Badge 387: The Story of Jim Simone - America's Most Decorated Police Officer | True Crime Biography & Law Enforcement Heroism | Perfect for Police History Enthusiasts & True Crime Readers
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Product Description
For 38 years, Jim Simone patrolled Cleveland's Second Police District, a drug-plagued area with one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation. Called "Supercop" by the media (a nickname he dislikes), Simone generated headlines and public interest on a scale not seen since Eliot Ness searched for Cleveland's Torso Murderer in the 1930s.Simone worked primarily in traffic enforcement - the riskiest assignment for a cop - and never shied from danger. He was stabbed, clubbed, run over, and shot. He traded gunfire a dozen times, killing five people in the line of duty. All of his shootings were ruled justifiable. Driven by a ferocious work ethic, Simone's arrest rates were 500 to 600 percent higher than the department average. Despite Simone's numerous shoot-outs, he is an advocate of police restraint. In Badge 387, author Rob Sberna describes how Simone and other law enforcement experts analyze the dynamics of deadly force encounters, including the Tamir Rice and Michael Brown shootings, and discusses how similar situations can be resolved non-lethally. Clearly, this is a timely exploration of an issue featured regularly in today's headlines.Badge 387 recounts the brave exploits that earned Simone more than 120 awards. In 1980, he charged into a burning house to search for trapped children. In 1983, while searching a church basement for a gunman, he was shot in the face. Although seriously wounded, he managed to shoot his assailant, saving himself and two other officers. And in January 2009, he plunged into a frigid river to save a woman in danger. Simone was Cleveland's Patrolman of the Year in 1980 and 2009, the only officer in the city's history to receive the award twice.Readers will learn that Simone's sense of duty was forged early. He once planned to attend college and become a history teacher, but his father urged him to enlist in the Army. Sent to Vietnam as a member of the 101st Airborne Division, Simone earned a bronze star for running through enemy fire to neutralize a machine gun. Several months later, during a firefight, a grenade blast tore an artery in his neck. He plugged the spurting blood with his finger until he could be evacuated.Badge 387 will appeal to anyone interested in law enforcement, criminal justice, military history, the Vietnam War, and inspirational biography.
Customer Reviews
At a time when American law enforcement is unjustly under siege, Robert Sberna's book, "Badge 387," tells the story of a legendary Cleveland police officer, whose exemplary service puts a face to the men and women in blue.Officer Jim Simone wore Badge 387 from the late-1960s through his retirement in 2011. During his tenure, he was shot in the face and almost died. Sberna, a former Cleveland crime beat reporter, does an excellent job getting into the minds of the officers present in the basement of a church, where a drug crazed, suicidal man planned to take as many police officers as he could to the grave with him. The usual anti-police suspects -- those who lack the courage to patrol our nation's central cities -- should read this chapter.Badge 387 is also a tribute, not just to Officer Jim Simone, but to all Americans who roll up their sleeves to do the heavy lifting. In great detail, the author explores Simone's blue collar background. Raised in a tough Cleveland neighborhood, the Simone family believed in hard work, love of country, faith, and integrity -- values seemingly missing from some segments of U.S. population today.A World War II vet, Simone's father demanded that his son enlist to fight in the Vietnam war. After his son returned from Vietnam -- scared by war and decorated with two bronze stars and two purple hearts -- the two stopped off for a beer. Jim Simone then asked his father why he never told him how brutal war really was. His father's response: people never really understand what the flag actually symbolizes until they fight and bleed for it.This is an excellent book that is deserving of an award. About 80 interviews were conducted in preparation for writing this book. The author takes police corruption to task, but also looks at the ways and means politicians seek to undermine the profession of law enforcement to procure votes, which typically is done by throwing police officers under the bus.
