The Rif Raff Book Club met Sunday April 28 for the April book selection Armed and Dangerous by Gina Gallo at a book club member's house on the Southwest side of Chicago. This member is a Chicago Police Officer and was ready to serve and protect. In fact she served some of the best snack foods the Rifraff Book Club has had this year. Seven people made this meeting and everyone had stories to tell about the Po-lice. A varied assortment of parting gifts were available after the meeting ranging from Police department key-chains to humorous cards to leave at a tavern. All in all, this was the best Rif Raff meeting this year!

Armed and Dangerous by Gina Gallo

This book had a lot going for it till you started to read. The Chapter titles were so cliche and the stories seemed to involve everything she ever heard on the job. The short story format didn't follow much of a timeline or logical order. At times it seemed the author would reiterate the same point in a different chapter, not really caring that she made the same point in two other chapters. We found a typo in the print, which makes me wondor who read this for content and accuracy. I liked that it was written to show a different side of the police. It forces you to view what they do as a heroic life threatening task that never ends. Having the book discussion with a working Chicago police officer really gave us the verification we were seeking regarding many of the stories. It seemed to me to be a personal remembrance that let the author vent and move on in her life. The book was an exercise for the author to rid herself of the worst experiences on the job. I'd like to know what she is doing now and if writing the book changed her perception of the experience. We have all met people that could really tell a story. Some are better writers than others. I could hear someone telling Gina Gallo at the end of her police career, "You should write a book." She did.

Growing up in Chicago makes one very familiar with the Police. I found this book to be an eye-opening expose on what really happens in the Chicago Police department. It seems that the hardest part of a Police Officer's job is to deal with people - not civilians on the street - but the other Police personnel. Trying to cope with "dog-cops", looking for the right relationship with a partner, and analyzing "untouchable-cops-with-a-Chinaman" make for a full time job, not to mention trying to apprehend the bad guy. Granted, some of the stories in the book seem to be "urban legends" retold from cop to cop, but I really enjoyed reading them. (And I have to say, this was the best Book Club meeting yet!)