Tales of the Stakeout Squad

[awp_101]

I've heard about this for years but never read it. A month or so ago the Stakeout Squad was mentioned in a podcast or two I was listening to (maybe Scott Reitz's podcast) so I went looking for the book. I didn't know it was out of print but some digging turned up a revised and expanded version available from Paul Kirchner. He retained the rights when Paladin Press went under and then he went back through his notes and interviews to add more to the book.

He's self publishing it and selling them on Gunbroker

I ordered a copy on a Friday last month and had it in my hand the following Tuesday. Now if I would just make the time to read it...

[JCN]

It’s a really good read.

[JAH 3rd]

Our PD didn't have a stakeout squad. So back in the mid-80's, overnight vehicles at the local Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson motels were being broken into on a weekly basis, but random enough making future B&Es unpredictable. So another officer and I decided to stakeout a motel on one of our off days. Happened to pick the Holiday Inn.

So as the night progressed, we see a car circle the lot.....then twice more. On his last trip around the parking lot, he backed in beside a station wagon loaded to the hilt. He got out of his car and a few seconds later you could hear the metallic sound of the slim Jim going inside the door. Then the interior light came on. He started loading up his car with stuff out of the wagon. We rushed up from behind him and took him into custody. This arrest cleared several of the motel vehicle break-ins. Unlucky for him, this occurred on Friday the 13th.

A fond memory from years gone by.

[UNM1136]

Great book! I got it through interlibrary loan when I read it.

Side rant. Make use if your taxpayer funded public libraries! I don't have the room to store any more books, so 90% of my purchases for the last 5 years or so have been ebooks. But ILL is AWESOME! Decide before you buy. Screen books as loaners first. I got the Kuhnhausen manuals that way, and decided I didn't have enough money for the tools required to start 'smithing.

A tour of my local library revealed 19th century copies of Les Miserables. Books from the 1700s. Seeing textbooks from the 30s-60s is a real goof! A lot of fun.

Side rant off.

pat

[Guerrero]

@Mas wrote a blog post about it last year.

[HCM]

Our PD didn't have a stakeout squad. So back in the mid-80's, overnight vehicles at the local Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson motels were being broken into on a weekly basis, but random enough making future B&Es unpredictable. So another officer and I decided to stakeout a motel on one of our off days. Happened to pick the Holiday Inn.

So as the night progressed, we see a car circle the lot.....then twice more. On his last trip around the parking lot, he backed in beside a station wagon loaded to the hilt. He got out of his car and a few seconds later you could hear the metallic sound of the slim Jim going inside the door. Then the interior light came on. He started loading up his car with stuff out of the wagon. We rushed up from behind him and took him into custody. This arrest cleared several of the motel vehicle break-ins. Unlucky for him, this occurred on Friday the 13th.

A fond memory from years gone by.

The NYPD stakeout squad was not a general purpose surveillance or even career criminal unit targeting particular individuals.

The NYPD “stakeout” squad was targeted specifically towards armed robbers, many of whom became dead armed robbers when confronted in the act. This was …. Controversial.

Rather they set up in and around locations targeted for armed robberies.

It was the product of confluence of events. A financial crisis lead to police budget cuts and hiring freeze which coincided with a massive spike in armed robberies and other violent crime. The police hiring freeze lead to a surplus of police firearms instructors who normally trained new recruits and were now idle. Someone decided an “all star” unit made up of firearms instructors was the perfect solution to the wave of armed robberies.

They were very successful which lead to accusations of being an “execution” squad and the eventual disbanding of the unit.

[JohnO]

May also want to listen to Mas interviewing Bill Allard about his days with Jim Cirillo on the NYC Stakeout Unit.

[peterb]

Side rant. Make use if your taxpayer funded public libraries!

https://www.libraryextension.com/

Very cool tool for finding books at your local library.

[JAH 3rd]

Thanks for the info!

[lwt16]

Purchased. Thanks for the link.