What Made Michael E. Witzgall Write His Series




Several years ago, my agent/publicist and good friend, PJ Nunn (Break Through Promotions), was organizing a “mystery writer conference.” Because I had a very close relationship with the Nunn family, and because I was a veteran police officer with the city of Dallas, Dallas Texas, PJ asked that I do a series of presentations on law enforcement. The focus of those speeches was to be on procedures as it relates to homicide investigations and then, after that, on law enforcement in general.

Always keep in mind that police work is a target rich environment for stories. While many of these stories are funny, some are heartbreakingly tragic. There is a third category for the tales we find in law enforcement, this is a dark blend of humor and tragedy mixed together in an often spell binding way.    
      
When doing the presentations for PJ, I didn’t want the audience beaten up with a PowerPoint lecture they could have received at any other conference. To that end, during each lecture, I interjected short, but often funny stories that had happened to me over my years as a patrol officer, SWAT officer, and as a Detective.  The conferences (not to mention my presentations) were quite successful, and a lot of fun! After each conference (totaling 6), PJ and other conference attendees, suggested that I write down my stories. The very best advice came from a fellow guest speaker, Ms. Elaine Viets (author of the Dead End Jobs series). In a private conversation, Ms. Viets told me to “start writing my stories, because if I didn’t, someone else will!”    

With that sage advice from Ms. Viets, and the prompting of others (especially PJ Nunn), I sat down and created my first (of many) outlines for my first book, Sentinel’s Choice.



Bio:

The son of a career military officer, Mike Witzgall spent 12 years on active duty as a non-commissioned and commissioned officer. While in the military, Mike served in the US Marine Corps’ elite Force Reconnaissance teams and then later as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Infantry and Military Police Corps.

In 1988, after numerous deployments around the world, Mike left the military as a Captain and joined the Dallas Police Department. Mike served as a patrolman in south Dallas and as a member of a Tactical team (SWAT).  Mike’s career with Dallas ended after a severe line of duty injury forced him into early retirement. Mike continues to contribute positively to the law enforcement community today by sharing his experience and wisdom with his fellow officers through mentoring and providing the best training available to their tactical teams. Published in his field, Mike has written numerous articles for law enforcement magazines and has published eight tactical training manuals.

Currently, Mike is co-owner of Charlie-Mike Enterprises, Inc. Charlie-Mike Enterprises, Inc. specializes in teaching SWAT courses. Since its inception in 1998, Charlie-Mike Enterprises, Inc. has taught over 5000 officers from as many as 500 different law enforcement agencies.








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