We shouldn't be. That was work for the military. He earned promotions to sergeant and detective. His old partner, Richard Kalk, remembers him as a solid, common-sense investigator who cracked more than his share of tough cases. Off hours, Mr. Wambaugh went to school, eventually earning his master's degree in English from Cal State, Los Angeles, in 1968 and then setting out to turn himself into a writer.
All English majors get that idea.
At least I waited until I had some life experience. I waited until I was 30, until I had seven years on the job, before I wrote one line. Encouraged by an editor at the Atlantic Monthly, Mr. Wambaugh worked quietly and diligently, a few hours every day. It was about cops who were gritty, incisive, foul-mouthed and fallible. Police writing would never be the same.