A Couple of Cops:: On the Street, in the Crime Lab

According to the listing of his work in the fore pages of A COUPLE OF COPS, George Cuomo has written nine books. Though one could assume that Cuomo drew directly on his personal life experiences as he wrote his seventh and eighth books (TRIAL BY WATER and FAMILY HONOR) this book is an outright chronicling of events of two members of his family. As such, it is a tribute to two of Cuomo's cousins - two policemen whose dedication to the pursuit of justice underlay their high professional achievements. Cuomo provides the narrative thrust of the book by recounting stories of specific cases on which Al Della Penna and John Cuomo had worked during their exemplary careers. Cuomo weaves into his accounts descriptions of the background of the two cousins - backgrounds that shaped their view on social issues and their place in their society. Al and John grew up in an extended Italian-American family, as did George (whose mother was the only non Italian-American in the family). The cousins began to work at paying positions in their early teen years, and worked at a variety of low-paying, menial jobs. Both left high school before graduating. Both entered military service. Both passed the police entrance examinations on the first attempt. Al Della Penna became a detective sergeant in the Suffolk County Police Department, and a nationally recognized expert in firearms markings. John Cuomo became a detective in the New York Police Department, working with the Narcotics and Robbery Divisions. George Cuomo's descriptions of each case drew me along as a separate police story. At the same time, since much of the data of the descriptions was collected in interviews, each case reflects Al and John's high level of personal involvement. Aside from the stimulation of the narrative flow, the work is packed with insightful observations about social conditions that surround the work of modern policemen. Though many of the insights are provided by the author, who has retired from a career as a college professor, the street-level wisdom gained by Al and John lend solid practicality to their observations. Additionally, the stories of the cases illustrate the high level of competence that the cousins took to the investigations that lead to the apprehension of the perpetrators of the crimes. Reading A COUPLE OF COPS will remind a reader that the dedication of policemen such as Al Della Penna and John Cuomo guided the heroic actions of police and firemen who responded to the World Trade Center disaster. Reading A COUPLE OF COPS along with reading the last two of Cuomo's previous works, reveals Cuomo's dedication to exploring the ways in which justice is pursued in our society. Cuomo's narratives chronicle the ways that dedicated individuals embed their search for justice in their day-to-day careers and social life. In telling these stories, Cuomo illustrates, in concrete manner, the value of the saying, "Think globally! Act locally!"