The Night Police by Chris Berg and James Paul Smith
This first book in THE NIGHT POLICE series is a no-holds-barred, unflinching fictionalized version of real events the authors experienced firsthand during their time in law enforcement. A gritty, true-crime-inspired collection of thematically linked short stories where you’ll meet the dangerous men that are The Night Police. Listen in as real-life urban policing is exposed amongst a union of hardened lawmen. Written by two who have been there, The Night Police will uncover the true lives that few could imagine, let alone choose to live.
Meet the rebel trooper Max Golden, the common thread in a dark journey from which not one of these men will escape unscathed. Max isn’t content to spend his career as a humble, rule-following civil servant. Refusing to seek danger isn’t his style. And in the squalid, crime-ridden streets of Bristol City, he finds danger in spades. Dope deals gone bad, street brawls, murder and more keep him and the other members of The Night Police bonded tightly together in their self-made fraternity. Escape, when it’s needed, is found in the dark and nondescript Solly’s Tavern, where on one particularly damp, cold evening in 1991, this down-at-the-heels saloon hosts four of the Night Police for a cathartic night of drinking. The plan is to let loose and forget for a few hours, but the swapping of increasingly graphic tales leads to the unfolding of a stunning revelation. Will it change the course of their lives and careers?
This is a chronicle of the camaraderie that helped shield them from the intense pressures of urban policing. It tells the real stories, with the authentic voice of those who lived to reveal the truth. In true ripped-from-the-headlines fashion, the stories related in this book may seem improbable but are all based on true events.
The Night Police provides truth and insight into the demons behind the badge. And for those of you in law enforcement, The Night Police will have special meaning for anyone who has ever worked the streets, dealt with informants and lived the life on that razor’s edge.
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Author Bio:
Chris Berg and Paul James Smith, retired law enforcement officers, debut THE NIGHT POLICE anthology!
Chris Berg was born in the ’50s in Gridley, California to a state game warden and his Army nurse, wife. Except for a short stint living in New York City, he’s lived most of his life on the left coast. After graduating with his B.S. from San Jose State University he made his way to his true calling. In 1977 Chris became the third generation of his family to sign on as a lawman.
Like most “on the job”, he started out pushing a patrol car. Working graveyard suited him just fine, and it was there he joined the ranks of the Night Police. Chris spent time as an evidence technician, long before CSI was a thing. As a detective, his assignments included Vice and Intelligence but it was his posting as an undercover narcotics agent that fit Chris best. He relished the life of hand to hand undercover drug “buys”, clandestine lab investigations and the requisite counterfeit persona.
With hundreds of narcotics investigations under his belt, he became a field training officer for up-and-coming undercover detectives. He filled in the career gaps testifying as a court-certified “expert witness” in narcotics and dangerous drug investigations throughout the west.
Chris has chronicled many of his experiences in this book and he still revels in the adventures and friendships that come with being part of the police fraternity.
After Chris’ early exit from law enforcement due to injury, things might have gone south for him, but he held on. His successful second career in corporate America, well… it bored him to death.
The saving grace in his new profession was the travel and in truth, it wasn’t without its moment’s. His business routinely took him to exotic locales, Malaysia, Dubai, Moscow, Australia, San Paulo and Rio, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, Uruguay, Taipei and Beijing, to name just a few. As for the continents, he only missed checking off Antartica. Having pages added to his passport became routine.
A rape-homicide investigation in India. A terrifying run for his life in the rioting township of Nyanga, Capetown, South Africa. A ridiculous trip to Argentina to understand Buenos Aires was not burning at all, CNN was literally creating the news they wanted to broadcast.
His business led him to associations with the UK’s MI5 and MI6 intelligence services and work with most of America’s alphabet agencies. Chris even spent a frigid All Saint’s Day in a very eastern European city “drinking well” with a couple of mysterious ex-Stasi operatives. Despite them being “shameless and corrupted.”
While it sounds like a hell of a second career, the balance of that life left a lot to be desired for Chris. He maxed out on teleconferences, pivot tables, and budget battles. It was a world that preached HR enlightenment but routinely and repeatedly layed off hundreds of employees for the next “flavor of the month” business initiative. That world was never a fit, not for an ex-Night Policeman.
Although Chris wrote long before becoming a dedicated writer, he jumped in full time after retiring from his “mind-numbing” corporate experience. In 2017 he teamed with his real-life Night Police partner Paul James Smith, lighting the fuse for the next big challenge he craved. The Night Police, the first novel in the series, is the result. The Bleeding, their second book, is due out in 2021.
Chris and his wife Janet now call Florida and Boston home. Their daughter Kelsey, currently in grad school, is likely the fourth generation of law enforcement in the family. Not counting Finnegan, her first horse, who retired from the United States Park Police!
Chris also keeps up with his passions: baseball, fishing, and all things cooking and BBQ, not necessarily in that order.