Writers' Police Academy - Day 2 (Part 1) - Bomb Squad, Undercover Cops

What I learned at WPA:

Bomb Squad (featuring Reno, the bomb-sniffing dog)
After we all disembarked from our busses at GTCC, one of the instructors led us across the parking lot to the driving track, to what we believed would be safety instructions and some sort of demonstration like last year (which was awesome).  However, before we reached our destination, the instructor, who had drifted toward the back of the crowd, called for our attention.  A child's backpack was laying on the ground and he wanted to know who it belonged to.

Of course no one claimed it and that resulted in the calling in of a bomb-sniffing dog and his handler. We were sent to watch from a safe distance as Reno (of course I didn't get his handler's name) checked out the suspicious package.  We were told that Reno's signal that he smelled explosive material would be to lay down.  Sure enough, after sniffing around the backpack a bit, Reno hit the pavement.

That brought in the bomb squad, who sent a robot out to pick up the backpack and escort it to the far end of the lot, where it was detonated.

• The robots are costly, running about $125,000 each.
• Not all dogs signal by laying down.  Each has its own way of alerting their handler to the presence of explosives.
• The dogs are taught not to be deterred by the planting of food in suspicious packages. 

Reno!

This suit costs $125,000

Concealed and Confidential (Instructor: NYPD Detective (ret.) Marco Conelli)

Conelli is a former undercover officer and regaled us with tales from his experiences on the job.

• Undercover responsibilities: Infiltration, relay accurate information, provide rock-solid testimony. They do not make arrests so as to not blow their cover.
• Disguises are a big part of the job, along with the personality to match it.
• Undercover cops refer to their locations as "sets".
• They use carbon paper to dirty their hands, nails and clothes when making drug buys.  Transactions are close and junkies don't have clean, well-manicured hands.
• "Try this.  I want to make sure you're okay."  If necessary, undercovers can do whatever is necessary, including ingesting drugs.
• Real cops only pull  their guns as a last resort.
• Even a minor drug bust can lead to bigger things. A guy busted for a bag of weed was able to give police the name of a guy who had short an off-duty officer who was working a second job at a check cashing place.
• Gun jamming is not actually that far-fetched.  "These people aren't really knowledgeable."

Writers' Police Academy Day 1 (Part 3) - EMS and the Crime Scene

What I learned at WPA:

EMS and the Crime Scene

Instructor Joe Yow and students from the EMS program at Guilford Community College in Jamestown, North Carolina (where WPA is held) put on an amazing enactment of how EMS assesses and processes a scene with multiple victims and varying levels of injuries.  The premise was that a small bomb had gone off in a cafe.  The injuries ran the gamut from cuts and scratches to loss of limb.

• The first thing they do when assessing is check ABC - Airway, Breathing, Circulation.
• A national "Smart Triage" tagging system was put in place following 9/11.  Highest priority is a red tag, which signifies severely injured but salvageable.  A yellow tag signifies serious injury with no imminent danger, but would become dangerous if left too long without treatment.  A green tag is issued if the victim is injured, but not so badly that they can't walk on their own.  If a victim is not breathing on their own EMS will clear their airway and attempt to resuscitate, but if the victim doesn't start breathing on their own, they are black tagged and EMS moves on.

This might sound silly, but one of the most impressive things about the presentation was how well-acted it was.  None of the students involved ever broke character.  A couple of the victims in particular (the mildly-injured girl whose boyfriend turned out to be the bomber and another young woman who lost an arm) were so good that one of the questions asked afterward was if they were drama students.  Several of the police academy students were also on hand, demonstrating how they handled victims who were mobile, but badly shaken and sometimes hysterical.

I couldn't help being impressed by the sheer caliber of character and poise the students showed, both during the enactment and after when we were peppering them with questions.  I think it's also a testament to Guildford's EMS, police and fire programs.  I didn't see the whole thing because I was in the driving simulator at the beginning of the session and triage was well underway when I got there, but it was just amazing.

More EMS pics can be found here.

