Police Perspective: Life on the Beat

Police Perspective: Life on the Beat by John Matthews celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the award-winning Police Perspective column which first appeared in the Oak Cliff Tribune in 1990. This book is an anthology of the popular articles and provides additional behind the-scenes insight, as well as new stories from the inner-city streets of Dallas. 

John Matthews’ years in Oak Cliff were some of the most violent in the history of Dallas, with a serial killer roaming the streets, annual homicides surpassing 500 for the first time, and gang violence ripping the city apart. But there were plenty of good times and good people who were determined to rebuild their neighborhoods and return this section of Dallas to its former grandeur.

In Police Perspective Matthews provides an unfiltered look into the past, moments in time that - good, bad or ugly - shaped a community. Those were rough times when gunfire was a nightly occurrence, and armed robberies were “just the cost of doing business” for many Jefferson Boulevard area merchants.  Eventually, a 70% decrease in crime and a new proactive way of policing led to economic development and the revitalization of the community.  Drive around Oak Cliff today and the signs of renaissance cannot be mistaken. 

But in his day….