What's it like to sit in the front seat of a patrol car, cruising darkened city streets, when the radio crackles
to life and sends you down an alley to a "robbery in progress," the outcome of which you can't possibly
predict? What's it like to knock on a crack-house door, service revolver drawn, not knowing who - or what - is
behind it? What's it like, heart pounding in your chest, to stare down the barrel of a gun pointed straight at
you by a murderously high suspect? Cop shows you what it's like. It's the explosive story of Sergeant Michael Middleton,
a now-retired veteran of the LAPD and survivor of what may be the most brutal urban war zone in the country. From
handling the call to his first homicide as a rookie cop to making his last collar, Middleton's story is a nerve-shattering,
eyewitness account of life on America's meanest streets. In his two decades on the force, he investigated more
than 20,000 felony crimes, was at the scene of nearly 600 murders - including those of five officers killed in
the line of duty - and made over 3,000 arrests. In Cop, Middleton writes urgently and knowingly of those years
on the streets. It's a pulse-quickening - and often heartbreaking - insider's view of life as a foot soldier in
America's war on crime. With the threat of violence never far away, Middleton and his fellow officers daily faced
drug dealers, desperate addicts, thieves, gun-crazy gangs, rapists, and murderers. And in telling the riveting
stories of these encounters, Middleton uses them to make larger points - which will often surprise and shock you
- about good, evil, heroism, racism, and more. Gripping, poignant, and brutally honest, Cop is an unforgettable
portrait of life as a police officer on urban America's mean and gritty streets.