From 1945 through 1994, over 3,300 American police officers have been murdered in the line of duty. For trainers, planners, decision-makers, administrators, supervisors, and even line officers who want to know what more can be done, Professor Chapman's new book, Murdered on Duty, is an excellent resource. In the first four chapters.

Professor Chapman updates and expands his meticulous research on the nature of police murders, focusing primarily on a single state's experience, that of Oklahoma from 1950-1994, as reflective of the problem nationally. Chapman offers intriguing facts, reconstructive case histories that disclose the human stories behind the numbers, and presents critiques that reveal the sad truth that careless or complacent officers contribute to their own deaths in at least one of every two fatalities.

In the concluding portion of his book, Professor Chapman carefully sets out a broad-based action agenda that could strikingly improve an officer's chances in the street...This section can be motivating for police administrators, city managers, citizen groups, researchers, and lawmakers looking to make contributions to the officer survival cause.