Practical, academic and biographical law enforcement

Note: One of the authors, O.W. Wilson, served as a Lt. Colonel during WWII

Police-Writers.com is a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books. Three local police officers were added to the list: Thomas Lee, Terence Green and O.W. Wilson.

Lieutenant Thomas O. Lee, New York State Police (retired), is the author of Firearms and Weapons Laws: Gun Control in New York. According to the book description, the book is a “complete source for answers to questions about the laws governing firearms licensing and use of weapons in New York. Contains all the statutes governing weapons possession, licensing and use, with expert commentary explaining what they mean and how they really work.”

Terence Green has spent over 29 years in local law enforcement. As an Oakland Police Department (California) police officer he has worked patrol, traffic, juvenile and detectives. He retired from the Oakland Police Department at the age of 50 and began working at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavior Science Unit. He worked there for 11 years.

Terence Green is the author of Old School. Old School “tells the true story of a career police officer as he advances through the ranks of the Oakland Police Department from a patrolman working a one man car to the Commander of the Homicide Detail.” According to one reader/reviewer, “This is a definite recommend to those interested in reading stories about how police work used to be. The book reads as if the author is sitting back in an easy chair with a glass of scotch telling you about the good old days. Definitely enjoyable and a good read that transcends generations.”

O.W. Wilson obtained his degree in Criminology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1924. To pay for his tuition, he joined the Berkeley Police Department, serving under another famous police officer, scholar and writer, August Vollmer. O.W. Wilson went on to become influential police scholar as well as the chief of police of the Fullerton Police Department (California) and chief of police of the Wichita Police Department (Kansas); and, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a public safety officer.

O.W. Wilson is the author of at least three books on policing and law enforcement: Police records: Their Installation and Use; Police Planning; and, Police Administration. O.W. Wilson’s book, Police Administration, is one of the most influential books in America on local law enforcement. Indeed, it was revised in 1996 and is used today in many colleges and universities. According to the revision description, “perhaps no other book in policing has captured more admiration and market share than O.W. Wilson's "Police Administration". Now Wilson's text has been revised by three top scholars in the field. This long awaited revision combines the nuts and bolts approach of the original with an up-to-date theoretical and policy perspective that makes it accessible to students and practitioners alike.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 518 police officers (representing 216 police departments) and their 1099 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.