Lofland, Lee

Police Procedure and Investigation (Writers Digest Books), and are a nationally-recognized expert on the subject. After spending many years on the front lines as a law enforcement officer, what made you decide to leave it and turn to writing?

Lee Lofland: As a child, I was an avid reader of all things mystery, including, of course, The Hardy Boys, and even Nancy Drew. I was also a huge fan of Poe, especially since a relative of mine, Dr. John Lofland, was one of Poe’s close friends. In fact, Lofland once bested Poe in a prose contest, resulting in Poe having to buy dinner and drinks for Lofland.

Rarely has there been a time, especially during my younger years, when I didn’t have my nose buried in a book, including the summer days I spent fishing with my grandfather on his boat. Sure, I’d have a line in the saltwater, but my focus was usually on whatever I’d brought to read.

Anyway, as much as I loved reading, I’d always dreamed to someday write a book of my own, which was one of two major goals for me. The other was to become a police officer.

Obviously, I achieved the police officer goal first, and my desire to“move up the ladder” forced me to put the notion of writing on the back burner.

Then came the day when a fleeing bank robber decided to include me in a shootout. Unfortunately, I was forced to shoot and kill him during an intense exchange of 68 rounds of gunfire, with only five of those rounds coming from me. It wasn’t long after that, approximately a year, that I decided to leave police work, deciding that writing about robbers, gunfights, and stabbings was a lot safer than participating in any of those real-life scenarios.

Besides, who wants to lead a life of dodging bullets and knives? Yes, I’ve been stabbed twice, and had my right hand badly slashed while disarming a rather large and drunk, angry biker who’d decided he wanted to insert the blade of his knife into a couple of my internal organs.

My wife is quite pleased to have me at home banging away on keyboard instead of kicking doors and wrestling with drunks. Do I miss it? Not in this lifetime!

BWG: You're an avid blogger of The Graveyard Shift. There you give crime and mystery writers valuable information on various aspects of police procedure and investigations. Many of us feel fortunate to think of something to blog once a month. You're doing it every day. How do you keep it going?

LL: January, 2013 will mark five years of writing The Graveyard Shift. And, believe me, it’s been tough at times to come up with a new article every single weekday (on weekends I post what I call Weekend Road Trip, which is normally a photographic journey of some of my travels across the U.S.). Even I need a little time away from the internet.

Fortunately for me, law enforcement and forensics provide plenty of topics to write about. Over the years, I’ve also featured guest experts, such as literary agents, publishers, actors, TV producers, artists, PI’s, musicians, authors, and, well, the list goes on.

The Graveyard Shift is a blog designed for writers. It’s also a blog that’s totally unedited. What you see every day is a first draft, like this interview, and that sometimes leads to an embarrassing chuckle or two.

BWG: You also blog about police procedure in the TV shows Castle and Southland. Does it spoil the shows for you when you dissect them for your blog?

LL: Not at all. In fact, by taking the time to pick apart the shows I get a deeper sense of the plot, the writing, and the characters.

I started both reviews at the requests of authors who wanted to be sure what they were seeing was accurate. If not, they wanted to know the errors so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes in their writing.

Interestingly, writing the Castle review has made me public enemy number one among the show’s die-hard fans. And they voice that deep contempt on various internet fan forums, including the ABC network website that’s dedicated to the show. They loathe me because my reviews are often not very flattering. Sure, I basically like the show, but the police procedure and forensics are horrible, for the most part.

But my Castle review partner, author Melanie Atkins, plays good cop to my bad cop. And, since she’s a true shipper and loves all things Castle, her comments are almost always positive. Her sights are set on the romance aspect of the show. So the reviews sort of balance out.

Southland, on the other hand, is the best cop-type TV show on television (TNT). And there’s a simple reason for the accuracy. The actors, writers, directors, etc. all make the effort to “get it right.” They each do their homework, researching until it hurts. The actors even attend a mini police academy prior to each season. They also ride along with LAPD patrol officers. And, everyone involved with the show, believe it or not, listens to their police consultants.

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking (email, texts, and/or by phone) with actors from each show. I’ve also enjoyed quite a bit of interaction with a producer and director from Southland. They’re all wonderful people who deeply care about the fans of the shows.

BWG: You also write some true crime—both on your blog and in a new anthology: Masters of True Crime: Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre (Prometheus Books). How does true crime writing differ from your other writing pursuits?

LL: My writing“adventures” are extremely eclectic. In addition to the two books you mentioned, I’ve written for newspapers across the country, The Writer magazine, online news sites, such as Slate Magazine, and I’ve coauthored and sold a children’s book. I’m currently writing a novel that I hope to complete (rewrites) within the next few weeks.

