About the Seattle Police Department

The Department was established in 1886 and has evolved into one of the most well respected police agencies in the nation. In 2003, we became one of only a handful of agencies our size to be nationally accredited. The department employs approximately 1,200 sworn law enforcement officers and 700 civilian employees, all of whom continually provide quality service to Seattle's residents and visitors. Seattle remains one of the safest cities in the country.

Source:

cityofseattle.net/police
/inside/About.htm

David Ziskin is a retired Seattle police officer. He now pursues business interests and does consulting work for selected clients. This is his first book.

Visit David's Website 

“The Real Police is a wonderful read. David Ziskin is an insightful and literate cop's cop; a twenty-year street vet who has seen the best and worst of urban life. Witty, wise and full of stories the police usually tell to only one another, the book puts forth an uncommon view of the police world told with force and insider perspective. Part memoir and part social commentary, Ziskin takes the reader on a tour of Seattle's always changing Skid Road with a sharp eye for character and place. The writing is crisp, amusing and rests on the moral authority of one who knows his beat. If ever one wanted to know the argument for the continuing relevance of old fashioned beat policing in today's mobile and transitory world, David Ziskin lays it out sharply in these pages.”

John Van Maanen

Erwin Schell Professor of Organization Studies MIT

(Author of Tales of the Field)