By Police1 Staff
Whether you’re seeking inspiration, looking to sharpen your leadership skills or aiming to expand your tactical expertise, reading is a powerful tool for professional growth in law enforcement.
We’ve gathered book recommendations from law enforcement leaders and Police1 contributors, along with excerpts from must-read titles for officers, aspiring officers and law enforcement leaders. These selections cover leadership, personal development and even children’s books to inspire the next generation of officers.
Pick up one of these highly-rated reads as a gift for an officer in your life, and let these titles motivate you to learn, grow and lead in the ever-evolving world of policing.
Top book picks from law enforcement leaders
Shop the police book recommendations
Police leadership/career development picks:
- Rising Through The Ranks: Leadership Tools and Techniques for Law Enforcement
- Leadership and Training for the Fight: Using Special Operations Principles to Succeed in Law Enforcement, Business, and War
- Leadership in Law Enforcement: 10 Key Traits and What Law Enforcement Agencies Can Do To Develop These in Future Leaders
- Leading Cops in Turbulent Times: The Practical Roadmap to Highly-Effective Police Leadership
- Police Leadership & Supervision
- The Art Of Strategic Communication: A Police Chief’s Guide To Mastering Soundbites, Storytelling, And Community Engagement
- Police Leadership Redefined - The EQ Advantage: Transforming Law Enforcement with Emotional Intelligence
- Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value
- Leadership Is an Art
- The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
- The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy)
- Emotional Intelligence 2.0
- The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership
Police memoirs and autobiographies:
- Armed and Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman
- In My DNA: My Career Investigating Your Worst Nightmares
- Passing the Badge: Stories from Law Enforcement
- Behind the Badge: A Policeman’s Legacy
- A Life on the Line: My Unexpected Career with the Canada Border Services Agency
- Unwavering Honor
- Selfless Service
- A Darker Shade of Blue: A Police Officer’s Memoir
- The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop
- Good Cop, Bad Daughter: Memoirs of an Unlikely Police Officer
- The Blue Journey: Memoirs of a Cop’s Cop
- A Police Chief’s Journey: Diaries of an Extraordinary Career and Stories from Virginia’s Small Towns
- 406: OFFICER NEEDS ASSISTANCE - Memoirs of a San Francisco Police Officer
- Ram One: True Crime Stories of Working Undercover and Breaking Down Doors on the SWAT Team
- Badge on Campus: The Memoir of a School Resource Officer
Children’s books:
- Police Officers on Patrol
- Richard Scarry’s A Day at the Police Station
- My Dream: I Want to Be A Police Officer
- I Want to Be a Police Officer (I Can Read Level 1)
- On Patrol with Police Car - Touch and Feel Board Book
- K9 Mattis on the Job: A Day in the Life of a Police Dog
- Officer Buckle & Gloria
- We Met a Police Officer Today
- My Mommy is a Police Officer
- Police in Our School: An Introduction to School Resource Officers and What They Do
- Here Come the Helpers
- My Daddy is a Police Officer
- The Police 123’s
- Police Officers (In My Neighborhood)
- A Hero Lives in My Family: A Story for Kids of First Responders
Police1 is using generative AI to create some content that is edited and fact-checked by our editors.