Poet Cops

Poetry and law enforcement usually don't team up...but they do!

From an article in the Pasadena Star News...


The worlds of poetry and law enforcement would seem to share little. But a few poet cops hope to change that perception, one line at a time. 

They got some help recently from a Studio City-based poetry journal, Rattle, whose latest issue has 14 poems by police officers and other law enforcement agents, including Fourmy. 

A 40-year-old surfer with tattoos and shaggy hair who looks something like Eddie Vedder, Fourmy said he believes everyone can be a poet, including police officers and his colleagues in the DEA's Los Angeles office. 

"People have it in them," he said. "I think everybody has it in them." 

Other police poets say their two callings have a lot in common. Good officers and good poets both need an eye for detail and perceptiveness about human nature. Writing is an important part of the job for a police officer and especially for a federal agent, who must persuade federal judges to sign search warrants.