Many thanks to the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Police Department, especially retired Chief Lou Ferland, Police Chief Steve Dubois, and Sgt. Tom Grella. I signed up for their Citizen Police Academy and ended up learning so much about how law enforcement works, including fingerprinting, how mug shots are taken, the booking process, specialty teams like the K-9 units and local SWAT (called SERT), and beer “goggles.” I also attended various demonstrations and made many new friends. We visited other police departments in the area and even paid a visit to the Rockingham County Jail, which reinforced in me to never, ever commit a crime. Lou, Steve, and Tom’s patience with my seemingly endless questions for this book will never be forgotten!
Thanks to Jim Christy of the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center for his help. I had to get a mug shot in person in Maryland, and he didn’t hesitate to do that for me.
Thank yous go out to all of the police departments and people who allowed me to use their stories and photos for this book. I couldn’t have done it without any of you!
A shout out to fellow writers Kate Flora and Margaret Press, who pointed me in the right direction when it came to getting all of the mug shots I needed.
Thank you to my editor, Barbara Brynko, for keeping me sane.
And a final thank you to my husband, Chris, who knew if he saw me typing madly to leave me alone, even if it meant that dinner would be late. He was my shoulder to cry on when I got frustrated, and he gamely listened to me when I told him about an interesting story I found online (at least I thought it was interesting). I married the best man ever!