True crime, though, is a different animal that requires lots of hard work. Not that writing fiction isn’t hard work, because it is. It’s just that writing a true crime story, such as the one I wrote for the anthology, involves lots of legwork and other means of conducting solid research. You absolutely cannot get away with “fact-fudging” when it comes to writing true crime. You can, however, stretch and bend the truth in fictional tales.

I spent many weeks gathering information for Murder on Minor Avenue, the true crime story, long before I ever wrote the first word. That part of the research included interviewing relatives of the victims, visiting the crime scenes and the morgue, speaking with the prosecutors and defense attorneys, traveling to the courts, talking to the killers’ family members, interviewing the judges, digging through court, newspaper and police files, interviewing each of the first responders, coroner’s investigators, and detectives, and sitting on front porches listening to the stories of neighbors who lived next to the murder scenes. I even interviewed a well-known investigative medium who, by the way, added an odd and eerie twist to the cases.

I also met with former friends of the murder victims in order to establish a history that would help me come to “know” the victims—twelve in all. Actually, before the story was done, I’d developed a sort of personal connection to each of the victims, especially to the young woman, Tina Mott, who was so brutally murdered by her boyfriend. I felt I knew her best, I guess, because of the constant contact I had with three of her closest friends. And, because I had a notebook of poetry written by Tina. Her poems were often dark, speaking of past abuse, loneliness, and death. If she’d only known just how close she’d been to predicting her own fate.

I’d also established a fairly close connection with the parents of Tina’s killer. Their inside information, along with their son’s detailed writings of the slaying, was eye-opening. At times, I almost felt as if I’d climbed inside the mind of a murderer.

During my investigation, I collected a large assortment of photographs taken during various stages of Tina’s life, from childhood to a couple of days before her murder. I posted those pictures on my bulletin boards to give me a sense of her emotions as the story progressed. I did the same when I reached the final days of the other 11 victims. I also possessed the original crime scene photos. For weeks, I lived with those images surrounding me. Gruesome sites, believe me.

I spent over six months conducting research, and then reduced the lives and deaths of 12 people into a story of just over 8,000 words. I’d been in their homes, walked the hallways of their schools, and I’d stood in the very spots where they bled and died. And I’d visited their graves, where their remains rest today. Those people were very real to me, and, honestly, I was drained by the time I typed the last word.

BWG: As if all that isn't enough, you organize and run the annual Writers Police Academy each autumn (http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/). As a former "recruit," I can recommend it highly. It's an information-packed weekend that's also a lot of fun. It's clear that running it is a labor of love for you. How did you get started with it?

LL: Labor is a fantastic word to describe the hundreds of hours that goes into the planning and organizing the Writers’ Police Academy. Not to mention that we have over 100 people who help produce what you see during the four-day event. This is not a normal writers’ conference, and it’s quite time-consuming.

You might not believe this, but we actually start the planning for the next event before the current one has begun. In fact, I’m already thinking about 2014. There’s so much to do. But I can’t stop to think about it for very long because it would be too overwhelming. Simply knowing that we have millions of dollars worth of equipment on hand for the WPA weekend is, well, extremely daunting. And that’s just the first day...

To answer your question, though, I got the idea for the WPA while attending Sisters in Crime’s Forensic University. The conference was fantastic, but I saw the need to take it to the next level—to present hands-on behind the scenes workshops at a real police academy, with sessions taught by top experts. I wanted writers to experience the real deal, not spending hour after hour sitting in hotel meeting rooms listening to retired cops telling war stories. I can say this with a clear conscious because I’ve been one of those war-story-telling cops at writers’ conference all across the U.S. The information is great, but there’s nothing like holding a real SIG Sauer, or Glock, in your hand, or dusting an object for fingerprints. Hands-on is the key.

At the WPA, writers actually train at a real police/fire/EMS academy, receiving much of the same training that’s taught to police officers, firefighters, and EMS workers. The WPA is definitely not a watered-down citizens’ police academy. We provide the inside information that writers need to make their stories as realistic as possible. Best of all, writers learn more than mere facts. They also learn sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch, and those are truly what’s needed to bring dimension and life to a story.

BWG: Writers who attend Writers Police Academy come from all sorts of backgrounds, and bring a variety of preconceived notions with them to the program. What is the most surprising bit of misinformation a "recruit" ever brought to WPA?

LL: Well, I can’t say that anything surprises me, but I do hear something new every now and again. But I always get a kick out of hearing writers talk about all the rewrites they’ll have to do when they go back home after attending the WPA.

