Friday, May 25, 2018

My Fantasy Life at the Writers’ Police Academy


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:

Judith Ashley said...

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.