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Sergeant Howard A. Monta, Seattle Police
Department (ret.) was an enlisted Airman in the United States Air Force from 1956 to 1959. After his military
service, he joined the Seattle Fire Department and served from 1961 to 1966. In 1968, he joined the Seattle
Police Department where he rose to the rank of sergeant, retiring in 1997. During his law enforcement career,
he was a field training officer as well as a basic police academy instructor in Verbal Communications. He
earned his BA in Public Administration in 1974.
Sergeant Howard A. Monta is the author of three law enforcement related books:
How Police Officers Get Hired: The Key to Getting the Cop Job and Keeping It; Survive Low Morale, Stress and Burnout
in Law Enforcement: (Identify & Manage the Eight Elements of Job Burnout); and, his autobiography, Like a Cat with Nine
Lives.
According to the book description of
How to Survive Low Morale, Stress, & Burnout in Law Enforcement, “Throughout his twenty-nine-year
career, Retired Seattle Police Sergeant Howard A. Monta maintained an interest in looking beyond the normal functions of his
job description. Sergeant Monta supervised a patrol squad staffed by Field Training Officers, and was intensely involved in
the training of student officers from 1990 to 1997. Monta maintained a curiosity and concern for the actions and feelings
of others, always trying to find explanations for the reactions of people in response to their environment. He kept records
and notes relating to events that caused significant negative reactions from peers and administrators—reactions that
led to stress and morale problems. First and foremost of Sergeant Monta’s interests were the causes of job stress, low
morale, and burnout in the profession. This manuscript is meant to serve as a textbook that would familiarize prospective
and current police officers with one of the most severe hazards of the profession, and offer advice to assist in overcoming
this dangerous reality.”
Howard Monta said of How Police Officers Get Hired (Formerly
entitled, Cops Who Succeed), the book “provides insight into the most exciting, most controversial, most scrutinized,
and the most important occupation in our society. In addition to vividly describing the public expectations and actual duties
of police officers, Chapters One through Four identify the personal qualities of those who are "cut out" to be cops.
The application, testing, and training processes are meticulously described. Chapters Five through Eleven describe those elements
of the law enforcement profession that cause stress, low morale, and eventual job burnout. Helpful methods of surviving the
stress and trauma of police duties are offered. This information is not only directed toward prospective officers, it is also
invaluable for experienced officers. The book will never be outdated. Similar requirements and problems that exist for cops
today, existed in the 1960s, and will continue to be relevant for generations to come.”
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According to the book description of
Like a Cat with Nine Lives, “This is the story of Howard A. Monta’s evolution from a
picked-on, chubby kid, to a risk-taking adventurer who was drawn to a long career as an aggressive law enforcer. The saga
spans his life from childhood in a poor Seattle neighborhood, to his retirement from the Seattle Police Department in 1997.The
colorful narration of his infatuation for a New York girl whom he cajoled into marrying him, despite his outrageous behavior,
will bring a smile to the face of even the most somber reader.”
One reader of Like a Cat
with Nine Lives said, “For anyone who thought they knew that being a police officer was all about, this
book will enlighten and surprise you. With completely candid stories and adventures, Sgt. Monta gives you a play by play on
what it is like to walk in his shoes for a while. As an officer that has worked under and with him, I can honestly say, he
deserves applause for all his dedication to the police family.”
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