Why Criminals?

Someone asked me why I talk about criminals and crime so much on my Blog. Well, I'm a crime/suspense/romantic suspense writer, and I find news stories to be inspirational. I also scope out research on how the criminal mind works.

Most importantly, I used to be a police officer, and I also worked as Program Director for a Young Offenders correctional facility. In 1991, I opened the first street youth crisis shelter in my home city, and received a Governor-Generals' medal for the honour.

I've had significant experience with crime, criminals, and what makes them tick. Of course, I have personal opinions on these issues, which most cops/ex-cops do. For example, I have a sister-in-law who's a clinical psychologist and specializes in treating sex offenders. She believes they can be rehabilitated - from my experience, in my opinon, they cannot be. She's much more liberal in her thinking than I am, but we all have our different perspectives!

So, I hope I can percolate your thinking with some of these posts, as to what happens in true crime situations. I hope this is useful to suspense/romantic suspense writers. Like everything else, there's the victims story, the suspects story, and the police who deal with both of them. Their stories; how police officers cope, and their unique views on the world, are what I try to recreate in my books.