The Crime Fighter

The Crime Fighter: How You Can Make Your Community Crime Free

by Jack Maple

Engaging stories from Maple’s career as a detective for the NY Transit Police, deputy commissioner of NYPD, and consultant to Newark, Philadelphia, and New Orleans police departments make this a very interesting read. The fact that the problems and solutions discussed are relevant to other cities—not just NYC—broadens the appeal of this book. While some of the principles will apply to smaller police jurisdictions, the context of all examples is with large cities.

The subtitle “How You Can Make Your Community Crime-Free” is a bit misleading, as this book is really about how the police can make your community crime-free. Deploying resources based on analysis of crime tracking, holding commanders accountable for reducing crime in their districts, auditing against falsifying crime reports to artificially improve statistics, having “cold case squads” take over unsolved cases, interrogation strategy, rooting out bad cops, and respect for citizens are among the many topics covered.

I chose to read this book because the author, Jack Maple, was an interesting character in the book Turnaround by William Bratton.  Bratton shook up several underperforming police departments including the NYPD and Maple was key player on his team.

Maple, Jack, and Chris Mitchell. The Crime Fighter: How You Can Make Your Community Crime Free. New York: Broadway, 2000. Buy from Amazon.com