HPD blues in
black and white
Tour of duty Gary Dias is no stranger to paperwork. As an ex-beat cop in the Honolulu Police Department who rose through the ranks, he spent many an evening banging at the keys, rolling in the carbon paper, making reports and citations and memos and transcripts in triplicate and quadruplicate and pentalicate and ...
A good thing, too. He's just wrapped up his memoirs, a cheeky and irreverent look at his years in HPD called "Honolulu Cop"($11.95). Published last month by Bess Press, early indications are that it's doing well.
It took about six months, with Dias' wife — an experienced journalist — providing feedback and style-editing. One useful bit of advice was to pace the chapters, alternating funny and serious pieces.
The book is not an "expose," said Dias, although it does let some ribald tales out of the station. "I didn't tell tell anyone in the department I was working on it, because they'd just worry about what it was going to say, and no one needs that kind of pressure," said Dias.
Now that it's out, he's gotten some good comments from fellow officers, some of whom are relieved, and others of whom are reliving ancient history.
Apparently, it's not selling gangbusters in the police department. "Knowing police, they probably bought one copy and are passing the one copy around to the whole division," mock-groused Dias.
- Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com
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