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!

Wacky Police News

Police Rumors, Scandals, and Scoops

  - Trooper Robert Higbee was found not guilty this week for vehicular homicide.   Trooper Higbee The case stemmed from an accident involving Higbee and a two sisters. Higbee was involved in a high-speed pursuit when he…
Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

You Be The Judge: Is It Okay To Taser a Grandmother?

The topic of Taser abuse by police has again reared its ugly head. This time a 72-year-old grandmother was Tasered during a traffic stop. The incident began when police stopped the woman for speeding in a construction zone. Unfortunately,…
Alix Lambert

Alix Lambert: The Silencing

  Alix Lambert's feature length documentary "The Mark of Cain" was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and aired on Nightline. She went on to produce additional segments of Nightline as well as produce 7 segments for the PBS series…
Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

I See You!

  Technology changes almost as fast as the price of gasoline. The need for change is driven by the constantly evolving criminal element. Bad guys spend a lot of time inventing new ways to beat the system. Unfortunately, their advances…
North Carolina

Weekend Road Trip: North Carolina

 
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Police Officer Omar J. Edwards, 25 New York City Department Officer Omar Edwards was shot and killed by fellow police officers who mistook him for a fleeing felon. Officer Edwards had been in plainclothes, chasing a criminal suspect…
Guns with Lori Lake

Guns, Guns, Guns with Lori Lake

  <pLoriSnow Moon Rising, a novel of survival set during World War II, which received a 2007 Golden Crown Literary Award as well as the 2007 Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. She is the creator of the “Gun” series, which is a trilogy…
DNA Testing

Things Writers Should Know About DNA: An Encore

  Sometimes, we just seem to get our tangs all tonguled up and use the wrong words in our stories. Perhaps we learned those incorrect little language units while watching television, or while reading a novel written by a die-hard CSI…
Lisa Provost: The Body

Lisa Provost: My First Solo Crime Scene

Born in August 1974, in Brooklyn, NY., Lisa Provost grew up in the Catskill and Adirondack mountains of upstate N.Y. where, from the time she was 12 - 16-years-old, she raised dairy goats. Lisa studied Biology at RIT in Rochester, N.Y. from…
Kayaking the Parker River

Weekend Road Trip: Kayaking the Parker River

  Last weekend, Denene and I paddled ten or twelve miles up the Parker River starting near the mouth of the Merrimack. We began the trip at high tide with little or no wind. The river was calm, with a texture almost pudding-like. By…
Wacky Police News

Police Rumors, Scandals, and Scoops

  - Outside looking in: A distraught man barricaded himself inside a New York sheriff's office. The building was evacuated after the suspect fired a shot. - Bite me!: A Connecticut police instructor was arrested on reckless endangerment…
Lt. David Swords: Precinct 7-11

Lt. David Swords: Interview and Interrogation – Part Two

  Lieutenant David Swords (ret.) is a thirty year veteran of the Springfield, Ohio Police Department. Nearly half of Lt. Swords’ police career was spent as an investigator, working on cases ranging from simple vandalisms to armed robberies…
Lt. David Swords: Precinct 7-11

Lt. David Swords: Interview and Interrogation – Part One

  Lieutenant David Swords (ret.) is a thirty year veteran of the Springfield, Ohio Police Department. Nearly half of Lt. Swords’ police career was spent as an investigator, working on cases ranging from simple vandalisms to armed robberies…
James O'Neal

James O’Neal (Born): The Future of Police Work

James O. Born is an award winning novelist with five crime novel published by Putnam. Under the name James O'Neal, he is published by Tor. The Human Disguise was just released and the sequel, The Double Human, will be released in 2010. He is…
Memorial Day

Memorial Day: Please Remember Why

                   
New Zealand with Alix Lambert

Weekend Road Trip: New Zealand With Alix Lambert

  These images were all taken in New Zealand, where I spent a month with Chris, Keith, and Dan Malloy. They surfed. I made a short film and took photographs. Alix Lambert is an artist, writer, producer, and…
Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Sergeant Dulan Earl Murray, Jr., 48 Nags Head North Carolina Police Department Sergeant Dulan Earl Murray, Jr was killed in an automobile accident on May 15, 2009. He was responding to burglary-in-progress call when he lost control of…
Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

Alix Lambert: The Criminal Mind

  Alix Lambert's feature length documentary "The Mark of Cain" was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and aired on Nightline. She went on to produce additional segments of Nightline as well as produce 7 segments for the PBS series…