True Crime Blog
Bad Dreams go with the territory of being a cop. Over the years, my dreaming of pursuits, foot chases, and shootouts with malfunctioning weapons and bulletproof bad guys have subsided, but it doesn’t take much to reawaken the demons. A good cop movie can do it, and so can a session of telling war stories…
When it was first suggested to me that I should write my own story, I was against the idea of it. Who was I to write a memoir? I’m nothing special—no rock star (though at one time I aspired to be one), super athlete, or war hero. Yes, I have had the opportunity to do…
Frederick Reynolds is a retired Los Angeles County homicide detective and former Compton police officer. Today he joins us to discuss his illustrious and meritorious career, his love of writing, and his newly released law enforcement memoir, BLACK, WHITE, AND GRAY ALL OVER. Join me in welcoming Fred.
The 8200 block of South Hooper Avenue in Los Angeles was plenty wide to withstand the traffic but felt a little crowded at night when both sides of the street were lined with parked cars and Hooper Mae could be found dancing in the street, her triple-Ds untethered beneath her muumuu.
Forty-five years ago, a teenage girl was dumped on the streets of Compton, naked and with two bullets in her head. Believed to be only 14 to 17 years of age, it would seem that somebody, somewhere, would have known her. That they would have loved her and missed her and never allowed her to…
L.A. Sheriff’s Homicide, April 2000. Joe Martinez and I were paired up in the rotation when a remarkably brazen murder occurred in the City of Carson. City of Carson It happened during broad daylight at arguably the busiest intersection in the city. Dozens of people arrived on a city bus just as the shooting occurred,…
The call had come in as a body dump. The media gathered in the parking lot among the spectators, many of them pressed against the yellow tape that had been strung from a corner of the building to a light pole fifty yards away, and then fifty yards across the parking lot to another pole…
This week I had the privilege of being a guest on Crime Watch Daily with Ana Garcia. I first met Ana three years ago when she covered a tragic homicide case that my partner and I handled. A few weeks ago, she got ahold of me and asked if I would like to be a…
Policing is probably much simpler in countries where dissenters are machinegunned to death on the streets and a dictator nods his approval. Being a cop in America, on the other hand, has become an impossible job, and—as it turns out—freedom might be nothing more than a two and a half-century failed experiment. As a former street…
The lines have been drawn and it’s time to pick a side. Either you stand for law and order, or you are advocating for anarchy, chaos, and the destruction of civil society. Two L.A. County Deputies Ambushed Before I continue, you should know that I am writing this just hours after two Los Angeles County…