Overview

Over twenty years ago, Sarah Cortez left a flourishing corporate career to strap on a gun, and police the streets. Transitioning from designer heels and a high-rise office to a low-bid, agency-owned Crown Vic wasn’t easy, but it delivered exactly what she desired. In these highly-charged personal reflections, Cortez reveals the complicated machinery of a cop’s heart, mind, and soul by dissecting the differences between cops and civilians. A must-read to understand the intangibles demanded by policing—courage, determination, patience, and a belief in justice—despite the grimy backdrop where life can become death in an instant.

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9781680031430

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Reviews

Cortez' writing will resonate with law enforcement professionals--from the adrenaline-inspiring memories of the police academy to the everyday chaotic scenes of crime-fighting. The best features of her writing are her authentic voice, her passion about the 'calling' of police work, and the concise language she utilizes--as only a gifted writer can. This book is a good reminder to all of us of why we wanted to be police officers in the first place. --Lt. Betsy Randolph, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Cortez has caught the essence of what it means to be a police officer with its 'endless boredoms and dirt . . . its tiny, stark terrors' and the 'hidden rewards of intense camaraderie, sense of mission, and the fulfillments of justice and duty.' She has explained the unexplainable in a fascinating read without flinching and with the eye of a poet. --T.K. Thorne, retired police captain and award-winning author of Angels at the Gate

Cortez has caught the essence of what it means to be a police officer with its 'endless boredoms and dirt . . . its tiny, stark terrors' and the 'hidden rewards of intense camaraderie, sense of mission, and the fulfillments of justice and duty.' She has explained the unexplainable in a fascinating read without flinching and with the eye of a poet. --T.K. Thorne, retired police captain and award-winning author of Angels at the Gate Cortez' writing will resonate with law enforcement professionals--from the adrenaline-inspiring memories of the police academy to the everyday chaotic scenes of crime-fighting. The best features of her writing are her authentic voice, her passion about the 'calling' of police work, and the concise language she utilizes--as only a gifted writer can. This book is a good reminder to all of us of why we wanted to be police officers in the first place. --Lt. Betsy Randolph, Oklahoma Highway Patrol

Author Information

Sarah Cortez, Councilor of the Texas Institute of Letters, is published in Texas Monthly, Rattle, Sun, Texas Review, Louisiana Literature, Arcadia, Midwest Quarterly, Southwestern American Literature. Her writing has received awards from PEN Texas, Writers’ League of Texas, Los Angeles Book Festival, and PEN Southwest. Her anthologies have won a Southwest Book Award and ILBAs.  Her recent anthology, Vanishing Points: Poems and Photographs of Texas Roadside Memorials, is a 2016 Southwest Book of the Year. She lives in Houston, Texas.

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