Randy Jurgensen was an NYPD detective for decades before becoming a major technical advisor in film and television. He worked with Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso in the original case that inspired the French Connection story, and pursued cop killers both in New York and across the country until his retirement from the NYPD in the late 1970s.

His character (Lieutenant Lefronsky) in William Friedkin's Cruising was autobiographic. He really proceeded to the arrest of the real life criminal who inspired the events of Cruising (and believe it or not the killer made a cameo in Friedkin's The Exorcist!!!)

Randy Jurgensen was once involved in a sting operation in Greenwich Village wherein he arrested Lenny Bruce on an obscenity charge.

Randy Jurgensen was involved in the 1972 Harlem mosque shooting incident wherein NYPD officer Phil Cardillo was shot and killed. Jurgensen later co-wrote a book about the notorious story, its investigation, and media fallout entitled "Circle Of Six.".

Made his first break in William Friedkin's French Connection, in which he played a police sergeant and serve as technical consultant alongside partners Sonny Grosso and Eddie Egan