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!

Michelle Gagnon

Michelle Gagnon: Stranger Than Fiction

Michelle Gagnon is a former modern dancer, bartender, dog walker, model, personal trainer, and Russian supper club performer. Her debut thriller The Tunnels was an IMBA bestseller. Her next book, Boneyard, depicts a cat and mouse game between…
Kate Flora

Kate Flora: Writing Cops Right

Former attorney Kate Flora is the author of ten books. Her dynamic character, Thea Kozak, returns in 2008 in Stalking Death, from Jim Huang's Crum Creek Press/The Mystery Company. Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine, co-written with…
Sgt Josh Moulin

Sergeant Josh Moulin: Digital Evidence Forensics

Sergeant Josh Moulin supervises the Central Point Police Department's Technical Services Bureau and is the Commander of the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force. He is one of approximately 470 Certified Forensic Computer Examiner's worldwide…
Yvonne Mason

Yvonne Mason: Bounty Hunting in North Carolina

Bounty Hunting in the Great Southern State of North Carolina This Monday I am discussing the great State of North Carolina's Laws on Bounty Hunting. Again I will begin with the statutes of the State. In North Carolina Hunters are called…
Newburyport

Weekend Road Trip: Newburyport, Massachusetts

  Drive an hour north of Boston on I95, then turn right and head for the coast and you'll end up in Newburyport. This is the area where we spend our weekends kayaking and browsing the beaches. In fact, I'm posting this blog from there.…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering the Fallen

  Officer Joshua Miktarian Twinsburg Ohio Police Department Officer Miktarian was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Sunday July 13, 2008. He was an 11 year veteran and leaves behind a wife (also a police officer),…

Homicide Investigation: Part One – The Crime Scene

  No two homicide investigators are alike. They're the snowflakes of law enforcement. But the sleuth's appearance is not the issue here. I'm talking about the way investigators solve their cases - their methods of operation. One detective…
Jessa Nicholson

Defense Attorney Jessa Nicholson: I Love A Jury!

Jessa Nicholson is a private bar criminal defense attorney in Madison, Wisconsin. She runs a two attorney firm, Frederick/Nicholson, LLC, with her business partner, Terry Frederick. Jessa attended the University of Michigan for her undergraduate…
Golden Pen

Golden Pen Award Winner Announced

Each year, students in some California schools are given the opportunity to enter a special creative writing contest. The winner receives the Golden Pen Award. This year's assignment was presented to the contestants in the form of this question: 'Raise…
Yvonne Mason

Yvonne Mason: Hunting Bail Jumpers in Tennessee

  As promised, here are the bounty hunting laws in the great state of Tennessee. If one wants to hunt jumpers in Tennessee one must apply and get a copy of their own criminal background and present it to the Department of Insurance.…
Mad Anthony Writers Conference

Weekend Road Trip: Mad Anthony Writers Conference/Writers’ Police Academy

  Have you ever wished you had the time, money, and opportunity to attend a writers conference, a book festival, a police academy, and all the forensics classes you can stand in one action packed weekend? Well, I'm pleased to announce…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering the Fallen

  Agent Osvaldo Perez-Leon, 33 Puerto Rico Police Department   Agent Perez-Leon was killed in an automobile accident on July 8, 2008. He was transporting a group of children from the Youth Athletic League when a tractor…
Age Prediction based on bodily fluids

Cops and Facial Hair: Yes or No?

  Police officers and facial hair. Not a good combination in most departments. Well, except for the mustache. Most police agencies forbid officers from sporting, goatees, full beards, and Elvis-type sideburns. In fact, policy normally…

Working Midnights: The Graveyard Shift

It's four in the morning and fatigue tugs on your eyelids. It's a subtle move, like grasping the string on one of your grandmother's window shades, slowly pulling it down. The move is so gracefully executed by the Sand Man you hardly notice…
kent mccord

Police 10-Codes

  Police 10-codes were developed in the 1940s to represent common phrases used by law enforcement officers, and for use with CB radios, normally used in the trucking industry. Contrary to popular belief, there is no standard set of…
Yvonne Mason

Yvonne Mason: Bounty Hunting in Florida

Bounty Hunting in Florida - it is a big "No, No." All jumpers are hunted by the bail bond companies. They lobbied in Tallahassee (which is the Capital of Florida for those of you who have been asleep at the wheel for the last one hundred years)…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering the Fallen

  Officer Richard Francis, 60 Chicago Police Department   Officer Richard Francis was shot and killed on July 2, 2008 while he was attempting to quell a domestic disturbance. During the altercation a woman managed to…

Police Cars: Dodge Charger

  In the 1960s and 70s every patrol cop's dream car was the Dodge Charger. Why? Simple, because they were fast. Police departments liked them because they were affordable. The manufacturers saw to that, taking the lowest bid year after…