Writers' Police Academy 2016

Only a few days before I head off to WPA! This year, I've got a friend and fellow author joining me. I'm unbelievably excited to get to share this event with her and I think she'll have a great experience.

WPA has been described as "Disneyland for writers" and that's about as accurate a description as any. We'll spend almost three days absorbing everything we can from experts in: bioterrorism; law enforcement; fire; EMS; forensic psychology; and crime lab/processing.

I can't wait! If you want to keep up in real-time, follow me on Twitter (@CSWilson_Author), Instagram (@authorcswilson), or Facebook (@AuthorCSWilson). I'll do my best to post every chance I get.

WPA 2015 - Thursday

I did actually make it to the Writers' Police Academy this year! I know I say I'm going every year, but then something always comes up and I can't make it. Instead, I end up as a sponsor. Finally, all of the stars lined up and I flew into Wisconsin. In years past, WPA has been hosted by GTCC in Greensboro, North Carolina, but we've outgrown that facility.

Fox Valley Technical College Public Safety Training Center is the new site of WPA and what a phenomenal facility it is. Since I work at a career college, I might appreciate their facility a bit more than others. I would love to be able to build a similar facility in my area of expertise, so in addition to learning a lot, I did some serious day-dreaming about what my "dream campus" would be.

"River City" - complete with houses, motel, gas station, and bank

I flew in on Thursday, in time for registration, orientation, and the first session: 3D Crime Scene Mapping presented by Dr. Joe LeFevre.

The technology available to law enforcement is astounding. Using a Leica scanner, a 3D map of a crime scene can be generated.

I was surprised to learn that the technology is not actually new - it's been around since the 70s! However, it was not used a law enforcement capacity. Geological survey crews were using these scanners and a brilliant state patrolman saw the opportunity to use it at car accidents to recreate the scenes.

It's essentially a giant laser range finder that takes 50,000 measurements a second and can complete a scan in as little as 2-3 minutes or up to 15 minutes, depending on the settings.

The scan takes the error out of mapping a crime scene; nothing is overlooked or mis-interpreted. Fox Valley was instrumental in developing a new technique in which still crime scene photos can be overlaid into the scan, which is helpful if the victim has been removed from the scene. Overlaying the crime scene photos on the scan helps juries "see" exactly what happened in instances where the scan wasn't done until much later in the investigation.

Though the scan takes just a few minutes, working with the raw data to make a file to work with can take several hours.

In fact, a 3D scanner (different manufacturer) was used by the FBI to collect evidence in the recent Aurora Theater Shooting. Eight days with the scanner ensured that the scene was properly mapped and nothing missed. I have to think that it played a small part in putting the bastard away for the rest of his (hopefully short) life.

WPA-bound

You know, for a writer, I don't get much writing done. I always have grand intentions of breaking out the computer when I get home from work, but it rarely happens.

I am currently revising TALES FROM THE TRAIL, adding about ten stories, including Estes' final chapter. It should have been included in the first edition, but her death was too raw and I'm just now ready to write about it.

The second book in the LYON'S ROAR series in flitting around in my brain. I even have the first chapter written, but it scares me a bit, so I'm finding it difficult to move forward. Next week, I'll be headed to Wisconsin to the Writers' Police Academy - a move I hope will help light the fire under my butt to sit down and get the next book out.

It was at the 2010 WPA that I learned the method by which Faceless Bad Guy used to enter Stacy Lyon's house. Each year, the WPA gets bigger and better, so I have no doubt I will return full of ideas that will appear in future books.

I leave on the 20th bright and early and return bright and early on the 23rd. The only decent price I could get back was at the butt-crack of dawn, so I'm going to miss the debrief on Sunday, but I'll have two and a half days of learning under my belt by then. (And I'll be back in time to see the premier of Fear the Walking Dead!)

I am pretty bad at posting to Twitter (@CSWilson_Author), but I'm going to work on it while at WPA. If you want to follow along with me and the other 299 authors who will be attending, watch #2015WPA for updates.

I'll also be posting cool things on Instagram (AuthorCSWilson), and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AuthorCSWilson), so if you think about it, jump on over to follow along.

