From Roscoe Rules making everyone "do the chicken" to Francis Tanaguchi's vampire teeth to Spermwhale Whalen's "blue veiner" and/or "diamond cutter", I believe this is the best and most realistic book about police work I've ever read. I read it when I was a police officer in Southern Calif. in the 1970's, and am now reading it for the second time, about 25 years later. I'm considering using it as a text for a "Human Relations and Social Conflict" class I'm teaching at a Colorado Community College (Criminal Justice Program). I can't imagine a book that better depicts the reality of being a police officer, the crazy and depressing situations that continually arise, and the officer's means of dealing with the problems they encounter daily. Joseph Wambaugh became an icon with this book in my opinion, at least with the police culture in America. My only criticism of the book is that the style is a little narrative at times, but the points are made exceedingly well none-the-less. Every time Roscoe talks about making someone do the chicken, I can't help but laugh, since I used this phrase many times over the years, and only made one person "do the chicken" in 30 years in law enforcement. Great book and well worth reading.