True Crime Blog
Very few people are killed by strangers while at home with their families or even enjoying an evening out with friends. But when you stay out all night—or into the wee hours—you increase the odds of becoming a victim of violence. The older I get, the more I have come to appreciate that.
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.
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…
Even a couple of hard-charging Firestone deputies could hit a dry spell now and then. This was the result, we always reasoned, of someone having pissed off the arrest gods.
The late eighties and early nineties saw the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. South Los Angeles, the epicenter of it all, experienced a colossal rise in violent crime. Gang members controlled the street level sales, and they were willing to kill for their piece of the pie.
A robust Hispanic man stood unapologetically shirtless beneath the morning sun in East Los Angeles. My partner and I suffered in dress shirts and ties while we questioned him about a Mustang, a set of wheels, and a relative of his who we believed to be a suspect in our murder investigation. It was August…