HAIRBAG NATION: A Story of the New York City Transit Police: Book 1: The Police Riot

HAIRBAG NATION is a story of the New York City Transit Police ( Book 1): Police encounters of strange, funny, crazy and ridiculous situations. Robert L. Bryan as a former NYC cop, is the ideal storyteller having experienced such bizarre and laughable characters, situations. He has the talent to translate them into a satirical tale.His Dark Knights series (6 publications), display popular dark humourous stories which range from funny to the downright weird and twisted. It is a collection of tales and memories to get us thinking about the role the police where the force needs reform. It is a inside look into work of the police in the US.What is a hairbag? Is a hairbag simply a veteran cop with a wealth of knowledge and experience, or is it a cop who does nothing except come to work, read the paper, eat meals, sleep, wake up and then go home ? It is usually a slob who complains about everything and what everybody else is doing.The history and evolution of the NJC PD goes back decades, professional rivalry, riots and flashbacks are described. Thoughts are conveyed of the organisational structure, strength and weaknesses as described by the author as he had first-hand understanding and an inside look of police professionalism. The system described worked on your pride or self-esteem. The NYPD mandated that the transit police stop relying on them for some specialized police functions, and they had to create their own specialized units, including a civilian complaint unit.The career transit cops, were considering inferior to NYPD officers. We hear of initiatives to try to change the transit police status.Excerpt:"Then, there was Joe Edwards, a 22-year veteran with no wife, kids, friends, or known hobbies. The only thing this tall, barrel chested, overweight, grey- haired dinosaur had was an endless supply of cutting comments for his fellow cops, and summonses for the public.The author feasts on his knowledge of various rules and regulations and processes in the subway system. For instance: Edwards’ sole purpose when patrolling was to pick up women - all women. It didn't matter the shape, size, colour, ethnicity or age, all females were fair game for this dynamic duo, that included Ace Styles.The author creates nicknames to suite his characters’ roles illustrating particular funny and interesting attributes of the cop, like: “ There were some very obscure rules in the Transit Authority Rules & Regulation that no cop ever enforced – no cop except Joe “McNasty”…..or... the author gives enjoyable sarcastic descriptions of rules. He tells of the uncooperative violators who were handled in a manner that Certs very proudly named "The White Glove Treatment." Many cops are blessed with a dark, sarcastic, biting sense of humour of comedic quality.I could easily see cartoons / films based on these stories. Fun, funny, and expressive character depiction, even the macabre is funny:There are many challenges cops have to face. The psyche of the variants of police personnel, their emotions fears and hilarious coping mechanisms fill the pages.What little sense of humour “McNasty” possessed had become warped and darkly macabre. “The turnstile may not have given, but the body bag could take no more. Johnny's last great tug had spit the bag and Johnny was sitting on the ground holding the bag. Inside the stuck turnstile, the blue skinned, stiff DOA was standing there in all his deceased glory.”A very enjoyable tale.Scarlett Jensen15 October 2020

HairBag Nation Amazon Digital Services LLC copyright and written by Robert L. Bryan.This is Book 1: The Police Riot that tells a series of stories of the NYC Transit Police. The story is purported to be fiction, but obviously contains non-fictional elements. Crime was rampant and the subway system even worse so that the authorities in 1983 ultimately decided to form three separate New York City police agencies – the NYC Police Dept., Transit Police Dept., Housing Police Dept. The same civil service examination was given to all applicants. Those who passed were assigned at the rate of 7 to the Police Department, 3 to the Transit Police and 1 to the Housing Police. Obviously a large degree of animosity developed among personnel of the various departments as a result of their self-assessment of importance of the various departments. This factor altered the consciousness of some of the Transit Police to the opposite of what they were meant to be. “They became lazy, cynical, contemptuous, apathetic, and indifferent. In short, they were transformed into Hairbags”, a name assigned frequently to ‘burned-out’ individuals who didn’t want to do anything and didn’t care anymore. This book is a fictionalized account of some of the resulting antics of these misfits.Discussion: The book’s title appears to provide a suitable one in that it recounts a story of a bizarre incident occurring in NYC in 1857 that resembles the occurrences of the fictional anecdotes provided here. The author, a most creditably educated and still importantly engaged in security activities, retired Captain of the Transit Police has gathered together these vignettes that range from nonsensical to amusing to bizarre.4* Collection of fictionalized stories about the NYC Transit Police.

When it comes to personal experiences, I would say that the author, as a retired policeman, has reflected some of them in this piece of work called “Hairbag Nation: a Story of the New York city Transit police” which is the first one in a series called “The Police Riot”. It was written by Robert L. Bryan and I believe that he has penned a good story.The story revolves around the Police in New York city in the 1980s. It introduces the way cops work there, the so called Hairbag Nation. This includes a variety of duties which they have to fulfill.This is a short and engaging reading. What is interesting about it is that I learned a lot about police's duties, their shifts and way of organization. There are interesting aspects to know about this organization which, in a way, help us to empathize with this kind of tough job. The writing style is compelling since every detail is well-explained and helped me to follow the train of thought. I liked it and I thoroughly recommend it to avid readers.

The job and life of a New York City Subway Cop can be pretty hard, and nerve wracking. So many elements make the job harder, from the gangs and homeless, to the dirt, grime and graffiti, it’s all part of an uphill battle every day. On top of all this is a public that is increasingly hostile to the officers, so it is not surprising when the officers become depressed and indifferent. This book is set in the 1980’s where crime was rampant and officers (at least some) just didn’t care. The hijinks that some of these people got into and the crazy schemes they pulled off were highly entertaining. Of course, this is all fictional and purely conjecture, so you can’t pin any one story onto a factual event. I found the writing to carry the story well. I was thoroughly entertained and I would consider buying the second book in the series to see where the author will take the story.