More on WPA

I knew when I went to WPA that I wanted to meet Terry O'Dell, as I've followed her blog for a while now and knew she was going to be attending, so I set out to meet her (don't worry, Terry, I wasn't really stalking you).  I have to say, I laughed at Mr. Daddy, who called the lodge looking for Rachel, during the High Country Rendezvous and had to introduce himself by his blog name before Bill knew who he was.  Maybe I shouldn't have laughed, because when I finally got to meet Terry, I had to do the same thing.  It's one thing to be GunDiva in bloggyland, but quite another to refer to yourself by your blog name IRL.  Terry and her husband are wonderful people and I enjoyed spending time with them throughout the weekend.

Terry's got some great WPA posts over at her blog.  For her take on it, be sure to click here, here, and here.  Heck, while you're at it, why don't you just click her follow button so you don't miss anymore WPA posts?

I got the surprise of my life during Bill Lanning's presentation, which quickly outgrew his scheduled room and we had to change rooms.  I turned around and - Oh my God, it's Sophie Littlefield!  Really, that was my reaction.  I think I elbowed H in awe and nodded toward Sophie.  H looked at me like I'd lost my mind, because I was completely tongue-tied.  But this was a moment I could not pass up, I took a deep breath, marched over to Sophie and introduced myself.  Well, introduced myself as GunDiva and then my real name - still very weird to to that.  She was amazingly warm and genuine and immediately invited us to join her at lunch.  Sadly, that didn't happen because our schedules were a bit off and I missed her, though I did get to talk to her throughout the weekend and each time she was amazingly wonderful.

Sophie hasn't blogged about WPA yet, she's been a little busy with releasing her new YA books and getting put on covers of magazines and all that mundane daily stuff that we aspiring writers dream about, but you should head over to her blog and click follow, too.  Better yet, go buy her books, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY and A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY, because the next Stella book is fast approaching.

For more WPA - just in case you can't get enough - be sure to head over to Lee Lofland's blog to check out his behind-the-scenes take on it and his daily WPA Picture of the Day and to my post on Girls With Guns for my experience with FATS training.

I've heard from Lee that next year's going to be even bigger than this year's WPA, so if you're interested be sure to start saving your money now.  I've heard rumors of a "Microscopic Murder" lecture and a helicopter addition.  I can't wait to see what Lee comes up with for next year.

WPA - Day Two

So, I know that the Day One post was really, really, really long, but I thought I'd give you a taste of what the day was like.  Now that you all get the idea of the craziness, I'll dial it down a lot.

Day Two started at 8:00 am with this...



And ended roughly around midnight with this...

There was a bunch of other stuff in between, too.

Then I went to bed.

WPA - Day One

Jeez, I don't know where to start.  I was just going through my pictures, trying to pare it down to just a few for posting.

The day started with a little snafu with the shuttle busses; too many people, not enough butt space on the shuttle.  The people who had cars started rounding up others who needed rides and in short order we were all delivered to GTCC (Guilford Technical Community College).  What struck me was how nice everyone was - my friend H and I didn't know the people who we rode to GTCC with, but the commonality of the WPA drew us all together.

Though there were a couple hours dedicated to registration, it took no time at all.  The volunteers from High Point Library had everything organized beautifully and it took less than five minutes to negotiate it, which gave H and I time to walk around.  When registration closed, the free-for-all began.  The sheriff's department graciously allowed its equipment and specialized units to set up and talk to us.

The Hazardous Devices team brought out the "bomb robot" that they use to remotely handle devices.  It has tracks to help it up inclines and is directed by the orange fiber-optic cable you see on the right side of the picture.

This device is commonly called a "water cannon" by the media and it is essentially the barrel of a Remington 870 shotgun that is filled with water which is forcefully propelled into the suspicious device.

The SERT (Sheriff's Emergency Response Team) team brought out the big guns - literally.  That beautiful piece of machinery in the foreground is a Barrett .50 rifle and can reach out and touch someone a long, Long, LONG way away.

H and I wandered around looking at all the displays, asking a ton of questions and listening to the questions other writers had.  I took pages and pages of notes that I'm sure I'll be able to use at some point.

