BACK IN THE '80s by Joe Haggerty

Two of my fellow vice investigators passed away within a year of each other and I was needed to express my grief and admiration for their service and friendship. I wrote a simple poem, but from the heart, and was shocked by the effect it had on my fellow officers and the families of my deceased friends. It was featured in one of my friend’s funeral program and at the repast, which was at his parent’s home, I found the poem framed and displayed prominently with other pictures of my friend. 

I wrote many more poems dedicated to fallen officers, about police work or the victims of prostitution. One poem, Tears on the Wall, was included on a CD titled Heroes Unsung. I also wrote a number of short stories. One was written about my mother-in-law’s life in the mountains of North Carolina, The Ways of the Mountains, and published in a book titled, Life in the Good Old Days in Buncombe and Henderson Counties. A number of my poems and short stories were also published in our FOP union paper, Simulcast.

   

Also in the 80’s, I started to write a novel about prostitution. My initial thought was centering it around three women from a small town, who basically grew up together, went to school together and upon graduation decided to venture to the big city. One returned home upon finding the city life too much, one became a law enforcement officer and one fell for an unscrupulous man who turned her into the life of prostitution. Although it may seem like a fairly good premise, I had a hard time getting passed chapter 3. Three times I rewrote it and three times I didn’t like what I wrote.

I was working a part-time job as a security officer for a free standing emergency room. Most nights were relatively uneventful. I got a legal size pad and started writing again. This time the story became real and I knew that it had to be about a pimp. How did he become a pimp? What formed his desires and motivation? How did he learn what to do and how to recruit women into “the life?” I had lots of experience dealing with pimps as a vice detective with the Washington, D.C. Police Department and my focus was on arresting these vultures of the street. I titled the book, SHAME, The Story of a Pimp.

By happenstance, I had befriended a successful writer, who suggested I present my book to a literary agent, who had handled another law enforcement book, Homicide, Life on the Streets. The agent turned me down, said the book needed too much editing, which was true. I went to two other agents, who also turned me down. I abandoned the book for a while, only occasionally doing some self-editing.

In 1999, after joining a writers group, The Writers’ League of Washington, I was encouraged to do something with my book and I self-published it in 2008.

Anyone interested in a book could send me an email at gudgerray@aol.com

Joseph B. Haggerty Sr.

Author of the novels: Shame: The Story of a Pimp and An Ocean in the Desert

Contributor to the PSWA anthology: Felons, Flames and Ambulance Rides

Award winning poet and lecturer on the sexual exploitation of women and children in prostitution and pornography