Writers' Police Academy Day 1 (Part 2) - Mass Shooters, Driving Simulator, DNA

What I learned at WPA:

Conducting Threat Assessment of Pre-Incident Mass Shooters (Instructor: Secret Service Special Agent (ret.) Mike Roche)

• Mass shooter profile: Age 16-88, 89% male, 87% Caucasian, 87% have education of high school or beyond.
• School mass shooter profile: Age 11-21, almost 100% male, 76% Caucasian, 63% from two-parent families, 5% failing in school and have exhibited behavior that causes concern.  A vast majority are fans of violent video games.  
• These are not people who just snapped.  There is a discernible path of violence leading to the act (these are not crimes of passion).  Their actions are well-planned, including attempts to acquire weapons.
• Possible motive: Avenging a perceived wrong, or bringing attention to a perceived problem. Example: Christopher Dorner and his grievances with the LAPD.
• Possible motive: Fame: Arthur Bremer, who shot then-presidential candidate George Wallace, wanted to take down President Richard Nixon, but Nixon's security was too tight.  Bremer lamented that he wouldn't be as famous for shooting Wallace instead of Nixon.
• Possible motive: Personal revenge. In the case of school shooters, the student often feels like an outsider, may have been bullied and resents his more popular and well-adjusted classmates.
• Some background/personal circumstances: Depression, suicidal, a major loss or life change, stalking/harassment.  Cyber bullying has become an issue the past few years, and part of the reason it's a major problem is that it's 24/7 - there's no getting away from it.

Driving Simulator

I thought this was going to be a police pursuit simulator, but it turned out to be a fire engine.  The instructor gave me a brief run through and then I had to drive the simulated beast to a scene.  I don't know how they drive those things - it felt more like I was wrestling with it than driving it.  Part of it is you have to maneuver around traffic and when you come up on cars you have to make a judgement call as to whether or not they're going to pull over like they're supposed to, or if you need to go around them.  I took out a couple of vehicles, but eventually made it to the scene.

The Science (and Pseudo Science) of DNA Profiling (Instructor: Dr. Dan Krane)

This presentation had a lot of scientific aspects that were way above my head (and, I suspect, a lot of others) but also provided a lot of usable info that could be used in stories. Dr. Krane is one of the top DNA experts in the world and we were fortunate to have him with us.

• DNA is a relatively new tool in solving crimes.  The first time it was used in a court case was in the late 1980's.  Dr. Krane first testified in court as a DNA expert in January, 1991.
• Just because DNA is present does not mean a crime has been committed.  The presence of DNA does not establish the time frame or circumstance under which it got there.  An example would be in the case of sexual activity - the presence of DNA itself does not determine if it was consensual or rape.  DNA can also be planted (innocently or otherwise), contaminated or misinterpreted.
• Although a DNA match is not necessarily a 100% guaranteed match, the odds of another, random person having the same DNA is 1 in 79,531,528,960,000,000 (about 1 in 80 quadrillion).  This has proven to be good enough for juries, who tend to accept a solid DNA match as irrefutable proof.

If you're interested in the subject, Dr. Krane's website has a ton of information.

Writers' Police Academy Day 1 (Part 1) - Fingerprinting

Yesterday was the first full day of Writers' Police Academy 2013 and I had a great time.  It really is an exceptional event, especially if you want to write about crime and law enforcement but don't have the luxury of having any cops in your family or circle of friends.

What I learned at WPA:

Fingerprinting (Instructor: Michelle Davis of the Greensboro, NC Police Department)

• Latent = invisible to the naked eye.
• Latent prints are collected by crime scene techs and delivered to the fingerprint tech.  Elimination prints (PD, EMS, witnesses) are also collected, as are post-mortem prints from the victim.
• Cases are prioritized, with homicides getting top priority, followed by B&E's (breaking and entering) and vandalism.
• Can get a hit in as little as 2 minutes or as long as two days.
• Expungements: If prints have been entered into the system and then the charges are dropped or the suspect has been found not guilty, the prints must be removed from the system.  
• Pattern classes of fingerprints are described as arches (rarest), whorls, and loops (most common). 
• Women and children have finer fingerprint ridges than men.
• Fingerprints are made up of sweat/water and oil. The sweat evaporates, the oil does not. Clean, dry hands result in lesser prints. Too much lotion on hands can result in a smudged print.
• Identical twins have identical DNA but not identical fingerprints.
• Certain types of work (brickwork, handling certain chemicals) can result in poorer quality of prints.
• Fingerprints are very delicate, so wiping them to hide your crime is actually very effective.
• Scars on fingertips are very helpful in making an ID. Law enforcement loves it when scars turn up.