After roasting ourselves on the blacktop, we headed inside to listen to Dr. Bill Lanning's lecture, "Why People Kill".  Dr. Lanning is a charming gentleman who obviously enjoys his job.  Again, I took pages and pages of notes.  I'm not sure that it's right to have so much fun and laugh so much while learning why people kill.  I followed most of his idioms, but one got me..."eat a six pack of biscuits and drink a Diet Pepsi."  What?  Bothered me for days until I asked my boss this morning.  Apparently it means to "get over yourself".  Who knew?

Following Dr. Lanning's presentation, H and I went back out to the demos and spent some time talking to a Technical Support Team member (code for Hostage Negotiator).  We were told that we needed to check out the "Magic Bus" - the Mobile Command Center - which truly is magic.  The things they can do from that bus is astounding.  My head was spinning just looking around the bus.  No way would I ever be smart enough to work even one of the components in the bus.

~~Y'all getting tired yet, 'cause we're just getting started on the afternoon festivities.  No?  Okay, we'll keep going. ~~

We opted not to do the EMS demo.  Instead we tagged along with the fire recruits and poked around the burn house.

This is the bottom floor of the maze that recruits must negotiate.  The beginning is fairly easy, it's just moving forward, but then they have to make that left-hand turn you see in the picture.  Oh, and they have to do it in full gear and in full darkness.  It's a good test for claustrophobia.

Yes, this picture is oriented correctly.  It's the second level of the maze and is much more difficult.  The recruits have to work their way back and forth between the walls and up an incline.  There are escape hatches along the maze so that if a recruit loses it, the instructor can get them out safely.  If there's a recruit who may be nervous in the pitch black, the instructors can add "play smoke" to up the ante a little bit.  A claustrophobic firefighter is a dead firefighter.

In the classroom with the handheld thermal imaging devices.

View through the imager.  I had placed my hand on the table for just a few seconds and then removed it; this is the ghost image left-over.

Not very clear, but you can see that I'd moved my hand around on the table and you can see overlapping heat signatures.  Devices like this allow firefighters to "see" through the thick smoke of a fire and search for victims more efficiently.

Done playing with the thermal imagers, we headed over to listen to Dr. Jonathan Hayes' Autopsy Seminar.  Dr. Hayes is a delightful man who takes his job very seriously.  He's Senior Medical Examiner in New York City, as well as being a well-known food critic and author.  Anyone who has read Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series will understand how seriously he takes his job.  He treats every body with respect and demands that everyone else does as well.  He explained the difference between a Medical Examiner system and a Coroner system.  There are a lot of differences, but the main one is that a Coroner is an elected politician who may or may not have forensic training, whereas a Medical Examiner is a highly trained medical professional who, in addition to completing medical school and residency, completes further forensic training.

The autopsy room is beautiful (if you can believe that - maybe it's just the lab geek in me).  Each table has a negative airflow frame (for lack of a better word) surrounding it that draws potential airborn pathogens down into it and away from the staff.  How cool is that?

~~Still with me?  Good, because at this point we hitched a ride back to the hotel for dinner and a brief break.~~

Back at it for the Wine and Cheese reception, where they had the Silent Auction items set up for bidding and the raffle baskets set out.  I did my part and pitched in my $5.00 worth of raffle tickets.

Jeffery Deaver was gracious enough to come and hang out with all of us.  Very classy, even if I was tongue-tied and couldn't thing of a darn thing to say.  Luckily (or not), not everyone was tongue-tied and he was often engaged in conversation with several groups of people.

Lee's presentation "A Wilted Rose: the Tina Mott Story" was almost unbelievable.  All of the twists and turns were nothing compared to the associated ghost story.  Having been raised with ghosts (go ahead, unfollow if me believing is ghosts is a deal-breaker.  I'll wait.  No?  Still here?  Okay.), I can fully believe that both Tina's house and the house across the street is haunted.  The grossest thing about the whole presentation was that Tina's "landlord" moved into her apartment and didn't bother to clean up the blood in the bathroom.  To this day, there is blood-stained grout surrounding the tub. 

