True Crime Blog
The highly-anticipated book 7 in the Dickie Floyd series, THE PROGRAM, is now available! “Nothing less than brilliant storytelling.” “Outstanding! Very Highly Recommended.” “Few writers can take you into the minds of police and criminals. None do so as well as Danny R. Smith.” The wait is finally over! It’s been more than two and a…
Frederick Reynolds is a retired Los Angeles County homicide detective and former Compton police officer. Today he joins us to discuss his illustrious and meritorious career, his love of writing, and his newly released law enforcement memoir, BLACK, WHITE, AND GRAY ALL OVER. Join me in welcoming Fred.
The 8200 block of South Hooper Avenue in Los Angeles was plenty wide to withstand the traffic but felt a little crowded at night when both sides of the street were lined with parked cars and Hooper Mae could be found dancing in the street, her triple-Ds untethered beneath her muumuu.
Travolta answered the door and my partner said, “Hey John, how’s it going?” The Stars We were standing outside his mobile trailer dressing room, TRAVOLTA and a star on the door. It was one of two trailers with stars that had been parked outside Men’s Central Jail for at least a week. The other had…
The call had come in as a body dump. The media gathered in the parking lot among the spectators, many of them pressed against the yellow tape that had been strung from a corner of the building to a light pole fifty yards away, and then fifty yards across the parking lot to another pole…
Law enforcement is shooting itself in the foot over COVID-19 and the questionably lawful orders they are being asked to enforce. Governors are releasing convicted felons from prison and sheriffs are emptying their jails, all in the name of COVID-19. Meanwhile, some officials are going after otherwise law-abiding citizens who dare to defy their orders…
The last day of March was a tough day in this already difficult time in our country and in our world. But that day, in particular, hit especially hard for me and many of my colleagues. Not only was it the 28th anniversary of the death of Nelson Yamamoto, a young Firestone deputy who was…
By September 11, 2001, I had become accustomed to my phone ringing at all hours of the day and night. But on that Tuesday morning, it was my wife’s phone that rang at 5:50 a.m., not mine. It wasn’t the office calling. It wasn’t my partner, nor my lieutenant, nor an informant, witness, or a…
In the fall of 1991, I promoted to station detectives at Firestone Station. At first, I had difficulty embracing the new job. However, like any new job, there was a lot to learn about the basics of being a detective. Not just interviewing witnesses and solving crimes, but all of the processes such as writing…
Fugitive apprehension was filler work for SPI/Metro. The nature of our assignments was responsive: someone was kidnapped, we’d go to work; a prisoner escaped, we started a manhunt; a judge was threatened, we’d set up around-the-clock protection while investigating the source. And so on.