Sal Maggio was a trooper from 1967 until 2000. He saw varied and sometimes dangerous incidents on the highways. As he rose through the ranks he eventually trained and supervised new members of the force. Overall I enjoyed this books and seeing through his eyes the changes that happened within his work life. As a 30 year resident of New Jersey I'm familiar with many of the roads and places that Mr. Maggio talks about. An eye opener for some readers.

The autobiography of New Jersey State Trooper Sal Maggio, who served from 1967 until retirement in 2000


Sal Maggio dropped out of college, and joined the NJ Army National Guard. Then he entered the New Jersey State Police Academy, graduated, and started his police career in central New Jersey as a general road trooper.


After numerous transfers (none for disciplinary reasons) Maggio spent 19 years on the "road" as a trooper and road sergeant. He recalls many incidents encountered while working the highways and policing the towns and townships that do not have a local police department.


After 19 years on the road, Maggio was promoted to sergeant first class and his patrolling days were over as he became a supervisor and manager of troopers. Maggio recalls many of the incidents he handled as a supervisor. He was eventually promoted to captain and was the Troop "B" Commander in charge of 8 stations and about 350 troopers.


Join Trooper Maggio on his rides through New Jersey, enforcing the law. Many of the incidents are humorous, some tragic. Maggio also interacted with union leaders, governors, and US Presidents.

An interesting read

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Reading about first responders' experiences is interesting. Especially to read about what happens behind the scenes. I have a lot of respect for police, especially in today's world. The media definitely skews video and audio taken from instances and doesn't always give a full picture.
I was surprised at how many troopers were doing illegal things or just not being a good employee and that they were usually just transferred to another unit to become someone else's problem.
Overall, this was a pretty interesting book. I am not from New Jersey so the mention of boundaries for each unit did get a bit unnecessary for me.

I received a free copy of, The Life of a New Jersey Road Trooper, by Sal Maggio, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Being a cop/trooper in this generation is hard. I thank Sal Maggio for his hard work and dedication. This is an interesting book on his trooper career from the late 60's til 2000.

I found this a really interesting behind the scenes look at the process of becoming a road trooper, and what the job is like. How they get moved to different station houses for varied periods, and how much they can differ, depending on who is running the place. There’s also the politics that play into the job and promotions and many types of cases involved.

In the vein of the great cop author Ed McBain, Sal Maggio tells it straight and what happened during his long career with the New Jersey State Troopers.

It was funny at times, some times bewildering (the guy driving with his left leg out the window), but mostly brutally honest.
I really liked it. I liked that the author showed the changes that occurred from the cars, to the radar, to the breathalyzer.

I also thought that he was fair. He would try to help fellow troopers.
I thought that he had a great way of straddling the upper commands and the troopers actually doing the work.

There was only two minor things that would have made this book great:
1. include a map of the precincts. I have never been to New Jersey, so I wasn't sure what areas the author was talking about.
2. more personal stories. How did being a road trooper affect his marriages (he did talk of one divorce), his children, his family life.

Overall, this is a great book about changing times within the State Troopers office. How any cop must change with the times.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to go into law enforcement and for those who are interested in police officer history.

5 ⭐️‘s
Publish Day: February 21st, 2023
I didn’t realize they called state troopers in New Jersey Road Troopers.
Talks real life about his experience in the NJ National Guard & his time with the NJ state police.
Talks about governors and presidents.
Yes, I’d recommend.