Tag Archives: Special Crimes Team

MEET DETECTIVE FREDERICK ALBERT, SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

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MEET DETECTIVE FREDERICK ALBERT, SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

(Interviewer) It is my pleasure today to interview Detective Frederick Albert of the Special Crimes Team. Detective Albert, thank you for coming.

Detective Albert: You’re quite welcome. (sits straight, hands resting on the chair arms, spring-green eyes meet interviewer’s in a friendly gaze.)

Interviewer: We have been getting to know some of the members of your elite law enforcement team. My audience and I would love to get to know you. (Interviewer waits to see if Detective Albert will respond, but he sits quietly) What can you share with us about yourself?

Detective Albert: (elbows propped on chair arms, fingertips steepled lightly together, a slow smile touches his well-shaped lips) There are many things, Ms. Walksfar, that I could share with you, however, since our time is limited I will attempt to stick to the most salient facts.

I spent a number of years in the Marine Corp and when I left the Service I entered the police academy. Fresh out of the Academy, I hired onto the Spokane Police Department where I worked my way up to detective. When the opportunity arose to join the Special Crimes Team, I accepted. Lieutenant Williams has an exemplary reputation as a fair superior with excellent investigative skills. (falls silent and lifts a brow as if to say: next question)

Interviewer: Is the reality of the Special Crimes Team what you expected?

Detective Albert: (tilts head slightly as he watches interviewer for a moment) Is anything in life exactly as we expect? (His slow smile is warm) As for the Special Crimes Team: the team is staffed by dedicated, capable investigators. According to the guidelines set out by Governor Marleton when she formed the team, we are mandated to deal with the worst cases of man’s inhumanity to man. Before I joined the team, I was made aware of our mission.

Interviewer: (He fell silent and went into waiting mode again) Do you live in Seattle, Detective Albert?

Detective Albert: (takes a sip of his coffee that has been setting on the table next to him) Yes, ma’am, I do. Seattle is a fascinating city.  It boasts a wide variety of ethnic foods and cultures; there are theatrical and musical performances one might attend; and the waterfront is awash—pun intended–with interesting activities. How can one not appreciate such diversity?

Interviewer: Do you have any special places, or activities, that you would like to share with us?

Detective Albert: (gaze turns thoughtful) I believe two of my favorite places are the Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington’s Botanic Gardens, also known as the Arboretum.  Art is uplifting and trees are peaceful.

Interviewer: (glances at clock) Darn it! We are out of time, Detective Albert. It has been such a pleasure speaking with you.

Detective Albert: I assure you, Ms. Walksfar, that the pleasure was mine.

SKETCH OF A MURDER, THE SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM’S FIRST CASE!

Get it here:  http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Murder-Special-Crimes-Team-ebook/dp/B00KU6AIPQ

Sketch of a Murderebook 7 30 2014

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To learn more about the University of Washington’s Botanic Gardens go to:   http://www.depts.washington.edu/uwbg/gardens/wpa.shtml

To learn more about the Seattle Art Museum go to:   http://www.seattleartmuseum.org

MEET DETECTIVE MAIZIE O’HARA SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

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Interviewer:  This week I am privileged to interview Special Crimes Team member, Detective Maizie O’Hara.  Detective O’Hara, thank you for taking time for this interview.

Detective O’Hara: (smiles) Lieutenant Williams said it would be good for us to talk to you, so here I am.

Interviewer:  Are you a native of Seattle?

Detective O’Hara: No, ma’am. I grew up in Ellensburg, but I moved to Tacoma.

Interviewer:  Were you a detective in Tacoma?

Detective O’Hara: Yes, ma’am.

Interviewer:  What brought you to Seattle and the Special Crimes Team?

Detective O’Hara: (a cloud passes over her face) I…felt like it was in my best interest for my career.

Interviewer:  (lifts brow) Would you care to elaborate on that?

Detective O’Hara:  No, ma’am. (Her lips press tightly together)

Interviewer:  Okay. Let’s talk about something else. What do you think about having a woman as the second in command of your unit?

Detective O’Hara:  (Beams a big smile) I think it’s awesome! Don’t get me wrong, though. Lieutenant Williams is really great, too.

Interviewer:  Why did you become a police officer, Detective O’Hara?

Detective O’Hara:  (All signs of levity disappears) To help women. I want to help men, too, but I became a cop to help women.

Interviewer:  Do you think you’ve been able to do that, so far?

Detective O’Hara:  (A furrow appears between her eyes and her lips turn down at the corners) Yes, I believe I have.

