This past August, I spent four amazing days in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I attended my first Writers’ Police Academy.

The Writers’ Police Academy (WPA) was founded by Lee Lofland, a former police detective turned writer. Lee writes a terrific blog, The Graveyard Shift, which highlights mistakes writers make and is chock full of information about law enforcement.

Throughout those long and busy days, I was introduced to a fascinating array of topics we mystery writers love to learn about.

Highlights:

Handcuffing someone isn’t as easy as it looks.

In a timed race donning a firefighter’s gear, putting your pants on backward slows you down.

Footprints, tire marks and tool marks are often referred to as the missed evidence. Easily obliterated by early responders or forgotten by untrained investigators, they have a lot to tell.

About 40% of murders in the United States go unsolved.

When in pursuit of a vehicle, and you try to stop it using the Pursuit Immobilization Technique (PIT), be sure you match their speed and hit it at the right angle. Otherwise…

Don’t wear turquoise jeans when breaching a door and trying to look tough.

So many more highlights. Workshops on blood spatter, shoot-don’t shoot video scenarios, experts on topics from police romance to martial arts to forensic art and so many more that I want to return soon. I highly recommend this conference to anyone writing crime fiction. I’m happy to share more—just send me an email. I’m Kathy at KathyMcIntosh dot com.

By the way, I was a runner-up in the WPA’s Golden Donut Contest. See my post on it.