Public Safety Writing
The Public Safety Writers Association held its annual conference in Las Vegas this past weekend (July 14-17, 2022). According to the PSWA website, the association was formed in 1997 as the Police Writers Club and “exists to support people involved in writing about public safety.”
I love the conciseness of that mission statement.
Members of the PSWA include (taken directly from their website):
People with public safety careers who write stories, poetry, or non-fiction about their incredible experiences.
Mystery, thriller, and other writers who write about public safety characters and situations.
Publishers, editors, and other professionals.
Frank Zafiro, Colin Conway, and Mark Bergin
I recently joined the association at the urging of my friends, Frank Zafiro and Mark Bergin. The three of us are in the picture. They both joined the PSWA this year as well.
The conference was smaller than Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon. I believe this is due to the narrow focus of the association (which is a good thing). At LCC and B-Con, multiple panels are held simultaneously; at the PSW conference, only a single panel/topic was held at any time.
Some of the panel topics were:
Crimes: From the Call to the Investigation to Court
Gathering the Evidence
Writing Nonfiction
Writing Fiction from Another Time
There were four blocks dedicated to a single speaker, though. Two of these focused on technical aspects of writing, while the other two concentrated on topics related to law enforcement. Due to where I’m at in my writing career, those blocks devoted to the writing topics weren’t as interesting to me. However, several in the audience diligently took notes and asked questions. That was exciting to see.
The two speakers who spoke on the topics related to law enforcement blew me away. Rich Wickliffe discussed insurance fraud, and I couldn’t take notes fast enough. The guy was incredibly knowledgeable and blew me away with the types of crimes committed today. It was a super fascinating topic.
The other presentation was by Bob Calkins, who discussed working dogs in police, fire, and search & rescue. What a fascinating subject, and who doesn’t love anecdotes about dogs? He talked about the various things the dogs could and couldn’t do as well as a couple of real stories. It was hair-raising.
All conferences provide a guidebook for their events that lists the panels and speakers. At the back of these books are the attendee bios. What struck me about these biographies was the public safety portion many had. Not all were former law enforcement officers, firefighters, or medics, but most were. To read about their careers was humbling.
Then, I started asking some, “Tell me about your story.” It wasn’t their books that I wanted to know about but their careers, and I wanted to know what brought them into the writing game.
That’s a neat thing about this association—someone at the starting line of their writing career might have a wealth of knowledge about something in their public safety profession. At the same time, there might be someone with a lot of writing expertise but little public safety input. Everyone can help someone else.
If you’re someone with a public safety background writing about your experiences or an author writing about public safety characters and situations, I hope you’ll consider joining this association. The annual dues are affordable, and the memberships contain a wealth of knowledge.
And if you go to the conference next year, I’ll save you a seat!
