400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons From a Veteran Patrolman

While the media coverage of law enforcement these days seems to paint all cops as members of a rogue group of armed thugs that enjoy exerting authority … I know otherwise. After experiencing a few “ride-a-longs” and being on the receiving end of an armed bank robbery, I was fortunate enough to receive a more intimate view of how the police operate. There are several good books available that shine a more well-rounded perspective of how police operate, but I have found no better work that Adam Plantinga’s 400 THINGS COPS KNOW. The book is simply a brutally honest nuts-and-bolts view of the good, the bad and the ugly of a much-maligned profession.What makes Plantinga’s book so effective is that it is essentially a book written by a cop for other cops. Reading it, as a “civilian”, felt like I was eves-dropping on an intimate conversation between military buddies swapping old war stories. While we may not relate directly to every subject being discussed, we can easily become immersed into the stories and, for a second or two, put ourselves in the storytellers’ shoes and envision their reality … a reality that tends to yield more uncertainty, more fear and misery than one generally imagines.400 THINGS COPS KNOW is broken down into nineteen chapters that cover specific aspects of policing: Shots Fired, Use of Force, Booze and Drugs, Domestic Violence, Being Among the Dead, etc. Each of these chapters contains a specific number of entries pertaining to the topic. Cumulatively, the entries for each topic total the “400 things cops know”. What enhances the tone of the book is that the numbered entries in each chapter are not long, laborious paragraphs, but simply a handful of sentences that get to the point and get you thinking. This results in a fast-paced and interesting read. While some of these entries are longer, most are nothing more than a few sentences that are thrown at you, one after another. While this book could have served as a platform to whine and complain about how unfairly society and the media label police, Plantinga never goes down that path. It’s simply an accumulation of things experienced and/or seen on the job that most of us have never considered. He maintains level-headed and a sense of humor throughout the book and writing it must have been a cathartic experience for the author … a sense of relief that maybe he could give people a better sense of what it’s actually like to be a cop (it certainly isn’t portrayed accurately on television … with the exception of HBO’s “The Wire”, according to Plantinga). If anything, the book gets you thinking; its contents should generate a number of reactions from readers: shock, disgust, sympathy, laughter, empathy, pride and anger.I’ve read other books that described certain aspects of law-enforcement (like “What Cops Know”) and they tend to center on “meat-and-potatoes” incidents that seemed aimed to shock readers. 400 THINGS gives us a much broader perspective of the profession. While there is certainly a degree of drama, the biggest reality is that the average police officer’s daily experience involves uncertainty and not a lot of down time. We learn that in winter months, even the criminals don’t like the cold weather … that domestic assaults are some of the most dangerous calls police respond to … that guns, drugs and money can be found in the most unlikely places and that police are allowed, by law, to elevate their response to a perceived threat. What really makes reading the book so enjoyable is that the author manages to educate us and illustrate his points with personal accounts all along. Some of the details are disturbing and depressing (issues of child maltreatment), pathetic (the red tape), frustrating (never being caught up responding to calls), disgusting (the abundance of bodily fluids these officers come into contact with when dealing with drunks and drug addicts) and downright hilarious and embarrassing at times. One thing for sure, Plantinga leaves no stone uncovered in tell us what he’s learned as a police officer.Honestly, this is one of the better “true-crime” books I’ve read. It’s a short read (about 200 pages) chock full of details that get you thinking, wondering how you would react in some situations and simply questioning whether or not you could handle such a job. While my ride-a-longs allowed me to experience a high speed chase and responding to accidents and domestic assault calls, those heart-thumping moments are simply grains of sand in the sand dune that is police work. 400 THINGS COPS KNOW does an excellent job telling us things we things we don’t know about and correcting many of the exaggerated stereotypes we’ve been told to believe. Plantinga tells it all good and bad … this is one book every American should consider reading.

My reading of late has been a bit heavy. Nonfiction only. My buddy suggested this selection when I moaned about a cross-country flight I had to endure. The author is an humble man, it seems, yet his satire and insense of humor slipped in at just the right moments. Fun. Informative.

I picked up "400 Things" after reading a Wall Street Journal article which mentioned that Lee Child and other crime writers were fans. Child called it "...a mix of hard-boiled autobiography and street-wise poetry." I don't know that I would go that far but I did enjoy the book.Written by a thirteen year veteran patrol officer, the book is a collection of stories, observations, little known facts and personal musings told in an affable, straight forward style. I think the author is fairly representative of police officers, if more articulate than most. It may seem controversial in light of current events (This review is written on 11-29-14) but no attempt is made to whitewash police or vilify the citizenry. It merely provides perspective.Divided into nineteen chapters with 11 to 31 "things cops know", this is a very easy read, with no section or tale running more than a few of pages. People frequently ask if a book contains foul language. Uh, of course this does- generally in the form of quotes not the author throwing it in randomly. I doubt that anyone really expects inner city police work to involve a lot of "Gee Whiz" and "Gosh Darn".While there are stories and situations that are grim, depressing and even shocking, I did have several "laugh out loud" moments. For example:"I once heard a coworker observe that my partner Ramon, a fine man but not especially fleet of foot, 'runs like Jed Clampett'."This is a difficult review to write simply because there is so much to say about this book. It would definitely be a great book club selection. From Plantiga's thoughts on societal issues to the role of the media, I guarantee you will want to discuss it.Although I would recommend this to everyone (but your favorite TV cop show will never be the same), I can't quite say that I love it. It was an easy book to set aside and return to days later. It was an impulse purchase for me and I do feel some pangs for the loss of a couple of other books I could have purchased for the price. Also, there were a few things that simply annoyed me. For some reason, paragraphs are lifted from the text and inserted into boxes with larger type as though you might have missed it the first time. This appears to be an attempt to make the book longer without adding any value or substance. And, at least in the kindle version, there are formatting problems in the last chapter where entire sentences are repeated.Aside from these issues, I liked this book a lot and strongly recommend it.

Adam Plantinga is a law enforcement officer who is excellent at describing the many facets of police work---from calls to places of unspeakable filth to the little girl who offers a Valentine's Day card to an officer. With tongue-in-cheek humor and in short (sometimes mercifully so) bites, he walks his readers through what police officers experience every day. He makes them see why cops do what they do, and most of all, why we should be grateful that such men exist. Great book, Adam. Thank you!

Gift

This book was written by an active duty police officer so he knows what he's talking about. Lots of great information for writers wanting to add authenticity into their work.

Really great book, lots of honest insight and still entertaining. Must read for those wanting to know how cops on the beat think, work, and feel.

Consejos útiles para principiantes, opositores y curiosos, aunque basándose en el modelo policial de EEUU, por lo demás, la actitud ante los sospechosos, barrios, qué hacer antes, durante y después de intervenciones, de todo tipo y detalladas a través de la experiencia del autor, quedan muy bien reflejadas, para hacerse una buena idea.

good