Interviewer:   Then why the down look on your face?

Detective O’Hara:   (Bites her bottom lip) Well…I guess I idolized law enforcement before I became a cop, and for a while after. (takes in a deep breath and lets it out slow) But sometimes, being a cop isn’t enough. As a cop, I have to stay objective, but sometimes, I need to get involved to make sure that justice happens. It kind of…(she shrugs) It kind of wore the shine off the brass, I guess, when I figured that out.

Interviewer:  (after she is silent for a long moment, interviewer speaks) Can you tell me anything more specific about your epiphany?

Detective O’Hara:   No, ma’am.

Interviewer:  You’re a police officer and you serve all of us that way. Are there things that you do to specifically try to help women?

Detective O’Hara:   Well, I volunteer at a domestic abuse women’s shelter. I read to the kids so the women can have their support meeting. You know, so the little kids don’t interrupt and…well, women don’t always like to talk about stuff around little kids. And, I’m going on a walk in November with some women friends to show support for domestic abuse survivors. And, I have a friend with a facebook page and sometimes I post links on it that are important.

Interviewer:  Sounds like you’re pretty serious when you say you want to help women. Why don’t you have a facebook page?

Detective O’Hara:  (ducks head) I’m not very good with techie stuff. (raises her head and gives interviewer a shy smile) I have a girlfriend who’s going to teach me about doing a facebook page. We just haven’t had the time yet.

Interviewer:  I’m not great with techie stuff either. (gives a smile to Detective O’Hara) What kind of links do you post?

Detective O’Hara:  Stuff about domestic violence, and sometimes links to pages where women are doing something important to help the world and each other.

Interviewer:  If there was only one link you could recommend that people go check out, which link would that be?

Detective O’Hara:  (catches lip with teeth and worries at it)  Well…there’s a blog called upworthy.com and they posted this link to a site where these women in Amsterdam do this really powerful dance performance. They’re in the Red Light District over there and they’re dancing in the windows of this building, like an apartment building and there’s all these men gathering on the street to watch them dance because….(a flush reddens her cheeks), because it’s really very sensual. You know?

Interviewer nods

Detective O’Hara;  Anyway, after the dance is over a big sign up on the top of the building flashes and says: “every year thousands of women are promised a dance career in Western Europe. Sadly, they end up here.”  Then it flashes “Stop the traffick. People shouldn’t be bought and sold.” Actually, according to Upworthy millions of people are affected by human trafficking every year; not just women in Europe. Their whole dance was about making people, men especially, understand how terrible human trafficking is.

Interviewer:  Whoa, sounds like a powerful video. I will definitely post that link here. We’re almost out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the women of our audience?

Detective O’Hara: Just…well, just don’t let anyone tell you stuff like you aren’t good enough, or pretty enough, or thin enough. You are enough, just the way you are!And, if they say stuff like that, get away from them because they aren’t really your friend.

Interviewer:  Again, Detective O’Hara, thank you for coming in and sharing with us.

To visit the site recommended by Detective O’Hara:

“Who Doesn’t Like to Watch Half-Naked Girls Dancing? These Guys After They See Why It’s Happening    http://www.upworthy.com/who-doesnt-like-to-watch-half-naked-girls-dancing-these-guys-after-they-see-why-its-happening   (Red Light District, Amsterdam.)

To learn more about Detective Maizie O’Hara, read Sketch of a Murder, Book 1, Special Crimes Team  http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Murder-Special-Crimes-Team-ebook/dp/B00KU6AIPQ

Sketch of a Murderebook 7 30 2014

Visit Aya at http://www.facebook.com/ayawalksfar

 

MEET OFFICER JUAN RODRIGUEZ, SPECIAL CRIMES TEAM

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Interviewer: (smiles) I am pleased to welcome Officer Juan Rodriguez of the Special Crimes Team. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview, Officer Rodriguez.

Officer Rodriguez:  You can just call me Juan.

Interviewer: Thank you, Juan. You seem quite young to be on such an elite team. How did you happen to become a member of the Special Crimes Team?

Juan: (ducks his head and looks at the floor) Well, ma’am, my captain thought it would be a good opportunity for me.

Interviewer:  Did you have to move, like Sergeant Slowater?

Juan: (gives a little shrug) Didn’t matter.

Interviewer: So, you like Seattle?

Juan: (glances up and away) It’s okay.

Interviewer: (slight narrowing of eyes) Tell me about your family, Juan.  Do your parents live close-by? Do you have sisters, brothers?

