Book and Author of the Year Announced

Editor's Note: The Author of the Year is a former Marine.

February 4, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. Police-Writers.com announced the 2008 Book of the Year and 2008 Author of the Year.

What Every Chief Executive Should Know: Using Data to Measure Police Performance, (Looseleaf Law Publications, 2007) by Captain Jon M. Shane (ret.), was selected as the 2008 Police-Writers.com Book of the Year. In December 1985, Jon Shane Joined the Newark Police Department (New Jersey) and was assigned to the South Police District. During his 20 year law enforcement career, he worked a variety of assignments and worked his way through the ranks of detective, sergeant and lieutenant, eventually reaching the rank of Captain.

Jon Shane’s book stood out among the entrants because it significantly advances management decision making in the field of law enforcement. The book provides models and mathematical approaches to management questions like: “How many officers do we need? Are we efficiently using the ones we have? Is there a relationship between the number of officers we have and our crime rate? What is the status of our patrol car fleet? Are citizens satisfied with our work? What is the cost of our special programs and what are the actual benefits?”

One Police-Writers.com judge noted that Jon Shane’s book “took a daunting subject and broke it down into pieces that anyone could understand and put to use. Not only did he give simple and easy to understand explanations, he also provides examples of types of data and how to work with that data to make intelligent decisions. Plus, he provides a CD with ready-to-use Excel spreadsheets for an executive to use right away.” A second judge noted, “Shane’s book goes beyond the use of math to solve management questions in policing. The hidden value in the work may be that it demonstrates new ways of thinking about crime. Potentially, it could help put the word “analysis” back into “crime analysis.”

James H. Lilley was selected as the 2008 Police-Writers.com Author of the Year. The author of the year selection was based in part on writing ability and in part on career and community service.

James H. Lilley began his lifetime as a United States Marine in 1961. Shortly after his discharge, he joined the Howard County Police Department (Maryland), graduating first in his class. During his career his received numerous honors such as Medal of Valor, four Bronze Stars, four Unit Citations and the Governor’s Citation. James H. Lilley has published six novels, articles in Police Chief Magazine and authored an International Association of Chiefs of Police training key. Moreover, he began studying Martial Arts in the early 1960s and is a 8th Degree Black Belt in Shorin Ryu Karate; the first American to achieve this recognition and honor from Sensei Takeshi Miyagi.

James Lilley submitted as an example of his work The Eyes of the Hunter (PublishAmerica 1997). One of the Police-Writers.com judges said of James’ writing, “He is a mature writer with strong plot, character and story development.” Another judge said, “easy to read, and it was very good escapism. The writer has some absolutely beautiful passages wherein he describes a sound or a vista. The sex scenes are pretty hot, too.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 839 police officers (representing 382 police departments) and their 1772 law enforcement books in 32 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.

Contact Information:
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530