Writer's Police Academy.

As you cleverly deduced from yesterday' s blog, I'm back. And I've gotten my pre-edits sent in so I've got some breathing room for a bit. Whew. The conference was great. If you haven't been to the Writer's Police Academy I recommend it. If you're a Sister's In Crime, the price is very reasonable. And they have no problem with you joining to get the discount.
There were several different workshops to pick from. I'm sure I missed some good ones.

The workshops started at 8:00 a.m. Friday and ran till 5:30 p.m.

At eight o'clock, Sherry Morris and I took the fire station tour in the pouring rain. The instructor kept saying, "If you want to be a fire fighter you can't let a little rain bother you. I did notice he usually made this statement from a dry location while the rest of us stood in the downpour. grin.

From there we went to Viewing The Crime Scene In a Different Light. Very interesting workshop. The heavy mag lights policeman carried a few years ago have been replaced with smaller flashlights that can pick up footprints, etc not visible to the naked eye. Some police are trained to use them as an investigative tool. Others are not. This workshop was led by David Pauly, a professor at Methodist University, Department of Justice Studies and Applied Forensic Science, FBI National Academy.

From there we went to the workshop: Bloodstain Patterns and Presumptive Testing, also taught by Dave. This workshop basically taught you how to read blood spatters and the tools that show blood even after its been painted over and not detectable by the human eye.

In the afternoon we went to Handcuffing and Arrest Techniques. This was a fun and informative class also. Those suckers aren't as light as they look and if they aren't keyed they will continue to tighten after they've been locked on.

The last presentation 'Psychological Sleuthing and the Tools of Forensic Psychology' was done by Dr. Katherine Ramsland. She holds a degree in forensic psychology, teaches at DeSales, has written several books and appeared on several television programs. She talked about forensic science, psychology and how murders sometimes get labeled as suicide.

More to follow......