From Vice Cop to Sociology Prof.: A Long Journey to a Familiar Place

• Published in: The American sociologist Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 123 - 129
• Main Author: Nolan, James J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Secaucus, NJ Transaction Periodicals Consortium 01.07.2002; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Careers; Cocaine; Communities; Community; Community policing; Conspiracy; Crime; Criminal arrests; Criminal conspiracy; Criminal investigation; Criminal investigations; Criminal sentences; Criminology; Drug related crimes; Drug trafficking; Education; History and organization of sociology; History and present state; History, theory and methodology; Investigational drugs; Law enforcement; Organized crime; Police; Police Community Relations; Policing; Prisoners; Smuggling; Sociologists; Sociology; Subculture; United States Of America; West Virginia; United States > US; Occupation; Sociology of sociology; Autobiography; Professional career; Goffman (E.); Police; Criminology; Sociologist
• ISSN: 0003-1232; 1936-4784
• DOI: 10.1007/s12108-002-1007-1

Reflects on a personal journey from vice cop to sociologist. His work in undercover special investigations at the height of the war on drugs is recounted, along with the decision to attend graduate school at the time the community policing model was emerging. His subsequent supervision of a community policing unit is discussed in terms of how he applied Freire's educational ideas to promote dialogue with members of communities rife with crime & hopelessness. He has taken the idea of education as a liberating means for peaceful social change into the classroom & sees many parallels between being a cop & a sociologist, finding that the latter pursues the same goals as the former in a more palatable fashion. 9 References. J. Zendejas