Book description
Born in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Dublin, John F. Timoney
moved to New York with his family in 1961. Not long after graduating
from high school in the Bronx, he entered the New York City Police
Department, quickly rising through the ranks to become the youngest
four-star chief in the history of that department. Timoney and the
rest of the command assembled under Police Commissioner Bill Bratton
implemented a number of radical strategies, protocols, and management
systems, including CompStat, that led to historic declines in nearly
every category of crime. In 1998, Mayor Ed Rendell of Philadelphia
hired Timoney as police commissioner to tackle the city's seemingly
intractable violent crime rate. Philadelphia became the great
laboratory experiment: Could the systems and policies employed in New
York work elsewhere? Under Timoney's leadership, crime declined in
every major category, especially homicide. A similar decrease not only
in crime but also in corruption marked Timoney's tenure in his next
position as police chief of Miami, a post he held from 2003 to January 2010.
Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities documents Timoney's
rise, from his days as a tough street cop in the South Bronx to his
role as police chief of Miami. This fast-moving narrative by the man
Esquire magazine named "America's Top Cop" offers a
blueprint for crime prevention through first-person accounts from the
street, detailing how big-city chiefs and their teams can tame even
the most unruly cities.
Policy makers and academicians have long embraced the view that
the police could do little to affect crime in the long term. John
Timoney has devoted his career to dispelling this notion. Beat Cop
to Top Cop tells us how.
"Beat Cop to Top Cop is a riveting ride inside the
accelerating squad car of John Timoney's career. Page by page, you
realize that he's the real life version of the celluloid cop
envisioned by countless casting directors. They usually get his
physical fitness, rugged good looks, proud Irish heritage and honor of
the badge. But Timoney is more than that. As he takes readers from the
streets of New York City to Philadelphia to Miami, it becomes obvious
what sets him apart: a rare blend of both street and intellectual
smarts. Timoney's as comfortable with the beat cop or victim as he is
with a city's mayor or its media elite. The blue line isn't thin when
Timoney is in uniform. You pray he's the man in charge of the police
department that answers your call to 911."-Michael Smerconish,
nationally syndicated radio host
John F. Timoney is former Chief of Police, City of Miami.
