For the Love
of Police
Police officers and departments
are especially hot topics right now, whether it be in regards to
police brutality or the use of excessive force. It seems there is a
clear line between people who respect them and people who despise
them. But how does that choice come to be?
We all make
decisions based on information that comes our way, but what if
everything we read in the media about police taking harsh action
isn’t correct? What if these articles are missing key intel? Unless
we were in an officer’s shoes, how can we really
know what transpired?
All of us have played—or at
least are familiar with—the telephone game. In this, it’s easy to
see how a message changes as it moves down the line. The same, too, I
would suspect, is the case when it comes to reporting. But that’s
only one way that information can get garbled, making it uncertain
and difficult to claim as truth. Reports are also often colored by
the viewpoint of a source. If that source is prejudiced against the
police, it will immediately taint his or her reaction to a situation;
before knowing any facts, the police will be cast in an unfavorable
light.
I’m not saying that police
always make the right decisions; they are human, after all. There are
even some corrupt cops. However, I feel that people need to
appreciate that unless they are there, in the moment, there’s no
way of truly knowing why a certain course of action was taken.
As a result of
my own respect for law enforcement, I have dedicated In
the Line of Duty
to all the fine men and women who serve or have served, and in memory
of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. While most of us would
run from gunfire, they run toward it. That right there is enough to
warrant my respect. Just imagine what the world would be like without
police. In two words, utter
chaos.
--Carolyn
Arnold
Author
of In the Line of Duty (Detective
Madison Knight series)
Excerpt
from In the Line of Duty,
Chapter 4:
A
life of sacrifice to the higher good was what Madison had signed up
for. She’d defend the innocent and protect and serve if it took her
life to do so, and she’d do it despite the way the media painted
things to make officers look like the bad guys more often than not.
They applied too much use of force to a situation, or they shot
someone who wasn’t armed. Meanwhile, it wasn’t disclosed that the
officer approached a subject in the dark of night and the subject was
holding a bicycle pump extended in the fashion of a gun. The officer
had to make a split-second decision that, if it had been a loaded
gun, the officer or his backup would have been shot.
And
rarely did the news share the stories of courage and bravery—how
the actions of officers saved lives and put criminals behind bars.
They never reported about the officers who resuscitated a woman who
was clinically dead, saving her life while waiting on the local
paramedics to show up. No—law enforcement always fell under the
microscope of scrutiny and judgment, and yet she and her brothers put
their lives on the line every day because it was what many of them
believed they were born to do. Of course, there were some who viewed
the job as simply that, but not her. Donning her badge wasn’t
something she gave thought or consideration to each morning. It
wasn’t an option. It was the same as putting on a pair of pants or
brushing her teeth.
You’ve
reached the end of the excerpt, but In the
Line of Duty is available in e-book,
paperback, and hardcover from popular retailers.
About
In the Line of Duty:
He
devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him?
It
was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of
shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and
kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and
forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When
news of Weir’s murder reaches the precinct, it leaves Detective
Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It
cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend,
Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he
loves just when they need one another the most.
With
evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team
investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for
their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted
the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random
shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a
targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they
have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.
About
the Detective Madison Knight Series:
Murder.
Investigation. The pursuit of justice. Do
you love trying to figure out whodunit? How about investigating
alongside police detectives from the crime scene to the forensics lab
and everywhere in between? Do you love a strong female lead? Then I
invite you to meet Detective Madison Knight as she solves murders
with her male partner, utilizing good old-fashioned investigative
work aided by modern technology.
This
is the perfect book series for fans of Law
& Order, CSI, Blue
Bloods, Rizzoli
& Isles, Women’s
Murder Club, and Hawaii
Five-O.
Read
in any order or follow the series from the beginning: Ties
That Bind, Justified, Sacrifice, Found Innocent, Just Cause, Deadly
Impulse, In the Line of Duty, Life Sentence (Bonus Prequel).
About
the Author
Carolyn
Arnold is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as
well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four
continuing fiction series and has written nearly thirty books. Both
her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by
those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading
her to adopt the trademark, POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT™.
Connect
with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:
And
don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date
information on release and special offers at
http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.
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