Vice: One Cop's Story of Patrolling America's Most Dangerous City. This item is unavailable.Vice: One Cop's Story of Patrolling America's Most Dangerous City

Compton: the most violent and crime-ridden city in America. What had been a semi-rural suburb of Los Angeles in the 1950s became a battleground for the Black Panthers and Malcolm X Foundation, the home of the Crips and Bloods and the first Hispanic gangs, and the cradle of gangster rap. At the centre of it, trying to maintain order was the Compton Police Department, never more than 130-strong, and facing an army of criminals that numbered over 10,000. At any given time, fully one-tenth of Compton's population was in prison, yet this tidal wave of crime was held back by the thinnest line of the law - the Compton Police. John R. Baker was raised in Compton, eventually becoming the city's most decorated officer involved in some of its most notorious, horrifying and scandalous criminal cases. Baker's account of Compton from 1950 to 2001 is one of the most powerful and compelling cop memoirs ever written - an intensely human account of sacrifice and public service, and the price the men and women of the Compton Police Department paid to preserve their city.

John R. Baker was raised in Compton and eventually became the city's most decorated police officer. He was involved in some of its most notorious, horrifying, and scandalous criminal cases. Baker's account of Compton from 1951 to 2001 is one of the most powerful and compelling cop memoirs ever written---an intensely human story of sacrifice and public service, and of the price the men and women of the Compton Police Department paid to preserve their city.
Sgt. John R. Baker is an eighteen-year veteran of the Compton Police Department. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Stephen J. Rivele is the Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter of Oliver Stone's Nixon, and of Will Smith's Ali. Rivele is also the author of eight previous books. He lives in Pasadena, California.