Just in time for National Police Week May 11-17, longtime local police officer Victor Letonoff has published a book, "Gray Skies, Blue Line: Letters from a Cop," about what it means to be a cop in today’s world.

“It’s not about the stuff you see on TV or read about in police procedurals,” Letonoff said. “It’s not about car chases and shoot-outs, but about the day-in, day-out decisions cops have to make and live with.”

Five years ago, when Letonoff first started writing the book, he wanted to pass on to young officers the wisdom and insight he’d acquired from his years on the job. But he soon realized his message needed to reach a greater audience. He also wanted to reach their wives, parents, neighbors and even strangers, the thousands of people who might never encounter a cop except on the news.

“Everywhere, I was seeing police officers being scapegoated, blamed for society’s ills,” he said. He wondered how this was happening. How was it that in the land of the free, in this great civil society, cops were the enemy?

The book is written as a series of letters – to cops, to their spouses, to Letonoff’s own wife and father, to Black men, to the media, even to some of the people Letonoff interacted with in the course of his job. It seeks to demystify – and humanize – the person behind the badge.