133 NYPD Cops

Editor's Note: Several of the authors are former servicemembers.

February 25, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added five NYPD police officers bringing the total number of officers from NYPD to 133.

Former New York Police Department Detective Charles O'Hara is the author of Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation, now in its 7th edition. According to one reader, “The Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation by Charles O'Hara provides a particuarly informative and comprehensive insight into the specific areas of criminal investigation. The author includes detailed explanations and supports his theories with the use of factual information and case studies. This is must-have for those studying criminal investigation.”

John Perkins’ began his 22 year law enforcement career as a police cadet. According to John Perkins, “As a young policeman in the early 1970's, John’s beat included some of the worst neighborhoods in the New York metropolitan area where he routinely worked backup units responding to the most violent crimes in progress. He eventually was involved in over 700 arrests at least 100 of which were brutally violent arrest scenarios where people routinely ended up in the hospital or morgue.

John Perkin’s is the co-author of Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Protection. According to the book description, “Ex-cop and former forensic homicide investigator John Perkins is recognized by several top forensic scientists to be an expert in determining how people fought and died in horrific homicides. Combined with his 50 years in the martial arts, executive bodyguard work for domestic and foreign dignatories, over 100 brutally violent arrest scenarios (where people ended up in the hospital or morgue) and unsanctioned pit-fighting on the docks of Newark and New Orleans, Perkins is a veteran of what works and what doesn't in the field of self-defense.”

Dr. Daniel Rudofossi has interviewed, assessed, and treated hundreds of police officers in his extensive clinical, treatment, and research experience as Uniform Psychologist/Police Sergeant, New York Police Department. Dr. Daniel Rudofossi continues in his private practice to work with traumatized police officers, and he is an active police surgeon with the NYC HRAPD, is a professor at NYU, and is on the Board of Advisors, Saybrook University, Clinical Police Psychology Ph.D. Program. Dr. Daniel Rudofossi is the author of Working With Traumatized Police-officer Patients: A Clinician’s Guide to Complex Ptsd Syndromes in Public Safety Professionals.

According to Vincent M. Mansfield, Commanding Officer, Medical Division, NYPD Retired Chief, NYPD, “Dr. Dan Rudofossi's Working with Traumatized Police-Officer Patients is thorough, clearly expressed, and, most important, sorely needed. His book will prove of great value to clinicians, police administrators, and anyone concerned with learning about real trauma and its effect on law enforcement personnel. Because he is both a street cop and so astute a clinician, Dr. Rudofossi was able to straddle an imposing gulf and secure the trust of those he treated. This book is a rare piece of scholarship.”

Three New York Police Department detectives are among the co-authors of the Rape Investigations Handbook; John Baeza; Alan Sandomir; and, John Savino. According to the book description, “This work addresses specific investigative and forensic processes related to sex crimes for those who work in law enforcement, the defense community, or in the private sector. It is an unprecedented collaborative work -- the first working manual for sex crime investigators, written by sex crime investigators and forensic scientists.

Detective John Baeza started his career in law enforcement as a New York State Correction Officer working at the Sing-Sing and Otisville correctional facilities. He was employed by the New York Police Department for nearly 12 years. John Baeza began his police career in Harlem’s 32nd Precinct as a patrol officer. He was then assigned to the Manhattan North Tactical Narcotics Team where he performed undercover work for three years. John Baeza was promoted to Detective during his Narcotics assignment. From 1994 to 2000, he was assigned to the Manhattan Special Victims Squad where he personally investigated more than 2000 sex crimes and child abuse cases.

Detective Alan Sandomir was born and raised in New York City. He attended Cortland College in upstate New York where he received a dual Bachelor’s Degree in both Anthropology and Political Science. After college, Detective Alan Sandomir spent four years in the United States Army where he was involved in a classified intelligence collection operation in Eastern Europe during the height of the Cold War.