And the most disturbing part of the story?  That Tina's son is being raised by her in-laws, the same ones who raised her husband, who ultimately killed her and flushed most of her down the toilet.  The poor boy's mother was viciously murdered and his father has been in prison for most of his life (but will probably be getting out soon - his sentence was only fourteen years).  While I believe absolutely that there are some people who are just plain evil, as Tina's husband was, there are also things that parents and caregivers do that enable and nurture the skills needed to murder someone, chop them into pieces, flush parts of them down the toilet, cook them up on the grill and throw the remaining pieces near a waste treatment plant.  What chance does Tina's son have when he's being raised in the same environment and being taught the same skills his father was?  What chance do the future women in his life have?

~~And, on that note, it's bedtime.  Only 11:30 pm, up and at 'em and at GTCC by 8:00 am.  See you then.~~

TST: Author Encounters

I told Rachel that I managed to not make a major fool of myself at Writers' Police Academy and that I didn't think I'd have a TST this week.  However, I thought I'd share - instead of embarrassing myself - some of the cool people I got to meet.

I'm finally back from the Writers' Police Academy and ready to bore you all to death with stories, so I thought I'd start with my celebrity sightings.

Terry O'Dell, romance and mystery author, from the blog Terry's Place.

The ever-gorgeous Sophie Littlefield, who was kind enough to let me review A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY.

Jonathan Hayes, NYC Senior Medical Examiner, Food Critic and Author (and my friend H.)

Lee Lofland of The Graveyard Shift, Organizer Extraordinare, and Author of POLICE PROCEDURES AND INVESTIGATIONS.

H and Jeffery Deaver

Sunday

9:00 - 11:00


Debriefing - A panel of experts will answer your questions.

11:01 - ?
Nap time!

Saturday

8:00 a.m.


Assemble at Public Safety burn building for a real bang! A police pursuit ends in a standoff with a killer. Observe a real SWAT team as they do what it takes to bring in the bad guy. The team will be assisted by patrol officers, K-9's, firefighters, and EMS personnel.

Photography is encouraged. You'll want to remember this one!


9:00 - 10:15

FATS training - ongoing - Jerry Cooper

Crash Investigation - Eric Holloman

Pepperspray (O.C. spray) - Andy Russell

Handcuffing Techniques/Take Downs - Certified Police Defensive Tactics Instructor

Fingerprints and Impression Evidence (Crime Lab) - Susan Pons

ATF presentation TBA - ATF Special Agent Rick McMahan

Scenarios - ongoing - Andy Russell, Rick Brewer

10:15

GunDiva et al reports to FATS training

10:30 - 11:45

Toolmark and Trace Evidence (Crime lab)

Police Tools and Equipment

Jail Searches (In actual jail cells)

Arson Investigation

scenarios - ongoing


1:00 - 2:15

Crash Investigation

Pepperspray (O.C. spray)

Handcuffing Techniques/Take Downs

Fingerprints and Impression Evidence (Crime Lab)

ATF presentation

Scenarios - ongoing


2:30 - 3:45

Toolmark and Trace Evidence (Crime lab)

Police Tools and Equipment -

Jail Searches (In actual jail cells) - Deputy Catherine Netter

Arson Investigation- Jerry Coble, Guilford County Asst. Fire Marshall

scenarios - ongoing - Andy Russell, Rick Brewer


4:00 - 5:00

Ask The Pathologist

A one hour session with M.E. Jonathan Hayes. Bring your questions! Moderator - Lee Lofland


7:30

Banquet with Jeffery Deaver. Book signing immediately after banquet. We may even be able to convince Stacy to play and sing again.

Friday

I thought I'd share my schedule for the next few days - it's going to be a ton of fun and I know I'll come home with a ton of blog fodder.

9:00 a.m.


- Registration begins at GTCC


10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Police Department Demos

Local police and sheriff's departments demonstrate tools and equipment

- K-9 demonstrations

- Police vehicles on display

- Fire equipment, trucks on display

- Ambulance and other EMS equipment on display

- Motorcycles

- Dive team

- SWAT

- Emergency Response Team

*This is your chance to sit behind the wheel to see how things really work. Talk to the officers, firefighters, and paramedics. Have your questions answered.


