The Missing Piece

by Larry Watts

The Missing Piece is a story of the tragedy that engulfs all those involved when a peace officer uses a weapon in the line-of-duty. The author weaves a story filled with small town values, big city police work, the influence of political decisions, and racial overtones which all come together as the story's characters make life changing decisions.
Watts tells the story of Chris Martin, a young police officer who kills a black man while being attacked by him. When investigators arrive at the scene the man's weapon is missing. The officer begins a journey that includes defending his actions, seeing political expediency become more important than the facts, questioning the entire law enforcement system, and ultimately questioning his own actions that fateful day.
This novel shines a glaring light on the rationalization, politics, and investigative short comings that are inherent in many high profile police use of force cases. It also gives an insider's view of police union politics and decision-making when members' personal political views conflict with a police union's ability to best serve those members.
All the characters depicted are fictional and are the product of the author's imagination. All events are also fictional and were created by the author drawing from his 40 plus years working in the law enforcement community in Texas.
Larry Watts was born and grew to adulthood in the small town of Ripley, Oklahoma. He moved to Texas where he worked as a police officer for more than 20 years, then in the police labor movement for another 20 years. Most recently, he retired after serving as the chief labor relations officer in one of Texas' major cities. Watts experience is unique in that he has worked on both the labor and management sides of police and other public sector labor and personnel issues during his career.
During his forty plus years working in and with the law enforcement community, he has been involved in assisting hundreds of Texas peace officers who were called on to make extraordinary decisions on the spur of the moment. Many of these decisions involved the use their firearms and some the taking of another life. Watts captures the many conflicts that arise for the officer and all the other people whose lives are affected by these split second decisions.
Watts has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Labor Studies from Antioch University and completed the Harvard Trade Union Program at Harvard University's School of Business while working in the police labor movement.
The author of numerous trade magazine articles during his police labor career, Right, Wrong and Rationalizing Truth is his first published full length novel. Watts utilizes his unique experiences to make this novel come to life for the reader.

199 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2011

About the author

Larry Watts resides on the Gulf Coast of Texas. As he describes on his blog site larrywatts1@wordpress.com, "I try to reinvent myself about every 20 years. From country boy, to big city cop, to labor negotiator, and now an emerging author."

Watts puts his vast experience from all his professional identities to use in writing novels about social justice and crime. As Rick Bradstreet, former Director of Psychological Services for the Austin, Texas Police Department says,

"Your descriptions of the details of investigations and the details of prison life were very enlightening. I have never seen that level of 'here's how it really works', before. That alone is a big contribution to the literature.

I also appreciated your characters, and how their private agendas, burn out, idealism, etc. impacted the case. This is rarely discussed in police depts. Your last chapter is a good model for all Cadet training and In Service training."