The Graveyard Shift Blog

Since 2008, Lee Lofland has written over 2000 articles on his blog, The Graveyard Shift. Topics such as police procedure, forensics, criminal behavior, and what it’s like to be a cop has helped countless numbers of popular and aspiring writers.

His life’s mission – to remind writers that cordite is dead and gone. Just say no to cordite in your books!

Helpful Tips: MurderCon Registration Opens Sunday February 23, 2020 at Noon EST

MurderCon registration opens Sunday, February 23, 2020, at noon EST. Therefore, to help the process go smoothly, I thought I'd post a few tips and helpful information. Please hover your cursor above the bottom left of the graphic below,…
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MurderCon Registration opens SUNDAY, 2-23-2020!

The day to signup to attend MurderCon is now only three short days away! For those of you who aren't familiar with the wildly popular event, MurderCon is the ultimate hands-on training event where attendees---writers, readers, fans, law…
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From U-Boat to Yankee 9ers and Zip Guns: More Cop Speak

You've all heard police officers chattering away on their police radios, on news reports, and while arresting Ray Buck Jenkins, the town drunk. And when they do they use their own special form of communication, the sometimes brain-jarring language…
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Police Scanners: Legal or Not?

I recently saw a couple of questions about police scanners posted to the wonderful Q&A site crimescenewriter. The questions there were some I've seen often enough that I thought I'd also share and respond to them here as well.   The…
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The Old Man and the Wheel: Page Two of My Spiral Notebooks

My career in law enforcement started in the prison system working as a corrections officer in a maximum security facility. The aged institution was a series of old, weathered and worn brick buildings that were probably ten years past the demolition…
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Serial Killers: Where, How, and Why They Do What They Do

Serial killers may attack anywhere at any time. However, depending upon whether or not the murderer is organized or disorganized, those two factors can affect location and timing. The set up, or initial place(s) where the killer(s) first…
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Serial Killers and Bull Castrators

When looking at murder cases, detectives occasionally find that some charactistics and aspects of the crimes and killers are similar to those of others. Then, as time and investigations move forward, patterns sometimes begin to emerge, such…
The Graveyard Shift

The Graveyard Shift: Feral Dogs, Mannequins, and The Sandman

It's four in the morning, the halfway point of the graveyard shift, and fatigue is slowly gaining control of your eyelids. It's a subtle move, like grasping the string on your grandmother's window shades, slowly pulling them down. The Sandman's…
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4 Rules of Factual Cop Fiction: Avoid Writing a Stinky Book!

Realism in fiction is important, when it's needed. The ability to weave fact into fiction is aa must. But one must first know what's fact and what's fiction before attempting to use reality as part of fiction. Otherwise, the author is offering…
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People Are Strange: 2020 Writers' Police Academy's Anthology Contest

The Writers' Police Academy is pleased to announce the coming release of our second anthology in the "Tales From the Graveyard Shift" series. Contributing authors are already hard at work writing individual mysterious and thrilling tales of…
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A Fractured Fairy Tale: When a Lover Hires a Hitman to Kill a Devious Woman's Husband

It started as a simple investigation about stolen property, a case where a guy broke into a school to steal a copy machine. He did so in order to sell the device, hoping for a return of twenty dollars for very little time and effort invested.…

Shop With Cops For All Your Household Needs

Police officers require certain tools and equipment to carry out their day-to-day duties, such as the obvious---patrol vehicles, uniforms, badges, bullet resistant vests, and firearms. But there are other things that make their jobs go more…
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Read Any Good Bloodstains Lately? The Endings are Killer!

Detective Sergeant Carl Catchemall studied the bloodstain pattern on and next to the ticking cow clock hanging on the kitchen wall. He stood there, staring, for what seemed like an eternity before turning toward his partner Hank Handsup. Then…

And the Cop Said, "I Gave Chase and Pursued Said Subject"

I don't know when it started, but it did and it is puzzling. After all, when did, "I got out of my car" become "I exited my vehicle." And how is it that, "Are those donuts for Ralph and me?" is sometimes spoken as, "Are those donuts for myself…

The Base: Over the River and Through the Woods, to a Terrorist's House We Go

On January 14, 2020, three members of an extremist group called “The Base” were arrested and charged with firearms offenses. One of three men charged was Brian Mark Lemley, Jr. of Elkton, Maryland. Lemley, in addition to the firearms…

New Arc Books is Open for Submissions!

The day has finally arrived! Denene and I are very excited to announce the launch of New Arc Books, a new imprint at Level Best Books, founded in 2020. How and Why Since 2006, I've spent most of my waking hours helping writers, and others,…

Postmortem Decomposition: How To Properly Rot Your Corpses

Putrefaction is the destruction of the soft tissue caused by two things, bacteria and enzymes. As bacteria and enzymes do their jobs, the body immediately begins to discolor and slowly transform into liquids and gases. The odd thing about…

The Complacency Monkey Shares Street Survival Tips

Law Enforcement. The job is dangerous, no doubt about it. Driving at high speeds. Guns. Bullets. Knives. Fights. Bombs. Well, you get the idea. So what can officers, fictional or real, do to stay safe in a world where bad guys have no problem…