Juan: (takes a deep breath and lifts his chin. Looks steadily at interviewer) I only have a brother, and he’s pulling time for murder. He killed our mother.

Interviewer: (mouth gapes. Closes mouth and stares for a moment) I am so sorry.  I had no idea.

Juan: (dips his eyes to his hands in his lap. Picks at his thumbnail) ‘Sokay. I coulda just said I didn’t want to talk about it, but it’s not hard to find the story. It was all over the Concrete Herald for weeks.

Interviewer: (sits back in chair and studies the young man in front of her) Juan, tell me something…. What’s your passion? What is it that you could sit and talk all day about? That if you won the lottery and could quit work, this is what you would do with your life.

Juan: (no hesitation as a big smile creases his swarthy face) #Kids. I’d work with kids. (He scoots to the edge of his chair, his dark eyes sparkling) Ya see, I think Ben wouldn’t have done what he did if he hadn’t gotten involved with a gang. It was what he had to do to make his bones. If, somehow, there had been someone who really cared, someone he coulda looked up to, I think he woulda gone that way.

Interviewer: (in a soft voice) Are you sure that’s not just wishful thinking on your part? Look at you, you haven’t killed anyone.

Juan: (shakes his head) Ben’s older than me. Fact is, the gang made him take out our mom because I went to the police academy. Said he had to prove his blood wasn’t gonna make him a snitch, that he loved his gang more than his family. (His face is earnest as he places his arms on his thighs and leans forward) If he hadn’t done it, they would’ve killed all three of us.

Interviewer: (sighs and shakes head with a puzzled frown) I guess, I don’t understand gang mind set, and I certainly don’t understand how a person could harm their own family.

Juan: (brows raised) It happens all the time. Domestic violence, child abuse, murder for less than what made Ben kill my mother. Murder for greed, for inheriting a house, maybe just because a parent didn’t get the kid the kind of iPod he wanted. And that’s just the physical stuff. Family members hurt each other all the time emotionally. Moms and dads use their kids to punish the other parent; kids bully their siblings.

Interviewer:  You’re right. I suppose, I just don’t like thinking about it. What would you do to help break the cycles of violence that young people wind up in? What can one person do? This is a huge social issue.

Juan: (sits up straight and looks interviewer right in the eye) Care. One person can’t change the world; but that one person can change their little corner of the world. When I see a kid bumming, I go talk to him, or her. I try to steer them to a shelter where they’ll be safe. Hook them up with folks who can help them.

Interviewer: What if they don’t want your help? What if they think being out there on the streets, or wherever, is more exciting than home and they don’t want some shelter social worker telling them what to do?

Juan: (a slow smile spreads across his lips) I just keep right on caring. There’s this one kid I see all the time down on Denny Street. On Saturdays, I show up if I’m not working and take him to coffee. I don’t preach at him, don’t tell him what to do or not do. I just have coffee and breakfast with him and listen to whatever he wants to tell me.

Interviewer:  Do you really think it’s doing any good?

Juan: (folds his hands in his lap and shrugs) Doesn’t matter. (Makes air quotes) “Doing any good” is a judgment call. I’m not there to judge him, or his life. I’m just there to share what he wants to share with me. Do I think it matters? Yes, it matters. (He leans forward, hands dangling between his knees) Everyone needs someone to care; to care if they live or die; to know that someone would miss them if they were gone. And, (he leans back in his chair) I enjoy spending time with him. He gives me a different perspective, a different take on life. To me, life is about caring; caring and sharing what you can with those you meet.

Interviewer: Wow, you really are passionate about your interactions with young people. Why didn’t you become a social worker?

Juan: Social workers have rules to follow in their interactions with kids, and they should have rules. The only rule I have to follow is to be honest, honest with the kid and honest with myself.

Interviewer: Well, Juan, our time is up, but I really appreciate you opening up a part of your life and sharing it with us today. You certainly have given me a lot to think about.

To learn more about Officer Juan Rodriguez read Sketch of a Murder! http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Murder-Special-Crimes-Team-ebook/dp/B00KU6AIPQ

Sketch of a Murderebook 7 30 2014

Visit Aya on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ayawalksfar

What does an elderly, homeless woman have to give to anyone? The answer to that question lies within the first case of the Special Crimes Team, Sketch of a Murder.

Plotter or Panster? Which style of #author/#detective are you?

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Today, as part of the #MSH #Blog #Tour, I have the honor of #interviewing Lieutenant Michael Williams from the Special Crimes Team in Seattle, Washington. Thank you, Lieutenant Williams, for taking the time to come and talk with us.The subject of today’s #interview is: are you a plotter or a pantser?

