Behind the Texas Badge


Book Description

"103 Texas peace officers recount their proudest moments, the most unusual calls they've handled, their worst days on duty, and what gets them through it all." --Introduction.




The Texas Badge


Book Description

The bloodiest crime in Texas history, and only one man has the guts to solve it. Bank robbery. Jailbreak. massacre. Alone, any one of them would send good folks reeling. But when all three occur in the same night in the same small South Texas town leaving no eyewitnesses behind, it could be the end of the world. Saddler County Sheriff Dell Hoffman is charged with bringing the perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice, but even the toughest and most cunning lawman in Texas has his limits. With nothing to go on but five bloody bodies, a cracked safe, and an empty jail, Dell works the fringes of his sleepy little western town—among the forgotten, the invisible, and those who often see without being seen. The more he learns, though, the more he wishes he could forget. In search of the truth, Dell finds himself pulled into a dark world of murder, deception, and brutality the likes of which he never imagined. Striking out on his own across the vast Texan prairie, he risks it all in search of justice. Will he solve the most heinous crime in Texas history? Or will Dell's drive for justice lead him to an even greater tragedy for both himself and those he cares for most?




Murder Behind the Badge


Book Description

The vast majority of law enforcement dutifully uphold their oath to protect. In a shocking true-crime narrative that reads like a thriller, a former police officer and detective, who is also a mystery writer, tells 18 stories about cops who kill.




The Dark Side of the Badge


Book Description

About the Book The Dark Side of the Badge: A Texas Tragedy exposes the history of the dark side of policing. Drs. Terry and Daphne Free integrate research combined with personal experiences in policing and bring to light stories that happen in policing that never make it to public light, including those stories behind the scenes. Those who are interested in policing will be able to avoid the pitfalls of agencies, and the public will realize the need to elect and hire qualified people in policework, which is of utmost importance. About the Author Both Drs. Terry and Daphne Free are Texas police officers with over twenty-six years of combined experience. They own and operate a martial arts school, security company, and a fire and environmental company. They also both hold Advanced Peace Officer certifications and doctorates in Organizational Leadership.




Black Cowboys in the American West


Book Description

Who were the black cowboys? They were drovers, foremen, fiddlers, cowpunchers, cattle rustlers, cooks, and singers. They worked as wranglers, riders, ropers, bulldoggers, and bronc busters. They came from varied backgrounds—some grew up in slavery, while free blacks often got their start in Texas and Mexico. Most who joined the long trail drives were men, but black women also rode and worked on western ranches and farms. The first overview of the subject in more than fifty years, Black Cowboys in the American West surveys the life and work of these cattle drivers from the years before the Civil War through the turn of the twentieth century. Including both classic, previously published articles and exciting new research, this collection also features select accounts of twentieth-century rodeos, music, people, and films. Arranged in three sections—“Cowboys on the Range,” “Performing Cowboys,” and “Outriders of the Black Cowboys”—the thirteen chapters illuminate the great diversity of the black cowboy experience. Like all ranch hands and riders, African American cowboys lived hard, dangerous lives. But black drovers were expected to do the roughest, most dangerous work—and to do it without complaint. They faced discrimination out west, albeit less than in the South, which many had left in search of autonomy and freedom. As cowboys, they could escape the brutal violence visited on African Americans in many southern communities and northern cities. Black cowhands remain an integral part of life in the West, the descendants of African Americans who ventured west and helped settle and establish black communities. This long-overdue examination of nineteenth- and twentieth-century black cowboys ensures that they, and their many stories and experiences, will continue to be known and told.




The Dark Side of the Badge


Book Description

About the Book The Dark Side of the Badge: A Texas Tragedy exposes the history of the dark side of policing. Drs. Terry and Daphne Free integrate research combined with personal experiences in policing and bring to light stories that happen in policing that never make it to public light, including those stories behind the scenes. Those who are interested in policing will be able to avoid the pitfalls of agencies, and the public will realize the need to elect and hire qualified people in policework, which is of utmost importance. About the Author Both Drs. Terry and Daphne Free are Texas police officers with over twenty-six years of combined experience. They own and operate a martial arts school, security company, and a fire and environmental company. They also both hold Advanced Peace Officer certifications and doctorates in Organizational Leadership.




Blood Over Badge


Book Description

"The murder of the Mayor of San Francisco's daughter sets the stage for this intriguing and spell-binding crime thriller. Two police detectives, Jack Paige and Casey Ford, are assigned to catch a cold-blooded rapist and killer. In this gritty, realistic tale of homicide, unrelated mysteries of two murderers seem to come together but make little sense. What does a man rotting away behind the stench-enclosed walls of Angola Penitentiary have to do with an evil and cruel rapist and killer now on the run from California to Texas? What is the relationship to the killing of the Mayor's daughter?"--P. [4] of cover.




Behind the Badge


Book Description

Behind the Badge By: Milton Pool, Retired Captain Milton Pool was a policeman for thirty-four years for the Amarillo Police department. During that time he maintained a diary of interesting events. The stories in this book are real events that occurred during his tenure, stories that feature official misconduct and officers being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Pool tells the inside stories that do not appear in newspapers, such as the homicide of Katrina Moyer and how her murder was solved to the downfall of the sheriff of Potter County, Mike Shumate. Pool interviewed fugitive Captain L.R. Wynn who was convicted of murder and spent several years on the run before being captured. The interview occurred one day before Wynn died of cancer. Pool has worked for many chiefs during his time at the department; one chief in particular had a stormy beginning. He also includes a comical situation involving a can of peaches and how it solved a crime of indecent exposure which is a must read. This is Pool’s second book about the police department. His first book, Cops Are People Too, was purchased by many friends who encouraged him to pen the second book.




Cult of Glory


Book Description

“Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book Review A twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the 1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases, they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the false--are truly made.




Black Gun, Silver Star


Book Description

In The Story of Oklahoma, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves appears as the "most feared U.S. marshal in the Indian country." That Reeves was also an African American who had spent his early life enslaved in Arkansas and Texas made his accomplishments all the more remarkable. Black Gun, Silver Star sifts through fact and legend to discover the truth about one of the most outstanding peace officers in late nineteenth-century America--and perhaps the greatest lawman of the Wild West era. Bucking the odds ("I'm sorry, we didn't keep Black people's history," a clerk at one of Oklahoma's local historical societies answered one query), Art T. Burton traces Reeves from his days of slavery to his Civil War soldiering to his career as a deputy U.S. marshal out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, when he worked under "Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker. Fluent in Creek and other regional Native languages, physically powerful, skilled with firearms, and a master of disguise, Reeves was exceptionally adept at apprehending fugitives and outlaws and his exploits were legendary in Oklahoma and Arkansas. In this new edition Burton traces Reeves's presence in the national media of his day as well as his growing modern presence in popular media such as television, movies, comics, and video games.