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!

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Is Your Town a Member of the Sweet-As-Apple-Pie Club?

Everyone likes to think their hometowns are the quintessential storybook villages from days long ago, back when we left our front doors unlocked and the car keys in the ignitions of the cars parked in our driveways. The times when kids walked…
Cops: what's up with that look

Cops and Command Presence: What’s Up With That Look?

Predatory animals watch and stalk their prey before moving in for the kill. They're extremely patient, waiting for the perfect target---the weakest animal in the pack---because the battle is easier. Criminals often exhibit similar behavior…
Discovering who killed Kenny

Writing the Perfect Setting: Discovering Who Killed Kenny

Ah, the mind of a mystery writer. Always contemplating the simpler things in life, like car chases, explosions, and murder. For me, there's nothing better than to open a book and instantly feel as if I've been transported to another world,…
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Murder, It Sucks The Air Out Of Living

There's nothing in this world like entering an abandoned house in mid July to begin working a murder case, a scene where the pungent and putrid scent of rotting human flesh and organs fill your nostrils and lungs and adheres tightly to your…
Effects of hanging

Effects of Hanging and Strangulation: Bill Bailey Ain’t Coming Home

"Won't you come home, Bill Bailey, won't you come on home I've moaned that whole day long I'll do all the cookin' honey, I'll even pay the rent I know, that I have done you, oh so, wrong You remember…

Former Inmate #12345-678: My Time in a Federal Prison Camp

Former inmate #12345-678 received a sentence of 37 months to be served in federal prison, followed by 3 years supervised probation. The following is his account of serving time in a federal prison camp. The tale is his and he's told it with…

Going In: The Fatal Funnel

One of the most dangerous aspects of working as a law enforcement officer is not the suspect who’s standing ready to fight, the armed robber who’s decided to stop running and turns square-off with the cop who’s been in pursuit for several…

Say NO to White Horses: The FBI Does This, But Not That!

Many local and state law enforcement have the luxury of maintaining laboratories for forensic testing. Within those labs scientists of various expertise carry out the examinations of a wide assortment of evidence recovered during criminal investigations. Sometimes,…
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Christmas PC is Out of Control!

There's a current PC craze that's attacking practically everything on the planet, from condemning anti-animal language to the lyrics of Christmas songs,. Even certain colorings of cartoon vegetables is taboo. So let's poke around to see if we…

Working The Graveyard Shift: Shots Fired!

The call came in as "Shots fired. Several people injured." The news, however, was nothing new. Hell, it was Saturday night. Well, technically it was Sunday morning---2 a.m. It would be, after all, a rare occurrence if closing time at Fat…

Ammunition: Is Your Writing Out of Bullets?

Billy Buck's heart pert-near stopped cold when he realized he was out of bullets. He frantically dug his grubby and stubby fingers down into each of the pockets of his crud-caked moldy jeans. Nothing. No bullets. He'd have to bare-knuckle and…
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Researching Cops:What To Do When A Murderer Comes Calling

Writers are a curious bunch of folks who should never let walls, doors, locks, or the word NO stop them from producing high quality books. The tellers of both tall and short tales, in fact, go to great lengths to find detail---the perfect…
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Holiday Gifts: Crime Writer Research Books, and More

Many of you attended virtual MurderCon last summer and/or Writers' Police Academy Online's recent seminar  "Mystery and Murder: Transforming Reality into Fantastic Fiction."  Those of you who couldn't make it missed not only a couple of fantastic…
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Terror in Richmond: I Survived An Encounter With The Briley Brothers

The late 1970's brought fear into the city of Richmond, Virginia. Not knowing who would be the next victim in the Briley brothers' killing spree caused many to stay inside their homes, hiding from a pair of murderers who randomly assassinated…

Take Two Bodies and Call Me in the Morning: No, Medical Examiners Don’t Always Show Up at Murder Scenes

Writers need to know that procedures vary across the country. California, for example, is practically a world of its own and definitely beats a different drum than the rest of the country. I know because we lived there for well over a decade.…

If My Handcuffs Could Talk: Marvin The Martian Loses Control and Elvis Returns … Sort of

As police officers, we're often presented with the opportunity to meet various celebrities and other important people. Sometimes, we're even placed in the unfortunate position of having to arrest a few of those VIP's. For example, I once…
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Sleuthing the Clues in Staged Homicides: Top Tips From Dr. Katherine Ramsland

Below are excerpts From Katherine Ramsland’s Writers' Police Academy Online presentation - "Sleuthing the Clues in Staged Homicides." Pettler’s Staging Typology The Cleaner: This is more alteration than staging, because this person cleans…

Officer Rudy Kramer and the Hackberry Tree

Officer Rudy Kramer drew his pistol, a nine-millimeter that, as always, was set to fire---a round in the chamber, fifteen in the magazine, and the safety off. Then he took a deep breath and a long hard swallow that sent his prominent Adam’s…