“Bobby, I’ll live through your eyes,” my mother said, holding my hand shortly before she had a stroke in the spring of 1989. She passed away that November, but those words haunted me long afterward. I was always drawn to the edgy side of life, and through it all, my mother struggled to surround me with love and safety. I lived life as a juvenile delinquent, then as a soldier, then as a cop. I raised my family and then, in 1997, completed a PhD in criminology.

PostedJune 26, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesWriting Blogs, Motherhood, Police behavior, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Professor John Baugh, Sgt. Douglas Parkinson, Ruth Ankony, Lurps: A Ranger's Diary, Wayne County Jail Detroit, Professor Leon Warshay, Professor Thomas Kelly, Professor Leon Wilson, Professor Janet Hankin, Professor Matthew Seeger, SFC Kelly Hyde

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Wives can be great companions and lots of fun, but from a cop’s perspective, an angry wife can be something else altogether. She can stop your heart. Of all my professional dealings with hostile women, two encounters really stand out.

PostedMay 9, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesPolice behavior, Criminal behavior, Police use of force

TagsRobert Ankony, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Sheila Ankony, Richard Novak, Amy Joy Donuts, Joe Porcarelli, Richard Ankony

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It was my sixth year with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department in Detroit, and I was assigned to uniformed motorized patrol at the Patrol and Investigation Division in western Wayne County. Six years on the force meant I no longer had to work nights, afternoons, or the shift that was toughest on the social life: seven at night to three in the morning. The best part of days was that if I had to go to court, I could do it while I was working—no more having to lose sleep. And I could go to college in the evening without any scheduling hassles.

PostedMarch 30, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesDetroit Crime 1976, Social alienation, Police use of force, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Mayor Coleman Young, Amy Joy Donuts, Ed Swamba, Sheila Ankony, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Detroit Police Department, Officer in Trouble

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Christmastime 1972 was one for the ages. I was a 24-year-old undercover cop assigned to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department Metropolitan Narcotics Squad. It was December, and I was also serving with Company F, 425th Infantry (Ranger), in the Michigan National Guard.

PostedFebruary 12, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesDetroit crime, Police behavior, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Robert Dooley, Robert Bradford, Mark Bethune, John Percy Boyd, Hayward Brown, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Company F 425th Infantry Ranger, Chuck Art

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How, after spending eight years on the Wayne County Sheriff’s force and three years in the Narcotics Bureau, did I end up in the Detective Bureau, shuffling papers and answering phones? Answer: because I decided it would be a good idea to illegally convert two semiauto M1 carbines to fully automatic. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms didn’t agree with my assessment. Neither did my department—never mind that these were weapons I used in my work as an undercover cop. So I worked patrol till I was promoted to detective, but what I really wanted was to get back to the Narcotics Bureau, where everything was fast, exciting, and fun.

PostedFebruary 3, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesPolice behavior, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Sheriff William Lucas, Tennessee v. Garner, Police use of deadly force, Wayne County Sheriff's Department

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Friday, November 9, 1962, was sunny and mild—a perfect day for skipping school. (Of course, even bad days were a fine time to ditch classes at Wilson Junior High.) I was 14 and had already failed seventh grade. I had plenty of friends in southwest Detroit, and Wilson had lots of kids just like me. It took only a minute to find my friend Ron, and we took off walking from Detroit to Dearborn to see the Ford Rotunda.

PostedJanuary 19, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesJuvenile Crime, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Ford Rotunda

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I worked fifteen years for Detroit’s Wayne County Sheriff Department, serving as a jail guard, undercover narcotics officer, uniformed patrol officer, detective, uniformed patrol sergeant, and detective sergeant in the narcotics bureau. I was also suspended four times without pay.

PostedJanuary 14, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesPolice behavior, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Wayne County Sheriff's Department

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Dear Stephanie,

It’s been over a month, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of your father. I didn’t know Ed was sick until nearly the end, when Officer Skidmore told me. Now, whenever I’m running along a road, I still half expect to see that black pickup pull over, and Ed jump out with his usual swagger and smile, hollering, “Hey, Iceman!” God knows how many times he did that and we’d just talk right there on the roadside. Ed was always upbeat and funny, and he’d often say we needed to get together. And I would always put it off for another day because I was busy with college, writing my book, or doing some other “pressing” thing. Now it’s too late, and I’m truly sorry for that.

PostedJanuary 10, 2014

AuthorRobert Ankony

CategoriesDrug culture, Police behavior, Criminal behavior

TagsRobert Ankony, Ed Reedy, Edward Hines Park, Wayne County Sheriff's Department

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