Background
David Simon, a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, spent four years on the police beat before taking a leave of absence to write this book. He had persuaded the Baltimore Police Department to allow him unlimited access to the city's Homicide Unit for calendar year 1988, and throughout that year he shadowed one shift of detectives as they traveled from interrogations to autopsies, from crime scenes to hospital emergency rooms. Baltimore recorded 274 murders during the year Simon spent with the Homicide Unit.
During the two years he spent writing Homicide, an additional 567 murders occurred. The year "Homicide" was published saw a record 353 murders. Simon said he was particularly interested in the demythification of the American detective. Although detectives are typically portrayed as noble characters who care deeply about their victims, Simon believed real detectives regarded violence as a normal aspect of their jobs.
Read more about this topic: Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets
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