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​This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau, the, "What If?" Game, the CIA and the smell of blood. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau. Welcome to double digits. This is episode number 10 of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction.

ConvertKit. I keep talking about ConvertKit because I love using their service. If you want to increase your open rate so more people read your emails and buy your books, or if you want to learn more advanced features like how to survey your email list using link triggers and tags that probably sound a little scary, but they're actually super easy and logical to use. Or, if you want to learn how to create custom automated sequences to get more book sales in less time, then mark your calendars for October 24th, at 11:00 am Pacific Time.

Then, go to writersdetectivebureau.com/webinar to register for ConvertKit's free webinar. You will learn useful tactics for using your email list to sell books, regardless of whether you signed up for ConvertKit's service. I hope you'll check it out. Again, it's October 24th at 11:00 am Pacific Time, which is 2:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm if you're in London, England, 8:00 pm in Johannesburg, South Africa, and yikes, 5:00 am on October 25th if you're Melbourne, Australia. The link again is writersdetectivebureau.com/webinar to register.

I use Patreon to help offset the costs of hosting this podcast and creating the transcripts. By having listeners like you support me for as little as two dollars per month, I even offer semi-private Q&As for my bigger Patreons. How will you use Patreon to connect with your fans? Learn how to set up your own Patreon page by visiting writersdetective.com/patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.

Let's talk about mindset. Cops definitely think differently. It's why we, annoyingly, have to sit with our backs against the wall and have a view of the door. But I want to tell you about a mental tactic every good cop uses. Cops are constantly playing what we call the, "What if?" game. I was taught this when I was fresh out of the police academy by my training officer. What is the, "What if?" game? It's a mindset of vigilance. It's a conscious mental activity of foreseeing worst-case scenarios and thinking through how to respond.

Kids play this game all the time. Whisper to a teenager, "The floor is lava." And there's a very good change they will leap to the nearest piece of furniture before even asking any question. No teenagers near by? Go ahead. YouTube it. Seriously. YouTube, "The floor is lava," for a quick laugh. No one leaps straight out of their socks if they haven't already asked themselves, "What if the floor turns to lava?"

What if there's a zombie apocalypse this instant? Work it out. What's your escape plan?...                                                         Continue reading...

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​This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau: Dealing with criticism, assisting outside agencies, and a twin as a murder suspect. I'm Adam Richardson and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.  Welcome to episode number Nine of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction. ​

Let's talk about dealing with criticism.

Whether it's a one star review from some troll on Amazon or a citizen getting in your face about how you handled a 911 call. Either way, criticism sucks, but it's a part of public life.

Most of the time they're wrong. They don't know you. They don't know the writer behind the work or the person behind the badge. One very important lesson I learned from my FTO, that's field training officer, when I was a rookie, is that the public's not talking to you. They're talking to the badge that's pinned on your chest.

Now, they might read my name tag, but they don't know me. They aren't judging me. They don't know anything about me. The same is true for

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​This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau: Law Enforcement Databases, Moonlighting, and Officer Misconduct. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau. Welcome to episode number eight of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction.

Each week I mention that listeners help me with covering the cost of this podcast by supporting me for as little as $2 per month through Patreon*. In addition to my first supports, Joan Raymond and Guy Alton, I have to thank authors Natasha Bajema, Natalie Barelli, Joe Trent, Siobhan Pope, and Leah Cutter for their support of this podcast. As of this week, these Patreon patrons are actually covering the monthly podcast hosting fees I incur, which is so awesome! Many of them have author websites, which you can find in the show notes by going to writersdetective.com/8. Thank you all for your support. It really means a lot.

In particular, I want to thank Natasha Bajema for the post in the Writer's Detective Facebook group that prompted so many of you to consider using Patreon to support this project. Natasha noticed that when we get to 500 Patreon patrons, I'll be able to drop episodes twice a week. That was her motivation for making that post. That's a long way off still, but I'm looking forward to it because I'm really enjoying putting these episodes together. Before I forget, be sure to join our Writer's Detective group on Facebook. Everyone in there is super supportive, and I have a strict no a-hole policy, but I digress. You're probably listening to this podcast because you are a creator of some sort. Give you tribe of fans the chance to support you and your creations by using Patreon. Learn how to set up your own Patreon* page by visiting: writersdetective.com/patreon  ​

Before I get started with the first question this week, I have a correction to make. Last week I talked about kidnapping. When I cited the U.S. code the covers kidnapping, I cited the wrong section. The correct section is Title 18 Section 1201, not 1034. I got the number wrong because I was looking at the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Resource Manual, which you can now find in the show notes of this episode. 1034 was the section of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Resource Manual, not the actual crime section. All of that said, none of you should be concerned with the number because that kind of minutia will bore the crap out of your reader to the point of putting down your book or script. I only mention this stuff in the name of you being able to find it for research.

Caro asks, "Could you summarize various databases that U.S. police officers would have access to and the kind of information contained in each? For example, a patrol officer can probably access some databases from his car computer, but I suspect a patrol officer wouldn't be able to access the same databases that detectives would have access to." Caro also asked, "It is true that ViCAP doesn't include a large portion of crimes? In 2018, can a

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This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau: K9 searches, kidnapping, and arresting foreign nationals. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.

Welcome to episode number Seven of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional, quality, crime-related fiction. I use Patreon to help offset the costs of hosting this podcast and creating the transcripts by having listeners like you support me for as little as $2 per month. I even offer semi-private Q&As for my bigger patrons. How will you use Patreon to connect with your fans? Learn how to set up your own Patreon page by visiting writersdetective.com/patreon.

Last week, I mentioned how we conduct searches using the helicopter, and in doing so, I touched on the topic of K9 searches. This week, we're going to go more in depth on how law enforcement uses canines. As you are undoubtedly aware, one of the key uses for dogs or canines in law enforcement is detection, namely detection through their nose. I have never worked as a K9 handler. But when I was a rookie, I was a volunteer for the bite suit. So I got to attend quite a few trainings with the K9 team.

During that time, the explanation I heard for their scent abilities was similar to something like: you come home, and you smell something cooking in the kitchen, and you're pretty astute. You're like, "This smells like stew." Well, that is the human ability for scent correlation. A canine could distinguish between the different smells. Well, obviously, if it was a talking canine, that would be one thing. But their smelling...

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