In 2001, Alan Sandomir created and initiated a program that allowed him to specialize in and investigate the trickle of incoming DNA based cases that was correctly forecasted to soon turn into an avalanche. As the DNA databanks began to churn out DNA cases Detective Sandomir and his partner, Detective Edward Tacchi, became the first DNA Detectives in the NYPD where they led both New York City and New York State in DNA arrests and indictments while working out of their Manhattan office.

John Savino has been a member of the New York Police Department since 1982. His career has spanned all aspects of law enforcement, beginning with a short assignment as a uniformed police officer and quick advancement to the Narcotics Division. His investigative skills began developing while assigned to the Manhattan North Narcotics Division. This assignment also helped develop his ability to talk with people from all walks of life, as he worked in an “undercover” capacity buying narcotics in Manhattan.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 866 police officers (representing 383 police departments) and their 1810 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Contact Information:
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Young Leaders Tour Washington, Pentagon

By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

March 7, 2008 - More than 100 high school students, wearing business suits and looking more like politicians than teenagers, crowded the halls of the Pentagon today during one of their final stops in a week-long tour of the capital city. The students represented all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Defense Department Education Activity as part of the U.S. Senate Youth Program.

The program brings the brightest and most promising young leaders here for tours and talks with the nation's top leaders all the way up to the president. Today they met with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and toured the Pentagon.

Their visits also include stops at the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the White House. They meet senior officials and hold discussions with them along the way. The student delegates are able to discuss current public and national security policy issues with senators, cabinet members and other senior government officials.

"That was pretty cool," said Christopher Brown, one of the DoD Education Activity delegates, speaking of his visit with the various key political leaders.

A self-described "political junkie," Brown is a junior whose parents teach in the Defense Department's Hanau High School in Hanau, Germany.

"I follow politics a lot. It was really interesting. I didn't realize how much of a difference there was between the Senate and the House in the processes and how they work, so that was pretty cool," Brown said.

Brown has been around the military his whole life and was born in Germany. To be selected, he had to take tests, write essays and send in a video of his responses to government-related questions. Brown's teacher selected him because of his involvement with student government.

Brown said the Defense Secretary was different than he expected.

"He was a little quieter than I thought, and a little more unassuming. And that actually gave me more respect for him," Brown said of his meeting with Gates. "I kind of felt like I could relate to him."

Gates spoke to the students about the importance of integrity in their personal and professional lives, and answered questions, mostly relating to military policies and the war in Iraq, Brown said.

Brianna Fitch, also a DoD Education Activity delegate, said his talk really hit home for her.

"He was a very nice man. It was kind of nice to see the personal side of these figures [whose pictures] you see hanging on the wall every day in the chain of command. And I really took his words to heart, especially those about staying honest," she said.
Fitch's father is a lieutenant colonel in the Army, and she has been an "Army brat" all of her life. She is a senior at Brussels American School in Brussels, Belgium.

She graduates "exactly three months from yesterday," but who's counting. Her grandfather was also in the Army, but Brown said she plans to join the Peace Corps after graduation, and then possibly work as a political officer for the U.S. State Department.
"It's inspiring to see how many people are willing to listen to us," she said. "Even the speakers are saying 'It's your future. You guys are going to be the ones that are going to be here some day.' That's very exciting and motivating to hear."

Fitch said that one of the best things about the trip has been developing relationships with the other candidates and listening to their perspectives on issues.

"It's been a really great experience talking to them, hearing a lot of different political views, and I've liked getting to share a European view point," she said. "Our speakers have been excellent. Some have been very thought provoking."

She said the trip has given her a broader perspective, and, Brown believes, she has contributed to broadening others. She said her military life gives her a different view of political views, especially the war.

"Every figure you see in the news of deaths, those are people and they all have families," she said. "I think that definitely gives you a different perspective when you know people whose parents go off to war and who sometimes don't come back."

Army Maj. Michelle Avolio, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot with 200 hours combat flight experience in Iraq said she was actually intimidated when she found out she would be acting as a mentor for a week for six teenage girls.

