Cops and Writers Podcast

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On today’s show, we will be talking fire investigations with retired Detective Jim Smith.

Jim is a friend of mine and we worked together for the Milwaukee Police Department back in the day. During Jim’s career on the force, he worked as a police officer and was later promoted to the rank of detective where he investigated violent crimes, officer-involved shootings, arson, and fires.

Jim also taught Defense & Control Tactics - Active Countermeasures - Weapon Control - Verbal Judo/Tactical Communication/De-escalation and Instructor Development.
After retiring from the Milwaukee Police Department, Jim investigated war crimes in the middle east.

During this episode you will learn:

      • What special training is required to become an arson detective.
      • What equipment an arson detective utilizes during the course of their investigation.
      • A step-by-step explanation of investigating a fire.
      • Evidence collection and documentation of a fire scene.

All of this and more on today’s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.

Check out Jim's Linkedin profile.

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

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What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

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Would you sell your Christmas presents and plasma so you could afford to attend a writer's conference and an editor for a book you haven't published yet? My guest today, Jami Albright, did exactly that.

Jamie took a leap of faith and it paid dividends. She is now a successful indie author of Brides on the Run and The Small-Town Royalty series--fun, sexy, snarky, laugh-out-loud romantic comedies. If you don't snort with laughter, then she hasn't done her job.

Jami also shares with us how she continues her successful author career by publishing one book a year! So successful, she was able to leave her day job and become a full-time author.

How bad do you want to succeed as an author?

Listen to Jami's podcast Wish I'd Known Then...For Writers
Check out Jami's website
Visit Jami's Facebook page
Visit Jami on Instagram
Jami is also on Tik Tok
And of course, Jamie is on Goodreads and BookBub
20 Books Vegas video of Jami

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

On today’s show, my guest is a pilot, cop's wife, mom, retired math teacher, and author, Ann Parker!

Have you ever thought of getting away from it all and moving to a remote cabin in Alaska? My guest today did just that. Ann’s husband Shon, retired from law enforcement after a 27-year career in Texas. They sold almost all of their worldly possessions and moved to a remote cabin off-grid in the wilderness of Alaska.  Ann shares the joy and pain of living in the Alaskan wilderness.

Ann and I also talk about her life as a wife of a police officer. She lets us know how it felt to be the wife of a cop with all of the ups and downs they both endured throughout his career.

Ann started a devoted fan base with her Facebook page, “Follow Me to Alaska” where she shared interesting stories of her wildlife adventures. She did this before she wrote her book, Follow Me To Alaska! Ann truly dug the well before she was thirsty. She has sold over 10,000 copies of her book in one year without a newsletter or ads.

Follow Ann on her website!
Check out her best-selling book Follow Me To Alaska!
Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

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Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

My special guest today is Kevin Tumlinson!

Today’s show is definitely for the writers out there!

Kevin Tumlinson is an award-winning and bestselling thriller author, with more than fifty books in distribution worldwide. He is an accomplished podcaster, often referred to as "the Voice of Indie Publishing." He helps thousands of self-published indie authors every day through his podcasts and his work as the Director of Marketing and PR for Draft2Digital.

Kevin and I talk about his early career as a writer, very early. We also discuss his daily writing habits and rituals that afford him the opportunity to produce quality and consistent books. Kevin also shares what you can do to become a successful author.

Kevin shares tips and tricks on how you can become a more successful author in this value-packed episode!

Visit Kevin at his website!
 Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

On today’s show, we are going back to Canada! My special guest is a best-selling author and former Constable, Simon Gervais (Retired) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Simon’s first posting was in Toronto, where he served as a drug investigator. During this time, he worked on many international drug-related cases in close collaboration with his American colleagues from the DEA.

However, in 2004, his career switched gears and he was placed with a federal anti-terrorism unit based in the Ottawa Region. During the following years, he was deployed in numerous European and Middle Eastern countries.

In 2009, he became a close-protection specialist tasked with guarding foreign heads of state visiting Canada. Among many others, he served on the protection details of Queen Elizabeth II, US President Barack Obama, and other dignitaries.

We also discuss his writing methods and his transition from being a cop to being a full-time writer and a New York Times and Amazon bestselling author.

Simon is the author of Hunt Them Down (January 2019), Trained To Hunt (September 2019), and Time To Hunt (November 2020). His new thriller The Last Protector will be published in November 2021. Simon also wrote the Mike Walton series: The Thin Black Line(2015), A Red Dotted Line (2016), and A Thick Crimson Line (2018).

Go visit Simon's website where you will find all of his books and social media links.
Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group
Go back to episode #3 of the Cops and Writers podcast with Constable Forest Macek of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

In today’s episode of the Cops and Writers Podcast, we will be discussing fatal motor vehicle accidents with Senior Corporal Frank Carson who is an Accident Reconstruction and Collision Analysis, expert.

Carson has over 35 years of law enforcement experience and has personally investigated over 300 fatal motor vehicle accidents. He has numerous accreditations and is an expert witness when testifying in court.  He is also a drug recognition expert and is an instructor for accident reconstruction and driving while impaired courses.

Carson also gives tips on how not to get into motor vehicle accidents and we discuss the frank discussion every parent should have with their kids regarding staying safe while driving. We also talk about the promise we as parents should make to our kids promising to pick them up if they are impaired and shouldn't be driving. 

If you are going to include car accidents in your stories, or you are just curious as to how and why fatal vehicle accidents occur, and how they are investigated, you are not going to want to miss this episode. 

