Editing Police procedural (section)

===1971: Joseph Wambaugh===
Though not the first police officer to write procedurals, [[Joseph Wambaugh]]'s success has caused him to become the exemplar of cops who turn their professional experiences into fiction. The son of a [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]], policeman, Wambaugh joined the Los Angeles Police Department after a stint of military duty.  In 1970, his first novel, ''[[The New Centurions]]'', was published. This followed three police officers through their training in the academy, their first few years on the street, culminating in the Watts riots of 1965. It was followed by such novels as ''The Blue Knight'', 1971, ''[[The Choirboys (book)|The Choirboys]]'', 1975, ''Hollywood Station'', 2006, and acclaimed non-fiction books like ''[[The Onion Field]]'', 1973, ''Lines and Shadows'', 1984, and ''Fire Lover'', 2002. Wambaugh has said that his main purpose is less to show how cops work on the job, than how the job works on cops.