As a mentor, Avolio has followed her group 24 hours a day, even sleeping in the same hotel, eating all the same meals. Her job is to be a role model for the delegates and a military representative.

The students' questions to Aviolo were somewhat predictable. The boys wanted to know if she got shot at. Yes, she did. The girls wanted to know more about what it's like being a woman in a position of leadership.

"Don't limit yourself," she told them. "Just be who you are. Be true to yourself and do the right thing and you'll shine as a leader."

Avolio said she volunteered for the job because it was important for the up-and-coming future leaders to have some personal military connection.

"They may [one day] be in very influential positions and may never have been exposed to the military and [would be] making decisions that concern us and our troops," Avolio said. "So they are able to see us and ask all the questions they want and maybe have a personal experience that when they're older they can look back on and influence their decisions positively."

Air Force Capt. Timothy Booher, an Air Force engineer, also dedicated a week away from work, emails, Blackberry devices and his wife and children to work with the delegates.

"I'm trying to really build rapport with them," he said. "To hopefully have a relationship where they know someone in the military who they can ask for advice and maybe help frame their understanding of what [we] in the military are like and perhaps challenge some of the stereotypes and assumptions that they might have come into this with."

America Supports You: MySpace Set to Rock Troops in Kuwait

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

March 6, 2008 - Troops in Kuwait preparing to deploy into Iraq will get a crash course in rock-and-roll MySpace style when the online social network hosts its "Operation MySpace" concert March 10. "For years, troops stationed all over the world have utilized MySpace as a lifeline to communicate with their loved ones back home," said Tom Anderson, a MySpace co-founder. "Many of them have been generous enough to share their unique experiences with me through messages on MySpace. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to thank them in person and bring along the entire MySpace community."

MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe expressed pride in being able to entertain the troops and bring them a small piece of home, though they're thousands of miles away.

"We're incredibly proud to host this one-of-a-kind concert," he said. "Unlike past variety shows or concerts of this nature, Operation MySpace will connect people, content, and culture a world apart through the live webcast of the show and interaction on the Operation MySpace profile."

The concert, part of the MySpaceLive! series, is being presented in cooperation with the Defense Department's Armed Forces Entertainment and America Supports You programs. Some of today's most popular music acts -- including Filter, Disturbed, The Pussycat Dolls, DJ Z-Trip and Jessica Simpson -- will rock the Kuwaiti desert for the troops stationed in the country. Comedian Carlos Mencia will host the three-plus hour event, which will stream live on the MySpace Web site at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on March 10.

"This MySpaceLive! concert is an exciting event because it communicates to our troops that people from all walks of life and from all types of companies support their service to our country," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense of internal communication and public liaison. "MySpace is a great medium to connect our military members and their families, who serve in 177 countries, to the folks back home. We are so glad to have MySpace as part of the team working with both America Supports You and Armed Forces Entertainment."

Armed Forces Entertainment is a supporter of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program, which connects citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad.

The connection Barber mentioned is already happening. Troops' families and friends, as well as the entire MySpace community, can post videos and messages of support via a video blog section on the myspace.com/operationmyspace Web site, set up just for the concert. That same site will feature scrolling goodwill messages during the live webcast of the show.

MySpace and Defense Department officials aren't the only ones excited about entertaining the troops. The musicians are thrilled with the opportunity.

"It's truly an honor to perform for the troops," Jessica Simpson said. "Through Operation MySpace, I get to serve my country by doing what I love to do in front of thousands of brave men in uniform. It's every girl's dream!"

The Pussycat Dolls had similar sentiments. "We're so excited to be performing for the troops and supporting our Armed Forces overseas," the group said in a statement.

FX television network will broadcast a condensed one-hour version of the show on April 12 for those who won't be able to catch it live.

For more information on the Operation MySpace concert, visit the MySpace Web site.