COPS ARE FUNNY – AND THEY HAVE TO BE
by Robert L. Bryan My latest book, Dark Knights , weaves together twenty years of funny cop stories to chronicle my career from patrol officer to captain. Writing this book was fairly easy because of the dearth of available material to pick from. After all, there is nothing quite like a cop’s sense of humor – or is there? When I was almost finished with the book I let a non-cop friend read a chapter to get his feedback. I know I am a bit biased, but I thought the chapter I gave him was hysterical. I was somewhat stunned when he told me that he found the story disturbing and sadistic, but not the least bit funny So how does this dark, non-mainstream, gallows sense of humor develop? Do police officers bring this anything goes propensity towards perverse humor with them to the job, or is it a byproduct of the job? The answer lies in the emotional and psychological challenges of being a cop. Being a police...