In June 1971 Bo Lockley, the youngest

detective on the New York City police

force, tracked down and then shot and

killed another detective, narcotics under-

cover agent Patricia Butler, in a Times

Square loft. Less than thirty-six hours

later, Lockley was arrested and charged

with murder in the first degree.

The resulting scandal split the New

York City Police Department wide open.

The chief of the narcotics bureau retired

under pressure and the captain in charge

of all uudercovers was suspended. AlmoSt

every man in the narcotics bureau was

either reassigned or retired, and the en-

tire detective division went through a

complete reorganization. The Police

Commissioner demanded from the Inter-

nal Affairs Division a complete, highly

confidential report on the Lockley-Butler

incident. That report-in the form of

transcripts of taped interviews with vari-

ous participants as well as the Police

Department documents pertaining to the

Butler homicide and subsequent investi-

gation-constitutes this book.

Report to the Commissioner is a story

of one young man s innocence, and the

self-serving efforts of his superiors to use

him and finally to sacrifice him for their

own salvation. It is a story of idealism

against cynicism, of naivet~ against ex-

perience, of youth against age. And it is