Jeffery Deaver to Headline North Carolina Writers Police Academy

[Lee Lofland]

I'm pleased to announce that international bestselling author Jeffery Deaver is the keynote speaker for the North Carolina Writers Police Academy. The event is scheduled for September 24-26, 2010 in Jamestown, North Carolina (just outside Greensboro). Registration opens soon. Handcuffing, shooting, and murder investigations will follow shortly afterward!

Details here

More to come.

[Lee Lofland]

Whoa! This comment comes from a man who survived living in Newport News, Va. Aren't their city flags made from crime scene tape? Isn't the city seal a chalk outline? :)

[I. J. Parker]

What, Dan is from Newport News? We're practically neighbors. And yes, bullets fly around here.

[Lee Lofland]

Ingrid - You're on the safe side of the highway, with all the sun and fun.

[I. J. Parker]

I'm in Virginia Beach. At the moment, the worst places for murder and mayhem seem to be NN, Portsmouth, and Norfolk. I guess, we're number 4. Not exclusively Sun and Fun, and horribly high taxes to fund the developers' dreams.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Virginia Beach! I was stationed in Portsmouth in 88-90 in the Coast Guard. I did judo in Virginia Beach and drunkenly crawled...I mean strolled along the beach on many occasions.

Turned down a job offer from the Newport News newspaper a couple years back.

[I. J. Parker]

Very true about the traffic. One of the reasons I don't do book signings any longer.

[Jon Loomis]

I really want to do one of these, maybe write a non-fiction piece about it. I wonder if there's anything similar in the upper midwest.

[Lee Lofland]

Jon - I believe we host the only event of its kind. We did a small one in Hamilton, Ohio last year and it was an overwhelming success. Next year's event is going to be even better and much larger.

I don't know of any writers event where attendees actually experience real police academy training, not the watered down stuff offered in citizens police academies. I'm not knocking citizens police academies. Not at all. They're fantastic, but they're an entirely different animal. What we've put together is a top of the line experience. It's geared strictly for writers, taught by published authors who are also police officers (state, local, and federal from all over the country) - teaching what writers need for their stories. Most of the workshops are hands on.

We've even added fire and rescue training next year. There's a real working fire station on site. Shoot, we even have a hospital OR on campus.

[Lee Lofland]

Here's a link (my blog) to a little information about the academy. More details are on the way.

http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/?p=4622

[Jack Getze]

Wish I could make this, Lee. I did a one-day gun safety and handling event in New Jersey this summer and got to shoot a Glock, a S&W, and a Baretta. What an eye-opener! Guns are nasty! Loud. Scary. And fun as hell. I got a whole new respect for shoot-outs and gunplay. The stuff on TV makes me cringe now. How cavalier these TV cops are with a very dangerous tool.