Lieutenant Williams: I appreciate being invited.It would be helpful if you would define those terms again.

Actually the term pantser comes from NaNoWriMo, National Novel #Writer’s Month. It describes an #author who ‘flys by the seat of the pants’. The #author doesn’t have an outline, a summary, nothing except the basic idea for a #novel.Plotter is pretty self-explanatory.This type of #author plots the entire novel or a large portion of it,has an outline or a summary,often has biographies of the various characters, especially the main characters and protagonist.

My theory is that there are divisions within #detectives that correspond to the divisions of types of #authors. So tell me, are there #detectives who are plotters versus #detectives who are pantsers?

Lieutenant Williams: (a smile that reaches up and causes his eyes to sparkle with good humor) I am afraid I have to confirm your theory. Of course, we have certain non-negotiable procedures, protocols that must be followed as we solve #crimes. (He gets a devilish gleam in his eye) And, we do our best to adhere to those.

(Interviewer raises eyebrows in gentle disbelief) Not what I’ve heard about the #Special #Crimes #Team.

Lieutenant Williams: (clears throat) Hmm. Don’t believe everything you’ve heard about us, (big smile) even if most of it is true. However, we digress. As I was saying, there are plotters and pantsers within the ranks of #detectives. A good example of that is Sergeant Slowater–I believe you attempted an interview with her not too many weeks ago–and myself.

Sergeant Slowater would be considered a plotter. She believes absolutely in logic, in following leads in a methodical manner, in carefully constructing a case, step-by-step. She is very intent on weighing the possible outcomes against the risks, and having backup plans in place. She does not give much credence to what she terms “woo-woo stuff”. This includes non-traditional methods such as using the press, giving weight to anything that cannot be perceived by the five ordinary senses, that type of thing. Sergeant Slowater gets uncomfortable with, as my granny used to say ‘coloring outside the lines’.

I am more of a pantser. Once I have done all that I can within the ordinary methods of solving a case, I am inclined to follow my instincts, to perhaps follow unconventional leads, and give credence to information that comes from sources that don’t necessarily use the five ordinary senses. I guess you could say that I am a bit too comfortable ‘coloring outside the lines’. (He smiles.)
(He cocks his head and looks at me) May I ask you a question?

Of course. (Interviewer gives Lieutenant big smile and a firm nod) I had hoped this would be more a dialogue than simply a question and answer period.

Lieutenant Williams: How do you see your style of #writing?

(Interviewer frowns in concentration) Well, I believe I fit the pantser style, like you. I don’t use outlines, summaries, bullets, or any biographies of my characters. I simply am (smile) ‘attacked by an idea’ that won’t leave my mind until I write it down. (a shrug) After that, I just follow where it leads me.

Lieutenant Williams: Why do you use that style? Why not use the plotter style?

(Interviewer taps a finger against her lips as she thinks) I suppose it’s because my characters, like real people, like the criminals you go after, don’t always follow a script, a plot, an outline. They can sometimes dart off in unpredictable directions. I guess, for me, it’s important to study why they act, and react, as they do. What causes them to go in a certain direction, act in a certain manner, say what they do, believe as they do? People can’t be put on a graph like a mathematical equation. Does that make sense?

Lieutenant Williams: (a slow thoughtful nod) Yes, it does. That is exactly why I use the pantser style in solving crimes. It is more about understanding the perpetrator, looking at life from his perspective. If I can understand the perpetrator, then I can predict the next action to be taken.

You said you are open to using non-traditional methods. Are you talking about psychics? And what do you mean by ‘coloring outside the lines’?

Lieutenant Williams: (Purses his lips as he thinks) Let’s just say that I believe there are things outside of our normal senses that can be utilized in solving #crimes, or #writing books. As for ‘coloring outside the lines’, there are situations that force a #detective to make hard decisions. Sometimes those decisions don’t follow absolutely along the lines of procedure. That’s all I will say on that subject.

(Interviewer glances at her watch) Oh, my! We have run overtime! I am so sorry to have kept you beyond the time I requested.

Lieutenant Williams: (good-natured grin) In that case, I guess you’ll have to buy me a venti mocha with two-percent milk and no foam, but lots of whipped cream. Sergeant Slowater got me hooked on those fancy coffees.

You got it! There’s a Starbucks I like.

For my blog followers, if you would like to know more about Lieutenant Williams and the Special Crimes Team be sure to stay tuned for the announcement of the release of #Sketch #of #a #Murder, Book 1 of the Special Crimes Team series.

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