BWG: Can you give us a sneak preview at some of what's coming up in 2013 for Writers Police Academy?

LL: We’re going to add a new level of excitement to the 2013 WPA. This one will definitely be the biggest and best yet (I know, I say that every year. But it’s always true, and this one is no exception).

For starters, we’re adding nighttime workshops where “recruits” will be participating in vehicle felony stops, complete with lights, sirens, and bad guys with weapons. Believe me, it’s a different ballgame at night. Yes, WPA“recruits” will be inside the police vehicles, and they will be acting as the police officers! This is hands-on training at its best, just like the practical exercises in police academies.

We’re also adding a nighttime crime scene investigation. After all, there’s nothing more eerie than hanging out with dead bodies in the woods, in the dark.

Another new session is the Sexual Assault/Rape workshop where recruits will follow the investigation from the initial response, to the suspect’s arrest. Along the way, recruits must collect evidence, both on the scene and at the hospital (we have an onsite ER and ambulances) and later use that evidence to identify the bad guy. This one is intense!

And...how about a trip to a shooting range, or suiting up to assist the dive team with underwater evidence recovery, and...well, I’d better stop there. I don’t want to reveal all the fun!

Oh, one of our special guests presenters next year is one of the world’s leading DNA experts who’s testified in many high-profile criminal cases.

*By the way, Sisters in Crime is once again paying well over half the WPA registration fee for their members. Not a member? No problem. Simply join and instantly receive the generous discount.

BWG: Every job has its challenges. You certainly faced many as a law enforcement officer. What are the major challenges you find as a writer, and how have you overcome them?

LL: I’ll have to say, finding the time to write is my biggest hurdle. Not only does planning the WPA takes a great deal of time (nearly every day, all year), I still answer hundreds of questions for writers, from beginners to top-shelf bestselling authors. And I write and manage a blog every day. So, yes, time is indeed my antagonist.

BWG: With all you do, there's no excuse for writers to get it wrong, but of course they still do. What is your biggest pet peeve among the errors writers make when depicting the police or police procedure?

LL: Easy answer...writers who still use TV, film, and other works of fiction as research for their books.

Some of the major errors I see are:

1. “I knew the murder weapon couldn’t be far away, because I could smell cordite in the air.” NO, NO, and NO! Cordite hasn’t been used since somewhere around the end of WWII.

2. Revolvers do not eject spent cartridges!

3. People do not fly backward when shot. They merely fall down and bleed.

4. Detectives do not continue to work cases while on suspension.

5. It is extremely difficult to knock someone unconscious with a blow to the head or neck. A simple whack with a book or karate chop probably would notdo it.

6. Shooting a gun or knife out of the bad guy’s hand is total fiction. Cops don’t dothat sort of thing. And, by the way, cops do not shoot to wound (no leg or arm shots). They’re taught to shoot center mass, always. Also, police officers are not taught to “shoot to kill.” Instead, police officers are trained to shoot until the threat is over, whether that’s one round or 100.

7. The FBI does not ride into town to take away cases from the local police. They don’t have that authority. In fact, the FBI does not, as a rule, investigate murder, unless it’s the murder of a federal official (president, FBI agent, etc.), or when the murder occurs on property that’s under federal control (federal courts, federal land, etc.).

8. Not all cops carry Glocks. There are other popular firearms out there.

9. There is no safety to “thumb-off” on a Glock. Same thing for a SIG Sauer—actually, there’s no safety at all on a SIG.

10. Cops do not immediately advise suspects of Miranda (you have the right to remain...) the second they apply cuffs to the thug’s wrists. That’s normally done later, just prior to questioning. Besides, if the officer does not plan to question the guy, then Miranda’s not necessary.

BWG: I had a feeling cordite might be #1. How much literary license can a writer take with police procedure before an experienced law enforcement officer would throw the book against a wall?

LL: The basics are important, yes, but the key to the whole thing is to write believable make-believe. And a good example of believable make-believe is the TV show Grimm. Total fiction, but it’s written in a way that, for one hour, we believe what we see on the screen.

Yes, in spite of Nick, Monroe, and Hank battling with the Wendigos and LaLlorona, the crimes are investigated in a believable fashion (sort of).Castle, on the other hand, is not believable. In fact, their police procedure and forensics are often pretty stinky. And that’s unfortunate, because it would only take a minute or two to properly write those sparse scenes. It’s nothing short of laziness on the part of the writers. Sorry, but it is what it is.

Remember, lazy writing and lack of research does not produce believable make-believe. So, please, do your homework!

BWG: Thanks so much, Lee, for your service and your insights.