Over the Wall at the LAPD academy

Now that the L.A. Times has given up on the idea of a readable and substantive Sunday magazine, Angelenos have to look elsewhere for deeper, well-written feature pieces out of Los Angeles. Found one — in last Sunday's Washington Post magazine. The summer reading issue includes a memoir by author Ann Patchett that examines and expands on her experiences trying out for the Los Angeles Police Academy.

In 1993, I was awarded a fellowship at Radcliffe College to work on a novel, but, as sometimes happens, I got ahead of myself and finished the book before I arrived. I was in the market for inspiration, and I found it in Glendale, Calif., sitting in my father's den, drinking gin and tonics, and watching a special edition of "Nightline"...

My father had retired from the LAPD two years before. With [Ted] Koppel and [Daryl] Gates in the background, we fell into a conversation about how the police force had been portrayed so often over the decades and yet was so rarely understood. Somewhere in my brain, a little light bulb switched to bright: I decided to write a book about the LAPD.

"You want to be a cop?" my father asked. Even with two books behind me, he still felt I lacked a professional calling.

"Not at all. Not even a little bit. I want to understand why other people want to be cops."

"But you'll try out, take the test?"

My plan formulated as the words came out of my mouth: Yes, I wanted to take the test, I wanted to go through the police academy, I wanted to write about it. This was part of the story, but not all of it. I was interested in the job these people wanted, but I was also interested in the job my father had had. My father and I were close, but we had seen remarkably little of each other in our lives.

Anyone who plans to take the physical test to get in the academy should give it a read. Patchett discussed the story online with Post readers on Monday.

Meanwhile: Rick Wartzman, former editor of the LAT's West magazine, takes issue with LA Observed on a couple of points.

LAPD policewomen in 1948: UCLA Library/Department of Special Collections