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!

Castle: Head Case

Castle: Head Case – A Good-Cop-Bad-Cop Review

Well, so far, this season has me longing to be in the position I'm in right now, looking at the business end of those three gun barrels. Yes, please shoot me now to end this pain and suffering. Another week and another disappointing episode.…
Most memorable search warrant

My Most Memorable Search Warrant Execution: The Gramother-lode Of Heroin

The entry team has been briefed and they're in position at the front door. A second team is standing by at the back door. Other officers are covering each of the windows to prevent someone from slipping away. It's an impressive sight, all those…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

  The Graveyard Shift extends our condolences to the families of these brave officers. Deputy Sheriff Bryan Sleeper, 39 Burleigh County North Dakota Sheriff's Department September 28, 2011 - Deputy Bryan Sleeper suffered…
2011 Golden Donut

2011 Golden Donut Winner And Runners Up

  I'm so glad that I wasn't a judge for the 2011 Golden Donut Short Story contest, because each of the entries were absolutely wonderful. But, after a first round of screening, the top ten stories were submitted to our judge, editor…
Castle: Heroes and Villains

Castle: Heroes And Villains – A Review

  Heroes and Villains is the title of this week's episode. I think, however, that someone must have grabbed the wrong reel from the film archives. I say this because I'm almost certain that what we witnessed last night was not an episode…
WPA: The Recruits

Writers’ Police Academy: The Recruits

  Another Writers' Police Academy has come and gone...and it was FANTASTIC! Sure, the faculty was comprised of some of the top experts in their fields, but the real superstars of the event were the recruits. And all the instructors were…
2011 Wpa

2011 Writers’ Police Academy: The Beginning

  The 2011 Writers' Police Academy is well underway. Registration opened Thursday afternoon at 2pm, with many folks anxious to get the formalities out of the way so they could begin tours of the county jails and ride-a-longs with deputy…
Troy Davis

Troy Davis: Did Georgia Officials Kill An Innocent Man?

  I've lived in Georgia for a very short time, a little over a year, and it's a wonderful place. In fact, there's not much I can about it that's bad. Even getting a driver's license and tags for the cars was a pleasant experience. But…
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Witness Protection

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Witness Protection

The witness protection program is frequently used as a plot device in movies and on TV shows, but many people don't know much about the system in reality. In the U.S., witness security has protected 7,500 witnesses and 9,500 of their family…
Castle: Rise

Castle: Rise – A Good-Cop Bad-Cop Review

Well, Castle fans...they're back! After a long summer break the show picked up where it left off. And, for me, it was exactly where it left off---two seasons ago. I just couldn't see past a lot of the "same old, same old." But more on that later.…
Golden Donut awards

The Secret Is Out: Golden Donut Award Finalists

Well, it's nearly done. Yep, it is almost time to stick a fork in it. And the 2011 Golden Donut Short Story Contest was a roaring success. The rules were simple...write a story about the photo we supplied, using exactly 200 words. No…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

  The Graveyard Shift extends its condolences to the families of each of these brave officers. Officer Eric Charles Fontes, 45 Honolulu Hawaii Police Department September 13, 2011 - Officer Eric Fontes was struck and killed…
Sandra Orchard

Sandra Orchard: How To Become A Better Suspense Writer In A Weekend

  Attend the Writer’s Police Academy in Jamestown, North Carolina from September 23-26. And get a cool T-shirt in the deal! In addition to the popular Firearms Simulation Training (FATS), this year’s event has added a driving simulator,…
Point your tale

Point Your Tale In A New Direction: Patrol Cops v. Detectives

  Why does almost every crime novel feature a muscle-bound, sharpshooting, fast-driving, marathon-running, cool-as-hell detective? What is it about the suit-wearing police officers that attracts a writer's attention? After all, detectives…
9-12: The Day The Hope Began To Fade

9-12: The Day The Hope Began To Fade

I purposely didn't post a 9-11 tribute yesterday. Instead, I waited until today, because the "day after" was a time when many people first began to grieve. You see, 9-12 was the day when families realized that their wives, husbands, fathers,…
A Few Of My Heroes

A Few Of My Heroes

The Graveyard Shift is just another blog to many of you. But if you could take a moment to step behind the curtain, you'd see that it's actually much more than just a blog. There are dozens of people all across the country, Canada, and the UK,…
Luck: The other DNA

Luck: The Other DNA

Like all investigators, I've solved hundreds of cases, and many of them were real head-scratchers that involved tons of leg-work, phone calls, laboratory analysis, fingerprinting, and interrogations. But out of all the cases, one really stands…