By
Linda Lovely
In this month’s blog, it was suggested we talk about
something that’s happened in our lives during the past seven years that readers
may not know about.
For me, it’s my involvement with the annual Writers’
Police Academy (WPA). This summer will mark my sixth WPA visit—my fifth as a
volunteer staffer who helps organize the event.
The WPA
offers a thrilling four-day immersion in all things law enforcement. It’s held
at a real, internationally-accredited police academy. That means the facilities
include everything from tracks and autos for mastering car chase maneuvers and
“burn” facilities for firefighter and EMS training to live-fire ranges for long
gun instruction and buildings for mock SWAT searches.
Instructors
are the same folks who train the professionals who protect and serve in police
departments, fire stations, and other law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and
abroad. The teachers include former undercover cops, Secret Service and ATF
agents, forensic psychologists, experts in bioterrorism, gang violence, martial
arts, drug interdiction, constitutional law, and more.
This
year is the WPA’s 10th anniversary and Lee Lofland has pulled out all the stops
to make it the best ever. The 2018 WPA will be held in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
from August 9-12. WPA attendees can choose from dozens of courses and
High-Intensity Training (HIT) hands-on training options. The program offers not
only technical knowledge but insight into the emotions law enforcement
professionals experience in stressful encounters.
Once
you participate in a Shoot-Don’t-Shoot scenario, you have a new appreciation of
the pressure of making split-second decisions about whether to fire a gun. Will
action or inaction cost lives? When you take part in a mock SWAT raid to clear
a building, you understand what it feels like to know an armed suspect could
lurk behind any corner.
Since I started attending the WPA six years ago, each mystery/thriller
I’ve written includes insights, inspiration and information gleaned at the
Academy. Have I whet your appetite to join in? Each year, attendees include
authors, screenwriters, translators, and people who simply enjoy reading
mysteries, thrillers and suspense. To see the full WPA schedule for 2018, click
on this link: www.writerspoliceacademy.com
To
celebrate the June 5 release of PICKED OFF, my second humorous Brie Hooker
Mystery, I’m offering a FREE Writers’ Police Academy registration. (The FREE registration prize does not
include hotel or travel, and it must be a NEW registration.)
You can
enter the drawing anytime between now and noon EST June 9. Rafflecopter will
randomly draw the winner: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92ed2c4c1/
Good
Luck!
1 comment:
No wonder your books are so realistic! At one point in the dim distant past of my life I was a Deputy Sheriff and worked in the Women's section of the County Jail. That was an eye-opening experience on many levels as has been my friendships with several law enforcement and military officers over the years. The saying about walking a mile in someone's shoes has a great deal of truth in it. And I'll add that WPA is a better organization because you are a part of it.
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