Memoirs of a Playground Cop


Book Description

Most students lack any form of discipline or restraint in the classroom. Parents condone their childrens behavior. School administrators exhibit a god complex, and school police officers are caught in between the web of school politics that often interferes in enforcing the law equally to all. Today, students adverse behavior in the classroom no longer constitutes a delinquent conduct as per classroom discipline management rules, but rather, an act that has manifests itself into a criminal offense. Students are empowered to act bad when their own parents themselves refuse to correct their childrens maladaptive behavior by blaming others for their short comings. And this problem is further exasperated by school administrators who either use a strong arm tactic to curtail the problem or a too soft a hand to make an impression to get a child to exhibit positive behavior in the classroom. School administrators have a God complex where they walk around their campus expecting everyone, including school police officers, to do their biting. School administrators try to instill their own brand of justice by picking and choosing which students are to be charged with a criminal offense while others are allowed to continue their maladaptive behaviors. School police officers find themselves in a very precarious situation where they must wear different hats to address different issues that arise in the classroom. School police officers are like band-aides that are place on a wound, it is a cure all fix all approach to making problems go away, unfortunately, when dealing with the school community school police officers, and law enforcement in general, cannot use a band-aide to make things better as police work in a school setting is a web of complex issues that fosters misunderstanding among members of the school and law enforcement communities.




No Mopes Allowed


Book Description

If you like no-nonsense crime-busting, straight-shooting opinions, and offbeat humor, you’ll love this greatest-hits collection from surprise Internet sensation Chief David A. Oliver of the Brimfield Police Department . . . He’s been called “the coolest police chief in existence,” but David Oliver says he’s just doing his job—and still doesn’t understand how his small-town police department’s Facebook page attracted a worldwide audience. Readers from as far away as Australia, Ireland, and Hong Kong, and from every state in the U.S. “stop by” daily for a virtual cup of coffee with the chief. Whether he’s busting “mopes” (old-fashioned cop slang for criminal types), comforting a teen runaway, or promoting school safety, Oliver’s folksy and feisty style connects with readers. He tackles tough issues: The invasion of Meth and other drugs. Drunk driving. School shootings. He champions personal responsibility, and chastises politicians. “I have a low tolerance for nonsense,” Oliver says. This book collects the best of the chief’s politically incorrect essays, delightfully sarcastic letters to criminals, humorous crime reports, inspirational quotes, and more. Enter the colorful world of the Brimfield PD . . . Where you do NOT want to win a pair of “silver bracelets” and “a trip to the bed-and-breakfast” . . . Where drug mopes are pursued by a “Meth Whisperer” . . . Where dispatch calls might include an APB (“All-Pig Bulletin”) . . . And where kids caught bicycling safely are issued tickets—for free ice cream. If you’re not a mope, you’ll fit right in! David Oliver will donate all of his income from this book to the Chief Oliver Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that distributes funds to police department charitable programs and assists juvenile survivors of sexual assault.




Our Man in Paris


Book Description

Since 1997 John Lichfield, The Independent's correspondent in France, has been sending dispatches back to the newspaper in London. More than transient news stories, the popular ‘Our Man in Paris' series consists of essays on all things French. Sometimes serious, at other times light-hearted, they offer varied vignettes of life in the hexagone and trace the author’s evolving relationship with his adopted country. Many of Lichfield’s themes concern the mysteries of Paris and its people. Who is responsible for the city’s extraordinary plumbing? How can you drive around the Arc de Triomphe and survive? He also ponders the phenomena that intrigue many foreigners, such as the eloquence of the capital’s beggars and the identity of the intimidating but fast disappearing concierge. Visiting places as different as the Musée d’Orsay and Disneyland, he explores culture high and low as well as the everyday pleasures and problems of living in Paris.







BLOOD CHEAPER THAN OIL


Book Description

Al Molnar is the author of four best selling novels, Mission: Hong Kong 1944-1945; Mission: Alpine Redoubt; The Land Beyond Time, An Adventure in the Amazon; and Sweet Revenge, An Adventure in East Africa. He is also the contributing author to World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia. Al spent over 20 years in the military, 10 in the USMC and 10 in the US Army retiring as a Chief Warrant Offi cer. He was awarded two Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat in Vietnam, as well as 53 other medals, citations and commendations. Currently Al resided in Diamondhead, Mississippi. Hours before testifying to a US Congressional Committee investigating the oil industry for abuses and price gouging, an oil Company CEO, about to reveal a 70 year old secret, is shockingly executed along with his entire family. Or so they thought. The Secret would remain hidden . . . the executions – were meant to send a message to anyone who thinks they can betray the Circle. Or so they thought. Little did they know that someone kept a diary of those secret events that happened over 70 years ago in pre-war Nazi Germany . . . It is about to be discovered. So begins this fast paced action adventure novel . . . which takes place in Nov/Dec 2005, when two lives become intertwined today and in the past. It is a story about how far individuals will go to protect their corporation profi ts; their use of deception and the manipulation of the press and people, via their fears and gullibility. It is a story of the lies, secret deals and other efforts to expand their bottom line, their profi ts . . . . It is the story of their ignoring the rules and laws of mankind . . . Finally, it is the story of their total disregard for the world’s most precious resource, the human being . . . proving that BLOOD IS CHEAPER THAN OIL. This is a work of FICTION. Or is it?










Fieldnotes on a Study of Young People’s Perceptions of Crime and Justice


Book Description

This book is an ethnographic examination of the young people who serve voluntarily as judges, advocates and other court personnel at the Red Hook Youth Court (RHYC) in Brooklyn, New York—a juvenile diversion program designed to prevent the formal processing of juvenile offenders—usually first-time offenders—for low-level offenses (such as fare evasion, truancy, vandalism) within the juvenile justice system. Focusing on the nine-to-ten-week long unpaid training program that the young people undergo prior to becoming RHYC members, this book offers a detailed description of young people’s experiences learning about crime, delinquency, justice, and law. Combining moments of self-reflection and autobiographical elements into largely "uncooked" fieldnotes, the book seeks to demonstrate the hegemonic operations of a court (the Red Hook Community Justice Center (RHCJC)—a multi-jurisdictional problem-solving court and community center where the RHYC is housed), the processes in which it secures belief in formal justice and the rule of law, ensures consent to be governed, and reproduces existing social structures. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, law, sociology, and youth justice, as well as to those undertaking ethnographic research on young people, crime and justice.