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

Today on the show I'm delighted to have FBI Special Agent Gary Noesner (retired) as my guest for today's show.

Gary Noesner retired from the FBI in 2003 following a 30-year career as an investigator, instructor, and negotiator. A significant focus of his career was directed toward investigating Middle East hijackings in which American citizens were victimized. In addition, he was an FBI hostage negotiator for 23 years of his career, retiring as the Chief of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit, Critical Incident Response Group, the first person to hold that position.

In that capacity, he was heavily involved in numerous crisis incidents covering prison riots, right-wing militia standoffs, religious zealot sieges, terrorist embassy takeovers, airplane hijackings, and over 120 overseas kidnapping cases involving American citizens.

Gary has appeared in numerous television documentaries about hostage negotiation, terrorism, and kidnapping produced by the History Channel, NatGeo, WE, Discovery, TLC, A&E, CNN, CBS, BBC, American Heroes Network, and others. He has been interviewed in Time, Forbes, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Roll Call, the Washingtonian Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. He has given speeches at major universities, done interviews on numerous radio and television programs. And now he is on my podcast!

He has written a book about his FBI negotiation career, entitled: Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator. The 2018 Paramount Network TV Event “Waco” is based in part on his book.

This interview is over 90 minutes and well worth your time. You will probably want to take notes.

Visit Gary at his website.
Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

Joining us for today’s show, all the way from the Highlands of Scotland is Neil Lancaster!

As a young man, Neil served for six years in the Royal Air Force aka RAF. as a K-9 Military Police Officer serving in the UK and overseas. Without missing a beat, he joined the London Metropolitan Police Service,  also known as the "Met."

Neil served for over twenty-five years with the Met, predominantly as a detective, leading and conducting investigations into some of the most serious criminals across the UK and beyond. Neil acted as surveillance and covert policing specialist, using all types of techniques to arrest and prosecute drug dealers, human traffickers, fraudsters, and murderers.

Neil shares with us stories and technical details of his time as a K-9 handler with the RAF and his time as a detective with the Met.

Neil also shares common terms and slang used in the Met.

Neil has written three thrillers, the Tom Novak series, and has a new series beginning in July where he will introduce readers to Detective Sergeant Max Craigie of Police Scotland.

Get your pen and paper ready, you are going to want to take notes from this episode.

Come visit Neil at his website!
Check out Neil's Amazon author page!

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group.

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

Joining us today is none other than Bryan Cohen!

Bryan takes us on his journey from being a college grad to trying to make it big in improv comedy in Chicago, to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Bryan is a true entrepreneur. He is the creator of Amazon Ad School, the founder of the author copywriting agency, Best Page Forward, and the MC of Self-Publishing Live conference. as well as the co-host of The Sell More Books Show, a weekly podcast for self-published authors.

He's also an author with eight novels self-published and over 100,000 books sold.

This episode is full of valuable information where we discuss how to write a great book description (including a killer hook) that will convert into numerous sales. We also discuss Amazon Ads where Bryan gives great advice to beginner, midlist, and veteran authors who want to make more money using Amazon Ads.

If you want to sell more books, this is the episode for you!

Join Bryan's Amazon Ad Challenge!
Need better book descriptions?
Want up-to-date self-publishing news?
Want to become a description master?

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Send us a text

My guest today, Nick Russell, has one of the most interesting life stories I have ever heard.  I think when you are done listening to this episode, you will agree.

Nick comes from a cop family, his dad was a deputy sheriff, then became a Border Patrolman (his dad rode a horse to work every day), and when he retired from that he became a city cop in Ohio. He also had two uncles and an older brother who were LEOs.

He joined the Army right after high school and served in Vietnam with the First Cavalry Division, got banged up a couple of times (three Purple Hearts), and when he was back stateside and was fit for duty, was a firearms instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

After the Army, he was a reserve cop in Ohio until dad talked him out of it and told him he should pursue his dream of being a writer. He was also a criminal investigator with the Arizona Attorney General’s office for a total of six years where he investigated everything from police-related shootings to crooked city officials.

Nick also ran small-town newspapers on the Pacific Northwest coast and in Arizona. In 1999 Nick and his wife Terry became full-time RVers, spending the next 18+ years wandering around the country in a motorhome publishing the Gypsy Journal RV travel newspaper.

Nick Russell is a proud indie-author of 45 books, including the Big Lake mystery series, the John Lee Quarrels series, the two-book Dog’s Run series, and the Tinder Street family saga. He was very fortunate that his first novel, Big Lake, made the New York Times bestseller list. You will never guess how the story came to him, and how long it took him to hit the "publish button."

In October of 2016, Nick and his wife Terry bought a house on the central Florida coast midway between Daytona Breach and Cape Canaveral. They can watch the rockets launch from their yard.

Trust me, this is a story you will not want to miss hearing!

Visit Nick's blog that he publishes every day!
Check out Nick's Amazon Author Page!

Enjoy the Cops and Writers book series.
Please visit the Cops and Writers website.
If you have a question for the sarge, hit him up at his email.
Come join the fun at the Cops and Writers Facebook group

What would you do if you lost the one you loved the most? How far would you go to quench your thirst for vengeance?

https://a.co/d/2UsJPba

Support the show

What's the craziest thing you saw when you were a cop?

My first week on the job, a guy running at me with a butcher knife. He'd just killed his brother over the last hot dog.

That's chapter 1. There are 33 more.

Police Stories: The Rookie Years just launched - available on Amazon. 

Search 'Police Stories Patrick O'Donnell' or click th

Support the show