The Crime Fighter : Putting the Bad Guys Out of Business

Author: Jack Maple, Chris Mitchell
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0767905547
Publisher: Broadway Books (17 October, 2000)
Sales Rank: 65,425
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5
A Common Sense Approach to Policing and Managing
Jack Maple's book is both informative and fun reading. with his professional experience as a valuable resource, Maple's book is full of examples of how to lower crime and boost police/community morale. this book explains how to simplify the complicated and bureaucratic approach that many police departments take.maple's book raises many management theories that are important for any successful organization to be familiar with. (i.e. micromanaging vs. macromanaging in " The One Minute Manager", to a degree,and the breaking ball plus theory, a relative of the broken windows theory and other common sense theories) Maple also expounds on the need for managers to be leaders and not coaches and how leaders must allow for innovation in the lower ranks while letting subordinates know their bosses are familiar with their plight. Maple asserts that settling for less can become a cancer on any organization. for example, Maple argues that 10% of cops do 90% of the crime fighting. The Crime Fighter is an educational " page turner". To read it is to enjoy it.


Rating: 3 out of 5
A New Look at Fighting Crime
Jack Maple's book on fighting crime has voice. As I read it, I could hear Mr. Maple tell the story. The story he tells is one of how New York City reduced crime in the 1990s. The reason is Jack Maple. Maple describes in several well-told anecdotes his experiences as a transit cop and later deputy commissioner of the force. He describes stupid crooks and brilliant ones. He describes good cops and bad cops. He describes good police policy and bad police policy. He makes it all entertaining. He doesn't give Mayor Gulliani credit for the reduction in crime, he slyly gives it to himself. He also describes his later experiences in New Orleans and how the same principles applied to reduce crime there as well. What does he do? He mostly introduced common sense things with a lot of communication and a lot of follow-up. Like any good story, it is in the telling.


Rating: 5 out of 5
Well-Written and Highly Informative
Engaging stories from Maple's career as a detective for
the NY Transit Police, deputy commissioner of NYPD, and
consultant to Newark, Philadelphia, and New Orleans police
departments make this a very interesting read. The fact
that the problems and solutions discussed are relevant to
other cities - not just NYC - broadens the appeal of this
book. While some of the principles will apply to smaller
police jurisdictions, the context of all examples is with
large cities.

The subtitle "How You Can Make Your Community Crime-Free"
is a bit misleading, as this book is really about how the
police can make your community crime-free. Deploying
resources based analysis of crime tracking, holding
commanders accountable for reducing crime in their
districts, auditing against falsifying crime reports
to artificially improve statistics, having "cold case
squads" take over unsolved cases, interrogation strategy,
rooting out bad cops, and respect for citizens are
among the many topics covered.

I chose to read this book because the author, Jack Maple,
was an interesting character in the book Turnaround by
William Bratton; Bratton shook up several underperforming
police departments including the NYPD and Maple was key
player on his "dream team."



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