Webinar with Chief of Police, in California USA

During the evening of 9/11, I attended a webinar held by the Sisters in Crime. The speaker is the Chief of Police whom I won’t identify. The setting is along the coast line of California. Though it didn’t help much because my next book involves burnt corpses, which wasn’t his area of expertise. What does a Police Chief think when you ask him about evidence and burnt bodies? I am sure he has a list of all attendees and will check if any of us are imposters. That should be easy because I have a Nexus card and I should be easy to identify if I am ever found roaming aimlessly in the States. They did a thorough interview and examination before giving me my card. They have me on file. While many are afraid of their security from the States, I am happy to oblige. I want them to know who I am, if I am ever lost in America. Anyhow, aside from writing fiction regarding serial killers, I would imagine he determined that I am a law abiding Canadian who doesn’t go to the States to cause any problems. If I wasn’t Canadian, I would probably be American. You see my great grandmother ventured to California but she was homesick, so returned to Switzerland. So back to the webinar, they had readers as well as Writers which was different for me. I believe in Canada they only allow writers. My bad if I am wrong. The Police Chief is handsome which is always a plus. As for myself, my hair was blowing in the wind as I decided to sit on my back deck on a windy day. Poor guy. He must have wondered, is she a reader, writer, a killer or simply mad? I was quite impressed that he trained as a firefighter and airport police. He has been a Chief for four years and also worked in LAPD for 17 years. Did I mention he was also a grad with the FBI, Quantico? Too bad he couldn’t help me with evidence and burnt bodies when there is no trace of anything else. This is being taped so he had to be careful of what he would say. That is too bad because what happened is we got a breakdown of the structure of his organization. He mentioned that you have to be careful using a Taser near the water (never thought of that…zap). They have dive teams and K9 explosive detection. It was quite exciting and I thought…..where do I sign up? What I really liked is that they have a peer support unit. That is wonderful and so needed. The therapist in me chirped merrily to myself, with my hair wildly blowing in the wind. If I had a hat, I would have resembled the mad hatter. He talked about evidence underwater being similar to dry scenes. Of course you need a sample of the water and there is an additional problem of movement and debris (I would imagine that can drift away some evidence). Didn’t think of asking a question then because my hair was blinding me. He mentioned that the bay is very dark where he is. I would imagine when you can’t see, it may be a problem (and then there were lights). What I did learn was a bit about the Drug Cartel and how easy it is to get to the States by water. The Cartel moves further North along the coast as they get caught. Another thing was human smuggling. Before it was either drugs or human trafficking but now it appears they have switched to 50/50 - half human trafficking and half drugs on each boat. He mentions underground tunnels and I could see how they have a big problem over there. You know that they also smuggle drugs into the States by submarine? How much does it cost to rent one for smuggling drugs. Also, I learned that the FBI have jurisdiction three miles out from the Coast. The Chief mentioned the person who punched an airline stewardess and that falls under the FBI. That means Federal charges. Good, I say. Anyhow, enough about this webinar. I don’t know how much I will be using of this material but you never know. I am going to attend another six hour webinar with my American Sisters in Crime in October. I won’t bore you with that one. It is mainly about how to market myself, get my books on line etc…..I had been ignoring this side too long. I was trying to get my books on Amazon but they keep steering me to global which means I have to pay a monthly fee of 30 American rather than an individual fee. No wonder he could afford to fly to space. Have a good weekend. If you want to buy one of my books, they are on Shopify. I have to pay a monthly fee but it is easier to order from around the world. https://www.silvaredigonda.ca