POLICE BOOKS - Legal Resources

David M. Waksman has toiled 32 years in the criminal courts of Miami, Florida, after working the mean streets of The South Bronx for six years as a police officer and rising to the rank of sergeant in the New York Police Department. He may have tried more first-degree murder cases than any other American prosecutor. According to the book description of The Search and Seizure Handbook, “In a meaningful, substantive and easy-to-use way, The Search & Seizure Handbook helps readers understand key cases and issues of the Fourth Amendment that are needed to perform the important role of applying and enforcing state and federal laws.

Drawing from his extensive experience as a street cop, David Waksman presents readers with an accessible handbook that can eliminate the guesswork for the average police officer. This valuable text provides the reader and potential trainer with a basic understanding of the Constitution and the various safeguards that law enforcement officers must have to deal successfully with the current criminal justice system.

The Search & Seizure Handbook fills a long-needed void among the available materials used for training and guidance of law enforcement officers at every level of government.”

Mark E. Bannon is a retired lieutenant from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (Florida). After three years of military service as a military police officer, Mark Bannon joined the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in 1981. During his law enforcement career, he worked in a number of key assignments within the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office such as patrol officer, sex crimes investigator, homicide detective, patrol supervisor, and homicide supervisor. He also was the Commander of such diverse units such as, Road Patrol, Community Involvement Team, Community Policing, and Fugitive Apprehension. As a retired law enforcement officer, Mark maintains a lifetime membership in the Florida and Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Associations in order to continue his important relationships with law enforcement officers and the South Florida law enforcement community.

Mark Bannon holds a BA in Social Psychology, an MPA, is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute and a law degree from the Miami School of Law. After retiring from policing, he worked as a criminal prosecutor in South Florida. Today, Mark E. Bannon conducts a private law practice. Mark E. Bannon is the author of A Quick Reference Guide To Contemporary CRIMINAL PROCEDURE For Law Enforcement Officers: One Hundred Notable United States Supreme Court Decisions, and Their Effect on Modern Policing in America.

According to the book description, “The goal of this book is to provide a “quick reference guide” for law enforcement officers in their quest to furnish professional police services to their communities. Designed to be a handy source for the study of criminal procedures, this guide has assembled numerous court cases that will assist officers in dealing with the issues they may often encounter. Additionally, this book will be useful as a training aid in roll call and promotional examinations. Major topics include; (1) arrest and entry to make arrests; (2) detention and search of persons; (3) search and seizure defined; (4) search incident to arrest; (5) vehicle searches; (6) consent to search; (7) “Plain View” and “Plain Feel” Doctrines; (8) inventory searches; (9) “Open Fields” and aerial surveillance; (10) “Exclusionary Rule” and “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree;” (11) police interrogation; (12) probable cause; (13) use of informants; and (14) entrapment. Question and answer sections appear at the end of each chapter that will assist in applying the rules of law discussed in the cases that are presented. This book will be useful for police academics and/or undergraduate criminal procedure studies.”

James D. Whaley began his law enforcement career in 1967 as a deputy sheriff when he joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In 1975, a little over a year after his graduation from law school, he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1980, he was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent. He retired from the FBI in 1999. He continues to be active in law enforcement as a special consultant to the California Department of Corrections, Deadly Force Review Board and as an attorney in private practice. He is the co-author The Field Guide to Law Enforcement.

According to the description of The Field Guide to Law Enforcement, “provides clear, concise, and up-to-date statements of the rules of law applicable to situations commonly encountered by police officers in the field. Rules are stated from the point of view of an officer on duty. Officers who familiarize themselves with the layout and contents of the Field Guide should have no difficulty understanding the rules and applying them to "street" situations. The Field Guide has been designed for easy reference. The seven sections have been arranged according to the most common street situations. Topics within each section are in an easy-to-follow order, usually one to a page, with cross-references to related topics. Tabs at the bottom of each page make it easy to find the desired topic.”

In 1968 Devallis Rutledge joined the Santa Police Department where he served for two years. In 1975, he completed law school and in 1976 joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor. Since 2000, Devallis Rutledge has worked as private counsel in a law firm and as Special Counsel to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Devallis Rutledge is the author of eleven books: Criminal Investigations and Evidence; The New Police Report Manual; Courtroom Survival, The Officer's Guide to Better Testimony; The Search and Seizure Handbook; The Officer Survival Manual; Criminal Interrogation, Law and Tactics; California Criminal Procedure; California Criminal Law Concepts; The Search and Seizure Field Guide California Peace Officers Field Source guide; and, PC 832 Concepts.

According to the book description of Courtroom Survival, it “is essential for any communications or mock trail training. It explains how to present a winning case and avoid credibility-destroying tactics! Rutledge includes tested examples of winning techniques needed to become an expert at effective and comfortable testimony. Rutledge gives insight that only a police officer turned prosecutor can provide.”

According to the book description of California Criminal Procedure, “it prepares students in all of the law-related disciplines for their role in the California criminal justice system. It not only covers the general concepts, constitutional principles, and universal procedures applicable throughout the American system, but also the particular aspects of applied procedure in California. For ease of teaching and learning, the material is presented in a concise, straightforward manner, with frequent citation to statute, case law, or other sources, and direct quotations where appropriate.”

According to the book description, Devallis Rutledge, “combines the legal analysis of a prosecuting attorney with the practical experience of a former police officer. He offers dozens of tactical tips in plain talk. Criminal Interrogation covers every aspect of Miranda. Rutledge makes sense of Supreme Court decision issues, while convincingly dispelling many "Miranda myths" that have haunted officers for years. This text is an excellent supplemental reader to expand on the topic of interrogation. Your students will come away with a superior understanding of this difficult art.”

According to the book description of The Search and Seizure Handbook, “this text is a functional and sensible guide to understanding the complicated laws of search and seizure. Rutledge discusses the latest law and court decisions and tells readers how to apply legal rules to the real world of everyday policing. The text covers exclusionary rules, twenty-seven search warrant exceptions, search warrant applications (service and return), report writing, saving a case from error, testifying at the suppression hearing, and more!”