Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station

Hollywood Station

Joseph Wambaugh

Little, Brown, November 2006, $24.99

ISBN 0316066143

In Southern California between losing experienced cops to the military call up of the reserves and funding reductions by the same politicians who howl that the streets are unsafe, LAPD Hollywood Station cannot perform the mission. Learning from DC, however, no one in positions of leadership wants to know any of that, as all plans to fix shortages are strategic so that they come under someone else's future watch.

In that mess, the cops are forced to work with street gangs, meth heads, the homeless, the rich and famous, and the Russian mafia. To survive under the intense view of the community seeking (and hoping for personal gain) to find abuse and errors, the cops fake reports of interviews whenever they racially or economically need to balance their worksheets. The only thing that keeps the station from total collapse is the Oracle, a veteran sergeant, who can make a gourmet dinner out of chicken salad (some might say chicken excrement) as he works the partnering and beats of a motley crew.

More a series of vignettes than a cohesive novel, the tale focuses on how a police station copes with experience issues, money problems, and neighborhood mistrust in Joseph Wambaugh's excellent look at life in LAPD. The cast is top rate, as the police run the gamut of characters from wannabe actors to wannabe surfers, while the streets are filled with crazies and deadly's. Police procedural fans will want to read Mr. Wambaugh's fabulous tour of HOLLYWOOD STATION.