Brimfield Ohio Police Chief, David Oliver, Secures Book Deal

Top Quote David Oliver, Police Chief for Brimfield, Ohio started a Facebook page with the idea of connecting better with the local community. He didn't realize this would lead to internet fame, national media interviews, and now a book deal. End Quote
  • (1888PressRelease) August 02, 2013 - Cleveland, OH -- When Chief David Oliver started a Facebook page for the Brimfield, Ohio, police department, he just wanted to connect a little better with the local community. He didn't expect it would lead to Internet fame, national media appearances, and, now, a book deal.

    The book, "No Mopes Allowed" ($14.95, paperback) will be published on September 21, 2013. It will be a greatest-hits collection of Oliver's writing from the Facebook page and will also include new material.

    Oliver writes daily, sometimes several times per day, on topics of interest to the 11,000 residents of Brimfield Township. Lost dogs (and the occasional pig), warnings against underage drinking, and updates on local charity events are common items. So are reports on police activity (shoplifting, DUI, and meth possession are familiar crimes in this rural community near Akron, Ohio). Oliver tries to inject a little humor into almost every post--a style not normally associated with official police department communications.

    But that doesn't explain why the Brimfield police department's Facebook page, created in 2011, shot up to more than 79,000 followers in 2013, including thousands of people in Australia as well as in dozens of other countries and in every state in the U.S. (The Facebook page for tiny Brimfield now ranks #3 in followers among all U.S. police departments, just behind New York City and Boston.)

    What seems to have really caught on with readers, judging by the number of "likes" the Facebook posts receive, are Oliver's occasional, longer, opinionated essays about larger issues currently facing the community and the nation. These "rants and babbles," as Oliver calls them in a self-deprecating way, might include a staunch and sentimental statement of support for military veterans one day, an impassioned response to a recent school shooting incident in the news another day, followed by a blunt notice to criminals ("Dear Heroin User . . ." begins one of these; it's signed, typically, "Love, Chief").

    These popular essays will make up the majority of "No Mopes Allowed," with updates and other remarks added by Oliver. Also featured will be a selection of the most entertaining police activity reports from the past two years (including the very popular K-9 unit), a recap of the surprising, yearlong Facebook celebrity story, and new autobiographical stories drawn from Oliver's career in law enforcement.

    Mope, by the way, is old-fashioned police slang for a criminal. Oliver first heard the term from a veteran cop when he was a rookie, and he embraces it gleefully. A mope, he writes, is "Someone who leeches off of society and usually breaks the law." They can be of any economic class, and include thieves, drug dealers, drunk drivers, sexual predators, and deadbeat dads, among many others. Oliver says he and his officers enjoy catching mopes and want to make it clear they're not welcome in Brimfield.

    "No Mopes Allowed" will support Oliver's efforts to protect and serve the community. Oliver is donating all of his earnings from the book to The Chief Oliver Foundation, a not-for-profit organization created to distribute funds to Brimfield Police Department charitable programs and to assist juvenile victims of sexual assault.

    "No Mopes Allowed" will also be available as an ebook for most ebook devices.

    More information about "No Mopes Allowed" can be found at:
    http://www.nomopes.com

    The Brimfield Police Department Facebook page can be found at:
    http://www.facebook.com/BrimfieldPolice

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