Origins

Expert Witness? Well, yeah. In about four decades as a peace officer, I've unavoidably spent a certain amount of time on the witness stand. Everything from municipal court traffic cases to the occasional murder prosecution. I've also done a fair amount of teaching in law enforcement and jail schools.

First, let's consider "Expert." Break it down.
"Ex": A former condition of being; something that once was but is not now; A Has Been.

"Spurt," of course, is a drip under pressure.

Some years ago, I was picked to serve on the Investigators Instruction Staff of the former Texas Prosecutors Council. The Texas District & County Attorneys Association board wanted a staff of experienced investigators who could travel and teach two-day courses on "Making a Winning Court Case." One of the key elements was that we ALWAYS taught at venues at least a hundred miles from our home counties. The theory, of course, is that one definition of an expert is: a man with a briefcase more than fifty miles from home.

There's also a little custom amongst cops --and, I'd wager, medical persons, firefighters, and other career fields -- that, if you're far enough from home, tales of derring-do, and humorous situations as well, experienced by others may be adopted as one's own.

Okay - - This blog will be about things that interest me. If they happen to interest you, I'll be gratified, because it'll mean that I've furnished some measure of entertainment and/or some small amusement to my readers. I have some fairly varied interests - -

Cop stuff, of course. Cops-and-Robbers adventures are interesting, but high speed chases and shootouts and fist fights are but a small part of the Peace Officer's life. But, you know, some of that there law stuff is really interesting reading. And forensic science? There's some amazing things happening there - - and was, a long time before the Quincy, M.E. and CSI television series went on the air..

Hunting, shooting sports, guns and things like that. And, of course, reading about other people's experiences. Handloading. A little modest ballistic research and experimentation.

History. I finally managed to earn a baccalaureate in history from a decent university. I never cherished the idea of teaching history, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't do it with a view to forcing students to memorize a bunch of boring dates and key words. If we can't learn something useful from history, why bother? More on that later on.

Books. I love books. 'Way back in grade school, I read dictionaries and the encyclopedia for fun. I learned lots of apparently unrelated but kinda interesting facts. I later began to form some half-baked ideas about how a lot of this stuff was kinda sorta related. I read up all the war and military and aviation books in the school library, and went to the public library on weekends. And then I discovered science fiction: Another entire chapter in my elementary and early high school career. Never outgrew it, of course, but it was all consuming there for a while.

Movies - - Not so much as books, but I spent a LOT of time in theatres over the years.

Government and the "social sciences" become interesting to me when tied in with the U.S. constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I wish I could say I'm really interested in computers and cyberstuff. In fact, i like them only as a means to an end. Something from which to learn, to aid in research, and to entertain me when I learn new things.

This little introduction is becoming pretty long. I think I'll shut it down for now, while I still have some stuff about which to write, tomorrow or the next day.