If you've never read a non-fiction book about police before, this is the place to start. I read Baker's "Nam: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Fought There" and loved it. And "Cops" didn't disappoint either. I first read it a number of years ago and have recommended it highly ever since. It's a fantastic book, much more comprehensive than Connie Fletcher's "competing" (but still good) book, "What Cops Know." As you might expect, the stories run the gamut from heartbreakingly sad to laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Every serious student of law enforcement should read this book. And so should everyone else. (I think I'm up to three full readings.)