We got to watch a fingerprint identification program search for a match to a print Michelle entered into the system.  It looked nothing like the graphics-happy systems on TV shows, rather it's a very plain, Windows based pane.  No picture of a driver's license or criminal record information pops up. Just a single line of text per match.

What a match really looks like.  If you want to be 
a CSI like on TV, study acting, not forensics.

We also got to dust and lift our own prints from a piece of tile and a jar that we touched.  Here's the evidence of my criminal activity.  Busted!

Prints dusted.

Prints lifted.  You have the right to remain silent...

More fingerprinting pics can be found here.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre converts to IMAX

I have to admit I haven't paid much attention to the old neighborhood since moving last year.  I'd pretty much burned out on living in Hollywood and my return to the beach (and blessedly cooler weather) was a long time coming, much longer than I'd ever anticipated.  By the time I finally left, my enthusiasm for the area had sadly evaporated and I haven't been back since. 

This news, however, will definitely get me back for a visit: Via Curbed L.A., behold the glory that is one of the largest IMAX screens in the world being installed in the Chinese Theatre.  Per Curbed:

The theater will reopen on September 15 with the world premiere of the Imax 3D release of The Wizard of Oz--those flying monkeys are gonna be so huge and comin' right for ya.

I haven't said this in quite some time, but hooray for Hollywood!

The 8th Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest is off and running!

This go-round, the logline comes from Oscar winning screenwriter Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, The Rules of Attraction, Beowulf):

"Three neurotic hit-men, each with troubled pasts, are separately enlisted by a highly secretive client to assassinate each other."

As usual, you submit up to the first fifteen pages of a feature script based on this logline.  Genre is up to you - you can write it as comedy, drama, sci-fi, horror or anything else that floats your boat.

Apparently the early deadline has come and gone, but I don't remember seeing an email for this one before.  Final deadline is October 31, so still plenty of time to get 15 pages written.  The rest of the gory details can be found here.

Image snicked from their website.

Looks like we don't need to take "hit-men" too literally.

Of pool noodles and pet rocks

Awesome words of advice via The World of Steam:

Which reminded me of this thing: The legendary Pet Rock, which made its creator a millionaire.  And guess what...it's back!!!  But only as a limited edition, it would appear.  So tempting.  So very, very tempting.

My Dad had a Pet Rock back in the day, but it's long gone.  Too bad, that thing must be worth a freaking fortune.  I mean, it was an original Pet Rock, not one of these new cheap knockoffs that probably come from Tijuana.  Or China.  Harvested by child labor.

Although the "owner's manual" was famous for its humor, my favorite part was the packaging:

It's got holes in the box.  So it can breathe.

In my version, the pool noodle inventor is a totally dorky guy who is now laughing all the way to the bank and getting ALL. THE. CHICKS!  So yeah.  Let people laugh at your dreams all they want.  Just don't let them stop you.  Remember, success is the best revenge!

Pet Rock carrier image snicked from its Wikipedia page linked above.

Words to live by

Via the always awesome Sun Gazing.

Possible "Jaws" reboot might be in the works

Says so right here.

I really, really, really REALLY REALLY hope this is a joke, but if it isn't, I really, really, really REALLY REALLY hope the online backlash makes them think better of it.

I think what I'm trying to say can be quickly summed up by this:

On the other hand, there is this:

Don't do it, Universal.  We're begging you.

Chocolate OD

I feel kind of sick, actually.

That is absolutely not a reflection on today's Cooking With Chocolate class at the New School of Cooking in Culver City.  But it is a reflection on how incredibly rich some of the recipes were!  I really want some real food (for some reason I'm craving roasted chicken) but I'm too full to eat anything after sampling today's goodies: Chocolate Decadence Cake, Double-Chocolate Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache, Double-Chocolate Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, White Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Pots de Creme, Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, Chocolate Bread Pudding, Chocolate Mud Pie and Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tart.

