1992). New Mexico police chief investigates an impossible murder.

Films

Alien Nation (Graham Baker, 1988). Realistic police action/mystery movie involving a bigoted cop partnered with an alien detective. The film spawned a short-lived TV series (see below) and a series of made-for TV movies.

Beverly Hills Cop (Martin Brest, 1984). Comedy/action movie in which a streetwise Chicago cop investigates a friend's murder in upscale Beverly Hills.

Blown Away (Stephen Hopkins, 1994). Suspense movie involving an escaped IRA explosives expert vs. his former friend, now instructor for the Boston bomb squad.

Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997). Suspense movie involving corrupt NYPD police against an overweight, ineffectual New Jersey sheriff.

Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971). First in a series of popular police action movies involving a streetwise San Francisco police inspector determined to get his quarry despite the rules.

The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971). Action movie loosely based on real life – a record seizure of heroin by two New York City detectives.

L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997). Corruption in the LAPD (circa 1940s) affects three officers.

Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner, 1987). Another mismatched-partners action movie pairing an on-the-edge detective with one days from retirement. A quintessential Hollywood police action movie.

Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990). Coen Brothers movie about romantic love triangle which precipitates a mob war.

The Onion Field (Harold Becker, 1979). True-life police thriller about two officers captured by suspects in a routine motor vehicle stop and the effects of the incident on the futures of both criminals and the officer who survives the kidnapping.

Outland (Peter Hyams, 1981). Homage to High Noon, featuring a federal marshal investigating deaths in a mine on one of Jupiter's moons.

Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet, 1981). Dramatic movie based on the real career of a NYPD detective who starts informing on corruption within the department.

Red Heat (Walter Hill, 1988). Another "mismatched partners" action/comedy movie, this one with a fast-talking Chicago cop and an efficient Soviet officer seeking international drug smugglers.

RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987). Extremely violent dark future movie about a cybernetic patrol officer involved in corporate intrigue.

Serpico (Sidney Lumet, 1973). Dramatic movie based on the career of an NYPD officer who insisted on exposing department corruption.

The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1990). Thriller about a young FBI agent's search for a serial killer using the advice of a more dangerous serial killer.

Supercop (Stanley Tong, 1992). Jackie Chan plays a Hong Kong police inspector investigating an international drug cartel.

The Corruptor (James Foley, 1999). A young white officer learns the ropes in NYC's Chinatown.

The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987). Violent action movie loosely based on Eliot Ness' efforts to break Al Capone's mob.

Television

Adam-12 (1968-1975). Realistic drama about a rookie officer and his trainer on patrol in the LAPD.

Alien Nation (1989-1990). This series continued the basic plot of the movie of the same name, and sparked a series of TV movies.

Barney Miller (1975-1982). Comedy/drama about detectives in an NYPD major crimes unit.

CHiPs (1977-1983). Action series about two California Highway Patrol officers.

COPS (1989- ). Reality TV show in which camera crews follow patrol officers on their rounds.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000- ). Drama about Las Vegas criminologists featuring state-of-the-art (and beyond) technology and techniques. Spinoffs include CSI: New York (2004-2013), and CSI: Miami (2002-2012)

Dragnet (Radio 1949-1957, TV 1952-1970). Long-running drama series about two LAPD detectives.

Due South (1994-1998). Comedy/drama about a fast-talking Chicago detective and a by-the-book Canadian Mountie.

The FBI (1965-1974). Drama loosely based on actual FBI cases, made with the support of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Hawaii 5-0 (1968-1980). Drama set in Hawaii featuring an elite five-man state police unit which investigated organized crime, homicide, assassination attempts, espionage, and various felonies. (Hawaii does not and never did have a state police force.)

Hill Street Blues (1981-1987). Award-winning drama set in an unspecified Midwestern/Eastern city. Many episodes featured a chaotic world of street crime and problems viewed by patrol officers.

Homicide (1993-1999). Drama based on homicide detectives in Baltimore.

Law & Order (1990-2010). A drama which shows first the police investigation of a crime and then the district attorney's prosecution. The series is set in NYC and the detectives may be on the D.A.'s Squad, which is involved in homicide but also works on high profile or sensitive cases. Spinoffs include Law & Order: SVU (1999- ), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-2011), and the short-lived (14 episodes) Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).

Miami Vice (1984-1989). Stylish action series set in Miami, with lots of fast cars, speedboats, and drugs.

NYPD Blue (1993-2002). Gritty drama set in an NYPD homicide unit on the lower east side of Manhattan.

Prime Suspect (1991-1995). Gritty BBC series involving a world-weary female inspector (DCI) on London's homicide squad, dealing with discrimination inside and outside the department.

Star Cops (1986). Near future BBC series involving the "International Space Police Force," with jurisdiction over lunar and orbital colonies.

Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977). Drama/detective series set in San Francisco.

Third Watch (1999-2005), Drama set in New York City focusing on police, fire and EMT personnel working the 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM shift.

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