Adam Plantinga - Police Craft: What Cops Know About Crime, Community and Violence

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

POLICE CRAFT

In Police Craft, Adam Plantinga provides an unvarnished and eloquent examination of what its really like to patrol some of the countrys toughest streets. It is riveting and refreshing. A must-read for anyone interested in policing. Del Quentin Wilber, author of A Good Month for Murder and Rawhide Down

Adam Plantingas second book is a gift to cops, citizens and crime writers. Adam writes with skill, wisdom, humor, and experience. Hes both tough and tender. Theres lots for everyone to learn from his behind-the-badge perspective. Ellen Kirschman, PhD, author of I Love a Cop and I Love a Fire Fighter, and the Dr. Dot Meyerhoff mystery series.

For anyone who wants to understand law enforcement, Adam Plantinga is an essential resource: a cop who tells the truth about what its like to police our streets. His eye catches everything and his prose rings with authenticity. Police Craft is a terrific read. Andrew Klavan, bestselling author of Empire of Lies

Sgt. Adam Plantinga nailed it again with his second book Police Craft, a magnificent inside view of police work from one of San Franciscos finest an outstanding analysis of police work coupled with humility, humor and insight. Paul Chignell, S.F. Police Department Captain (retired)

You will often hear cops say, I could write a book based on everything I have seen and done while on this job! There is no need to because Adam has done it for us! I encourage cops to read this book. I found it to be therapeutic and a reminder that the thoughts and feelings I wrestle with due to my profession are shared by others. Its also be a great read for anyone in the public because it gives a candid view of law enforcement that many do not see or understand.Captain Aimee Obregon, Milwaukee Police Department

PRAISE FOR ADAM PLANTINGAS PREVIOUS BOOK

400 THINGS COPS KNOW

WINNER, 2015 KILLER NASHVILLE SILVER FALCHION AWARD BEST MAINSTREAM CRIME REFERENCE

Truly excellent, and much more than a listthis reads like a mix of hard-boiled autobiography and streetwise poetry. Certain to be one of my books of the year.

Lee Child, best-selling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers

Every cop should read this book and so should anyone who wants an uncensored peek into the real world of street cops. Its wise and witty, fascinating and fun a lot of fun!

Joseph Wambaugh, best-selling author of The New Centurions, The Blue Knight, the Hollywood Station series, and numerous other crime novels

Gritty, funny, and truthful, 400 Things Cops Know will surprise you on nearly every page and give you a new respect for the cop on the street.

Edward Conlon, best-selling author of Blue Blood and Red on Red

Essential for crime writers and anyone interested in the reality of police work.

George Pelecanos, author of The Cut, The Double, and numerous other crime novels and producer/writer of HBOs The Wire and Treme

The new Bible for crime writers.

The Wall Street Journal

Fascinating.

David Granger, Esquire

Riveting and often humorous an unusually frank insiders view.

The San Francisco Chronicle

Funny and rueful many fascinating trade secrets here.

Boston Globe

POLICE

CRAFT

POLICE

CRAFT

What Cops Know About Crime, Community and Violence

ADAM PLANTINGA

Fresno, California

Police Craft:

What Cops Know About Crime, Community and Violence

Copyright 2018 by Adam Plantinga. All rights reserved.

Published by Quill Driver Books

An imprint of Linden Publishing

2006 South Mary Street, Fresno, California 93721

(559) 233-6633 / (800) 345-4447

QuillDriverBooks.com

Quill Driver Books and Colophon are trademarks of

Linden Publishing, Inc.

Cover photo by

Rebecca Leimbach of Rebecca Leimbach Photography

ISBN 978-1-61035-331-1

135798642

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.

For my parents, Cornelius and Kathleen Plantinga, the two finest people I know.

And for all officers, deputies, and agents who hold the line.

Contents

Introduction

T his book is more or less a sequel to my first book, 400 Things Cops Know, or at the very least, a companion piece. Although I have dropped the bullet point format of 400TCK in favor of short essays, I have tried to write this work in the same spirit as the original. Why a sequel? Because you, the reader, demanded it. And by the reader, I am referring predominately to my mother and her loyal coffee circle. I wrote most of the first book while still a police officer. I have now been a sergeant for a number of years, although according to one of my old partners, this promotion was likely due to clerical error. But be that as it may, your perspective on the job changes once you become a supervisor. You are a step removed from the street. You must adopt more of a birds-eye view. And if you are assigned to an investigative unit, as I was at the time of this writing, you become much more involved in casework, evidence, and interrogations. This book is reflective of those changes.

After 400 Things Cops Know came out, the response I received was gratifying. The other day I got an email from a cop in Australia. Hes a constable in New South Wales attached to the Redfern command. He said the book had been helpful and aided him in avoiding injury. This made my week. But I also heard from officers and citizens alike who said the book was fine and all, but you left out the part about this. Or you should have talked more about that. A number of cops, noting that I wrote in 400TCK that police commandeer cars only in the movies, regaled me with accounts of vehicles they had commandeered. (With one or two exceptions, I found these accounts, even being kind, less than justifiable.) But point being, on other matters, I have listened to you. As such, this second volume contains things I left out of the first one and then some. It is made up of some material I had waiting in the wings, but a good deal of it comes from other cops, who are subject matter experts in everything from firearms to explosives. I have credited those officers contributions in these pages, unless it was a really interesting passage, in which case I pretended it was my idea from the start and then began an aggressive campaign to discredit the source. Like the first book, this second assembly is largely a collection of other peoples wisdom on the craft of police work. I am merely the fellow who put it together. This has been a reoccurring theme throughout my police career; when smart cops do and say smart things, I take good notes. And that is what makes books like this possible.

I wrote the first book, and am writing this second one, in part to give the reader an insiders look into urban police work. Most folks contact with the police may stem from a traffic ticket or reporting an auto break-in. But I dont think most people know what cops do all day. Or what the job looks like. Or what it feels like. This book is about those kinds of things. And in presenting police work the way it actually is, I hope that the reader will understand and recognize the contributions of the men and women in law enforcement. Because its a noble calling, if done right. It isnt always done right. I know this because I watch the news and read the papers. I know this because I dont always get it right. But Im not doing anyone a favor by serving up a sanitized view of how the job works. Life isnt always tidy. And law enforcement is one of the untidiest professions around.