10:30 - Noon

Why People Kill - Bill Lanning, Associate Professor of Criminology - GTCC faculty


- A fascinating workshop about why and how criminals justify their behavior, and how they choose their victims. Learn why the killers sometimes say:

The devil made me do it.


I can't help it, I was made that way.


I come from a broken home.


Everything I do, I learned from you.


If you call it a duck enough times it will quack.


Why me, Lord?

1:00 - 2:15

EMS workshop - Randy Yow

A first responder's take on murder scenes. Learn what they do, and how they do it. Do they have to wait for a detective's okay to enter the scene? Find out who's in charge, the M.E., the paramedic, or the cops?

Yes, you will be loading a body into the vehicle.

Fire Station Tour

Visit a real working fire station. See how the firefighters prepare their life-saving equipment. Meet the instructors who train the recruits.


3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Autopsy Seminar

Dr. Jonathan Hayes - Senior NYC Medical Examiner

Details TBA


7:00 - 9:00

Wine and cheese reception (cash bar)

Entertainment by Atlanta recording artist/author Stacy Allen. We may even talk Jeffery Deaver into bringing along his guitar to join in on the festivities!


9:00 until...

Night Owl Session with Lee Lofland

A Wilted Rose: The Tina Mott Story

A story of love, death, and dismemberment. A walk-through journey of a real crime scene. Meet all the players - the loving victim and her friends, the killer's family, the couple's child, the tireless investigator who never gave up, a psychic, and the killer who thought he was too smart for the authorities.

Bring plenty of tissue. This one's a tear-jerker. Oh, you might want to leave a light on in your hotel room, too, because you'll be viewing real crime scene images.

- D.U.I. monitoring/alcosensor demo ongoing throughout the evening.

Five Days and Counting...

Remember this?  When I took the leap way back in February and registered for the Writers' Police Academy, it seemed like it was forever away.

Now it's just around the corner and I'm starting to get excited/nervous about the trip.  One of my co-workers who is also a writer is going, too.  I even decided to ante up the money to go to the dinner with Jeffery Deaver.  You know, just me and the hundred other people who also forked out the money to dine "with" him.  I'm not sure I'd like to be in his position - you know, up on a pedestal with people watching my every move, asking the same questions everyone else has asked a million times and having to be "on" all the time.  Yet I still paid the money just so I can say that I dined with him (and the other hundred people) and had him sign my books.

I've been waffling about whether or not to take my laptop.  In my blogging heart I know I should, but my physical body says "oh hell no, that's just one more thing to lug around the airports".  So, the laptop stays.  I'll be off the grid for about five days starting on Thursday, but after looking at the schedule we're going to be following I'm pretty sure I'll be too exhausted to even open the laptop anyway (much like I recently have been).

I'm going old school to the WPA - I bought some ultra-fine tip multi-colored pens and a spiral notebook.  It's been a long time since I took notes by hand, and they may not be legible, but they sure will be pretty and colorful :)

I Can't Believe I Just Did It...

I finally bit the bullet and registered for the Writer's Police Academy in September.  Terry Odell, mystery writer extraordinaire, over at Terry's Place "introduced" me to Lee Lofland of The Graveyard Shift, author and font of knowledge regarding police procedure.

From the moment I found out about WPA, I've been dying to go.  It's three full days of instruction in police procedure; everything from shooting to driving to crime scene procedure.  The keynote speaker is Jeffrey Deaver, who first whetted my appetite for a well-written forensic novel.  I fell in love with "The Bone Collector" and quicky ate up the whole series.  Shortly thereafter, I found Patricia Cornwell, who cemented my love for forensic novels.

I've been kicking around the idea for a month or more, trying to justify the expense of both the conference and the travel.  I'm pretty sure that my work family is tired of me debating back and forth, so they'll be thrilled to find out that I finally registered for it. I saved a good bit by registering early and I love a good deal, so I was able to pay for the registration for the conference and pay for the FATS (Firearms Training Simulator) training for less than if I'd waited another week.

Now I've just got to stave off the nervous breakdown brought on by spending that money.  By God, I had better learn a TON in those three semi-expensive days.