Personal recollections of life in the police force. "The public says 'Gee, that's terrible, that's horrible. How could people do such a wicked thing?' But if it doesn't come within the ambit of their own experience, they don't comprehend the horror of a lot of this stuff. Even as police, you should never, not never, lose your ability to be appalled. Any police officer who goes through a stage where they are totally unshockable should get out." - Retired senior sergeant Colleen Woolley"We drank to get rid of it in our day, stress. Now officers prefer the gym. That's perfectly fine, and good on them, but they don't have the communion we once had. You have to be in with people and you have to know them. Every single one of them in the community." - Superintendent Geoff O'Loughlin"The bullet had...a sort of voyage into his heart, Ray's heart, my husband's heart." - Jean Koch, widow of Constable Ray KochHeart and Soul reaches into the minds of the Police, eliciting confessions great and small from these guardians of our society. It discovers what made them who they are; why they joined the Force; what they give, what they take; what they gain, what they lose - all in the course of duty. And it explores the toll taken by the ultimate police sacrifice: life itself. Completely at ease on the other side of the interview desk, Barry Dickins has found the commonality between Us and Them, and distilled it in this funny, sad, poignant and shocking collection of conversations.