John Schembra is the president of the PSWA. He is the award-winning author of five novels and several police procedure articles, and is currently working on his sixth book. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and a Masters Degree in Public Administration. John was a police officer for the Pleasant Hill PD, retiring as a Sergeant after 30 years. During his service, he worked as patrol, patrol supervisor, SWAT Team member, Investigator, and Training Manager. He was also the Lead EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course) instructor for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department for 27 years.
His first book, M.P., A Novel of Vietnam, chronicles the tour of duty of a young Military Policeman in Vietnam and was based in part on his personal experiences during his time as an MP there. The Vince Torelli series is about a homicide inspector with the San Francisco PD, and his book, Sin Eater, is a murder thriller with supernatural overtones.
John is a member of several writers’ groups, though his favorite group by far is the PSWA.
Steve Ditmars is the PSWA vice president. and 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 two German Shepherd rescues, Gunnar and Missy.
Colin Conway is the secretary 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.
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 Black is the conference chair of the PSWA. He is the author of 36 books and over 100 short stories and articles. He has a BA in English from Northern Illinois University and a MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College in Chicago. A retired police officer in the south suburbs of Chicago, he worked for over thirty years in various capacities including patrol supervisor, SWAT team leader, investigations and tactical
operations. In 2010 he was awarded the Cook County Medal of Merit by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. His Ron Shade series featuring the Chicago-based kickboxing private eye has won several awards, as has his police procedural series featuring Frank Leal and Olivia Hart. He has written two novels with television star Richard Belzer and is writing The Executioner series under the name Don Pendleton. He also writes westerns under the name A.W. Hart (Gunslinger: Killer’s Choice and Gunslinger: Killer’s Brand) His current books are an Executioner novel (Cold Fury), the two aforementioned Gunslinger westerns, and Legends of the West under his own name. His novel Fatal Prescription won the Best Original Novel Scribe award in 2108. His hobbies include martial arts, weight lifting, and animal rescue.
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. Barbara is very involved with basset hound rescue and you will find a rescued basset hound in all her fiction books.
Barbara also hosts a monthly show on Blog Talk Radio titled, Books and Entertainment Radio’s No Limits with Barbara M. Hodges. On No Limits she interviews people involved in the fields of writing. Her show airs live, the third Tuesday of each month. When she isn’t writing, hosting, being a wife or mothering her hounds, she enjoys creating jewelry, watching the Kansas City Chiefs and rooting for her favorite NACAR driver, Daniel Suarez. Barbara is the vice-president for her local chapter of Sisters In Crime.
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. 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.