I cannot recommend New School enough.  The classes are fun, the food is fantastic and I've learned a load from them.  Today I learned how to properly scald milk and cream (for the Truffle Tart) and that if a little bit of skin forms on the milk/cream, it's not a problem.

After the class I stopped by Surfas, which is about a block away from the school.  I had never been in there before and it was cooking heaven.  They will certainly be getting a lot of my money in the future.

Here are some pics from today's class:

I was on Team Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

One of my classmates serving up Chocolate Bread Pudding (my favorite of the day, and I never eat bread pudding!)

Chocolate Decadence Cake is decadent.

No mas.

Idiot Californians freak out over late night Amber Alert

So Monday night around 10:45-ish unsuspecting Californians were jolted by a creepy sound coming out of their smartphones.  Mine was made extra creepy by the fact that I have my phone set up to vibrate as well as ring.  It was the kind of thing where you expect to answer and the person on the other end screams at you to get out now, that the calls are coming from inside your house.  You know, like it's about you.

The sad truth is what was really happening was that smartphones across the state were broadcasting an Amber Alert.  Two children down in the San Diego area had been abducted by a man who is suspected of murdering their mother before taking them.  Their lives may be in danger and even if they are recovered alive, they've suffered a heinous loss, not to mention the whole experience will probably scar them for life.

That's the bad news.

Here's the pathetic news.

Apparently a large percentage of the population that received the alert - and some received multiple alerts (I only got the one) - was so traumatized by it that they seem to be more concerned with their "experience" rather than what has happened and is happening to those missing kids.  Not only have many of them taken to the internet with their "story", but a lot of them have decided to turn off the Emergency Alert app on their phones.  Because getting the alert was disturbing, and for some of those who got multiple alerts, it became annoying.  Seriously.  An Amber Alert is issued and a significant number of recipients respond by disabling the feature.

You're upset?  How about those poor kids and their dead mom?  I bet they would have loved to have been no closer to this than a disruptive ring tone or three.  I'm embarrassed on behalf of my state, something that sadly has been happening on a regular basis for a number of years now.

LOL?  Are you fucking kidding me?  WTF?

Imagine the next time an alert is issued and someone who turned off their app is sitting right next to the child or kidnapper, or possibly might be at a traffic signal right next to them in a car they might notice if they'd received the alert.  Turning off the alerts may someday result in a child who could have been saved ending up dead, their body stuffed away somewhere in the hopes that it will never be found, while their family waits for God knows how long to learn their fate.   If I was on the writing staff of a crime drama, I'd be typing up that synopsis right now.  "Missing Amber".  Coming to a crime drama near you.

And call me crazy, but I think the whole point of an emergency alert is to get everyone's attention immediately.  Mission accomplished, but some people just have fucked up priorities, I guess.

Luckily, a lot of people are using social media to get the alert out to as many people as possible.  But still, what is your mindset when you hear a story like this and a sizable portion of the reaction is that people just don't appreciate the intrusion?

Links to this embarrassing and pathetic story: Amber Alert.com - Active Amber Alert for Hannah & Ethan Anderson - #AmberAlert - L.A. Times - Southern California Public Radio - Franklin Avenue - LAist - Blogging L.A. calls it "a rude awakening" - Twitchy - TMZ: "We couldn't shut it off fast enough"

I concur.

Location, location, location

Via Franklin Avenue, check out these insanely cool pics of a set visit for TNT's upcoming noir series Lost Angels, based on the novel L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City.  Someone should just hand their set decorator an Emmy now.

I am really, really looking forward to this one.  Not much info up on TNT yet (including premiere date) yet, but I'm hoping they get this up in the next few months.

Update 8/13/13: TNT has updated: show has been retitled Mob City, premiere date is December 4 and the first trailer can be seen here.

I preferred the previous titles (L.A. Noir and Lost Angels) as I felt they specified the city of Los Angeles as location.  Mob City could be any major city.  But under any title, I have a feeling I'm going to love this show.