Unsung Heros – The Heart of a First Responder

Watching the coverage of the Boston bombing reminded me of how much work goes into responding to tragedy whether it’s a natural disaster or a man made disaster. And it reminded me that a lot of people contribute to a successful ending and not all of them will be recognized for their help, their sacrifice, …

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Guest Post Candace Calvert : Of Cops, Nurses, and Full Moons

Janice and I met in Dallas last fall, at the American Christian Fiction Writers’ annual conference. I’d been sort of stalking her (though I probably shouldn’t confess that in the presence of law enforcement) during the conference. I admire her work and we share a publisher, so I figured we should meet. I couldn’t find …

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Motive

Why do people kill? In the courts, ascertaining motive or intent is an integral part of the legal process. The determination of a person’s motive can mean the difference between the death penalty, life in prison, a long sentence, a short sentence, and freedom.  When Cain slew Abel there was no hiding his jealous intent …

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Reality Versus Television

I don’t watch much TV, but there are a couple of shows I like, one is Castle, which is fiction through and through. In a lot of episodes the cops go bursting in on bad guys, guns drawn and everyone gives up and there is no blood drawn. Oh, if it only worked that way …

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Is There a Perfect Murder?

There is a  line from the TV show Castle that goes something like this: “Two types of people sit around and try to think of ways to kill people, psychopaths and mystery writers, I’m the one that pays better.” Since I write suspense and mystery, I too sit around ant try to think of ways …

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Personal Safety

I love to watch true crime shows. One of my favorite is called “Disappeared.” To me the most frustrating thing in the world would be a loved one who simply vanished without a trace. Disappeared is the story of the search for people who, most of the time, are never found. I often try to …

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Pilfered Privacy

Have you ever read a news story about a burglar who hurts himself burglarizing a property and then sues the owner/victim for pain and suffering? I have a few times and it always makes me angry. But it makes me angrier when some jury actually awards the crook money. It’s an upside down world, especially …

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Who’s Watching You?

Before I left police work completely, I worked on a training bulletin for a new technology, Automated License Plate Recognition software. Basically, it was a scanner mounted on the patrol car that would scan license plates while the officer drove and notify him if there was an alert attached to the plate, or if it …

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Cases Gone Cold

Cold case investigations fascinate me. Though I never worked these types of investigations when I was an officer, I’ve often imagined that the toughest ones would be the cases where the victim simply disappears and there is no body and no evidence as to what may have happened. It’s difficult for cops and agonizing, I …

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About Teenagers

The other day I was sitting in a sandwich shop eating lunch. It was after three in the afternoon so school was out. There’s a high school just up the street from the sandwich place so consequently the shop was packed with students. In the group closest to where I sat, there was a guy …

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