Hey, the October issue of Police Magazine has a pretty good - but too short - feature story on the great Joseph Wambaugh, retired LAPD detective sergeant. Certainly the greatest police storyteller of all, in my book he's one of the greatest writers of our time, period. No one paints a picture of a time and place like Wambaugh. My personal favorite, the nonfiction Line And Shadows, can still put me out in the San Diego canyons in an instant, with all the looming menace that hung over the place in the time of the book.

After long periods of apparent silence, it is a great thing to see Wambaugh back on the shelves and out in the public world, so to speak. Lieutenant Chris Davies of my former police department, a longtime contemporary and great friend, speaks of coming to his decision to retire when he looked around the lineup table one morning on a day shift and realized that not one of the young cops on his squad had a clue who Joe Wambaugh was. Time to go!

But now they get a chance to climb onboard, along with us old dinosaurs, with last year's Hollywood Station and the pending sequel. In the meantime, the Police article is a good place to start if you see a copy lying around the station. GREAT writer, apparently a pretty good guy too, from what I've heard. One of the top people I'd like to sit around and have lunch with someday. Chris could come, too!