Colin Conway is the president of the PSWA. He is the creator of the 509 Crime Stories, the Cozy Up series, and others. He served in the U.S. Army and later worked as a police officer. Along with writing crime fiction, Colin is a commercial real estate broker and investor. He lives in Eastern Washington with his girlfriend and a codependent Vizsla that rules their world.
Learn more at colinconway.com.
Steve Ditmars is the vice president of the PSWA. He is the award-winning author of the Big Dogs series. He is a retired police officer from Long Beach, California, and has held positions in patrol, police K9, information technology, homeland security, counterterrorism, and police communications. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, Barbi, and their German Shepherd rescue, Elsa.
SL Ditmars spent most of his life in public service. After graduating from Lakewood High School, he was awarded a Marine Corps scholarship to the University of Southern California. Those were four great years, and he learned a lot about the world and himself. He understood he was training to be a leader of Marines, potentially in combat. His Military Occupational Specialty was in tanks; he was honored to lead a tank platoon for fifteen months. He also spent a year at the main rifle range at Camp Pendleton, which solidified his love of marksmanship and shooting.
Although combat never came during his time in the Corps, it did help prepare him for his next career in law enforcement. He spent the next twenty-eight years at the Long Beach Police Department. Being a police officer is a rewarding career, but it’s hard and often thankless. Some of his best days came as an officer and some of his worst. He spent most of his career in Patrol, where he found the most fun and action. Working with police dogs was life-altering, and he cherished the opportunity to work with them.
One of his most challenging days as a cop came in 1989 when his K9 partner, Asko, was shot in the face while attempting to apprehend a suicidal suspect. They rushed Asko to an emergency veterinarian, who managed to save his life. Almost a year later, Asko returned to patrol with Steve Ditmars.
After promoting to sergeant, he left K9 for a few years but was able to return later as a supervisor. During this time, he was directed to develop a bloodhound team, which led to a multiyear journey of learning about dogs and scent. This journey included assisting the FBI on several cases, including the DC Sniper and a serial killer in Alaska.
When he retired from Long Beach PD in 2009, he began running ideas through his head, which eventually led to writing his first book, Big Dogs—The Adventure Begins. He hired a professional editor to help with his first book, which was a learning experience that significantly improved his writing.
Since then, he has published his second book, Gasping for Air, Book Two in the Big Dogs series.
M.E. “Peg” Roche is the secretary of the PSWA. Originally from the Midwest, she’s lived on both coasts as well as in Ireland. As a registered nurse, she worked in many facets of nursing, as well as serving as a volunteer with her local coroner—part of the sheriff’s department—in northern California.
Her first three books were young adult mysteries, introducing Nora Brady as a student. Nora has since moved into four adult mysteries, the latest being Hire for Fire. In addition, she has written two standalones: Bigamy and Toots, and recently produced her first audiobook for the Young American audience: Mystery at Marian Manor.
Kelli Peacock is the treasurer of the PSWA. She lives in Tucson, Arizona. She is an avid photographer, traveler, and rose gardener. Born and raised in Central New York State, near the Finger Lakes, she moved to Tucson over twenty-five years ago. Kelli graduated from Long Island University with a B.A. in History and Political Science, and a M.A. in Accounting from DeVry University. Her first series, The Crossings, includes: Don’t Shoot The Messenger; Oh Henry, How Could You? and No Man’s Land.
Michael A. Black is the award winning author of 50 books, most of which are in the mystery and thriller genres. He has also written in the sci-fi, western, horror, and sports genres as well as nonfiction. A retired police officer from the Chicago area, he has done everything from patrol to investigating homicides to conducting numerous SWAT operations. Black was awarded the Cook County Medal of Merit in 2010. Black was also inducted into the Illinois Boxing and Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2023. He is the author of over 100 short stories and articles, and wrote two novels with the late television star, Richard Belzer (Law & Order SVU). He did eleven novels under the name Don Pendleton in the Executioner series and numerous westerns such as the Gunslinger series under the name A.W. Hart (Killer’s Choice, Killer’s Brand, Killer’s Ghost, Killer’s Gamble, and Killer’s Requiem).His Executioner novel, Fatal Prescription, won the Best Original Novel Scribe Award in 2018. His recent novels are in the ongoing Trackdown series (Devil’s Vendetta, Devil’s Breed, Devil’s Reckoning, and most recently Devil’s Lair). His most recent works are Concho: Border Blood, (written as A.W. Hart) and Where Legends Lie, under his own name.
Barbara M. Hodges is the Chair of the PSWA Writing Competition. She is the author or co-author of sixteen books. She lives in Nipomo, CA.
Barbara shares her life with her husband Jeff and two rescue basset hounds, Heidi and Monty. She is involved with basset hound rescue, and you will find a rescued basset hound in all her fiction books.
When Barbara isn’t writing, being a wife or mothering her hounds, she enjoys creating jewelry, doing machine embroidery and watching the Kansas City Chiefs.
Victoria Weisfeld is the editor of the PSWA newsletter. More than 40 of her short stories have appeared in leading mystery magazines and anthologies, most recently in the 2023 Bouchercon anthology (Killin’ Time in San Diego), Yellow Mama, Sherlock Holmes: A Year of Mystery 1884 and 1885; and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine (July-Aug 2024). Four have appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. They’ve won awards from the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA). She’s a member of those groups plus Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Her first mystery novel, Architect of Courage: An International Crime Thriller, was published June 2022 by Black Opal Books and won an award from the PSWA. She blogs regularly at www.vweisfeld.com and is a book reviewer for the UK website, crimefictionlover.com.
Tim Dees is a member-at-large of the PSWA board of directors and a life member of the PSWA. He served as a law enforcement officer in Northern Nevada for 15 years before working as a college professor teaching criminal justice, a regional training coordinator for the State of Oregon, and the editor-in-chief of Officer.com and LawOfficer.com. He is the author of two books and over 800 non-fiction articles published in virtually every national law enforcement periodical and website in the United States. He is working on a memoir, but a few more people have to die before he can publish it. Tim administers the PSWA website and email distribution lists and produces the attendee credentials for the annual conference and writing competition award certificates. He holds a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from San José State University and a master of science degree in criminal justice from The University of Alabama. He resides in Kennewick, Washington with an incorrigible German shepherd named Harlee. He maintains a website of selected articles at timdees.com.
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Frank Scalise is a member-at-large of the PSWA Board of Directors. He was a police officer from 1993 to 2013, holding many different positions and ranks. He retired as a captain. Frank is the author of more than fifty novels, most of them gritty crime fiction from both sides of the badge, written as Frank Zafiro. His mainstream work (mostly hockey or humorous/heartwarming dramas) appears under his given name, while his science fiction and fantasy is written as Frank Saverio. In addition to writing, Frank has hosted the crime fiction podcast Wrong Place, Write Crime since 2017. He is an avid hockey fan, martial artist, and a tortured guitarist. He currently lives in Redmond, Oregon, with his wife Kristi (best teacher ever).