Cow County Chip

T.R. Shannon joined the San Jose California Highway Patrol in July 1966, and transferred to the San Andreas Area CHP office two years later, where he'd stay for the next twenty-one years.During that time, he drove about 750,000 miles on state highways and county roads, patrolling the most varied climate and terrain in California. Through hot summers, freezing winters, in the mountains, and in the grasslands, he thought fast, navigated ethical quandaries, and believed in and always strived to enforce the law without fear or favor.In this collection of 128 short stories, he looks back at high-speed pursuits, heart-breaking traffic accidents, physical confrontations, unsolved murders, and other events-from the routine to the unbelievable.Some of the people he arrested-and some of the people he saw die-he shed no tears for, but others-like the first person he arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, earned his sympathy.An officer's job involves much more than writing tickets, investigating sometimes minor-but too often tragic-traffic accidents, and helping disabled motorists-although all those things are critical parts of the job highlighted in Cow County Chip.