Business trip to the Bay Area
On August 5th, 2017, my wife and I took a road trip to California. My intention was to contact as many bookstores in San Francisco and Santa Cruz as possible. Good fortune was on my side. With exception of only one bookstore, I was able to find a parking place in front of or very near all of the sixteen stores I had on my list. Of those stores, eight either took my books on consignment or purchased them outright. The other eight stores either wanted my book, but the manager was not in or they wanted me to place my books with Ingram Sparks Distribution. I met some really nice folks.
Although I was a cop in San Francisco, I had forgotten just how vibrant, scenic, and diverse that incredible city is. My wife and I had lunch at Original Joe’s Italian Restaurant in San Francisco’s North Beach area with my old friend and police partner, Al Casciato ( SFPD Captain. retired). While standing in front of the restaurant waiting for the doors to open, we watched hundreds of pedestrians walking by us in every direction. They were of every nationality, race, and age. It made me smile.
After lunch, we walked over to Central Police Station and met Captain Paul Yep, the station commander. My wife and I were very impressed with this vibrant, friendly, and charismatic leader. He treated us like we were royalty as we toured the station and met many of the other officers and staff that were present. I saw many physical changes from the time I worked there, especially the presence of computer work stations, but the friendliness and the positive energy of the cops felt very familiar. Although it has been 43 years since I worked at Central Station (Company A), I felt that the culture and the personalities have not changed, and from my perspective that is a good thing. As I wrote in my book, cops do not think to themselves as they start their work days, oh I wonder how many lives I can screw up today. No they don’t do that. They simply go and take each day as it comes, do the best they know how to do, and at the end of their shift, try to go home to their families unharmed.
