In the Name of the Law
An Oral History of Law Enforcement
Title Details
Pages: 240
Trim size: 5.500in x 8.500in
Formats
Paperback
Pub Date: 09/01/2007
ISBN: 9-781-6030-6035-6
List Price: $19.95
Imprint
NewSouth BooksRelated Subjects
In the Name of the Law
An Oral History of Law Enforcement
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- Description
- Reviews
More than a hundred men and women in various aspects of law enforcement were interviewed for this unusual profile. The interviews were all conducted in Alabama, but the insights and experiences are common to the criminal justice system throughout the United States. Lofton’s subjects ranged from the veteran lone officer in the storefront police department in Town Creek to the college-educated major in the big-city Mobile Police Department. There are stories from county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and peripheral views from prosecutors, criminal court judges, bailiffs, and probation officers. The goal was to find out what the men and women working in criminal justice thought and remembered about their jobs, which are among the most difficult and sometimes controversial in modern society.
Thank you, Mack, for your book, In The Name of The Law. Law enforcement officers do their profession just like a doctor in OR. Your painting of them is greatly appreciated.
—Robert Timmons, executive director of Alabama Sheriff's Association
I was happy to recount a few of my experiences in my 24 years with the Secret Service for this book. Mack Lofton spent over six months traveling the state of Alabama talking to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers to present a broad view of their personal experiences. This book gives the reader a look at law enforcement from the inside out, and paints a picture of the achievements, the vivid action, and sometimes, the frustration an officer faces. It's a good read.
—Lawrence T. Oden, mayor of Mountain Brook, corporate security consultant, Secret Service veteran
When I read parts of Mack Lofton’s book on law enforcement, I feel like I’m there. There with the stale coffee on the stakeout, waiting for the bad guy to show up; there when you tell the bad guy to freeze and he has to decide whether to shoot; there when you have to decide whether to pull the trigger. Lofton’s interviews put me in the line of fire, they give me the feeling of what it’s like in the gritty, sometimes bloody, always exciting world of cops and robbers.
—Clarke Stallworth, columnist and former managing editor, Birmingham News
Over the years, law enforcement officers have many, many untold stories of both tragedy and happiness in the human experience. On both occasions, they have not had the opportunity to express their stories. Since the events of 9/11, more and more officers of all agencies are now given the chance to be heard and understood. Mr. Lofton has given these opportunities in this book.
—Harry Marzette, CFE, DABLEE, chief of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Police Department and president of the Alabama Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators
