Review of Walk the Blue Line


 Walk the Blue Line 
by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
c2023, 341pgs

Of all the first hand account books that I've read about being a cop, this one is the gold shield. 
The  book is broken up into 30 -40 short 3-5 page stories of various officers in various departments.  Young and older, new patrolmen sometimes days on the job to 30 year veterans getting ready  to retire, detectives, sheriff's deputies, US Marshalls, state police and FBI so it's a very  nice cross section of people.
The book doesn't go into, or maybe I missed it, of how the authors got the stories. Are these all first hand, interviewed accounts that they then took and wrote up using their own talent for creating drama ? Or are these written by the officers and the collected and edited by the authors ? 

The stories they bring to the table are also varied but compelling. 
Tense traffic stops that are de-escalated and everyone goes about their evening..
Foot pursuits...
Presenting testimony at hearings...
Really bad guys doing bad things...
Discovering bodies...
Getting into gunfights...

But there is more then " just the facts, ma'am" to these stories. The officers talk about why they got into law enforcement, the struggles they face from within the departments, within their own families and being part of a society at large.  They talk about the George Floyd case, the misperception that all cops are racists, bad cops, bureaucracies and department red tape, attitudes within law enforcement and the growing issue of officers mental health.  Because the book is so new, the issues the officers face are current and relevant unlike true cops stories from 20 years ago. 

If I was in law enforcement and I wanted to supply one book to my friends and relatives about my job, this would be it. 


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