Sirchie , a leading manufacturer of criminal investigation and forensic products that also provides industry leading training for law enforcement, will host a special program for crime writers and crime fiction enthusiasts in Raleigh, NC, Aug. 1-4.

The Writers' Police Academy is an annual conference for authors and fans of crime fiction that provides hands-on experience in homicide investigation and forensics. Attendees will receive training that is typically only available for law enforcement, forensic and CSI professionals.

Each workshop will be taught by a leading expert in the field and will give students the opportunity to use real-world products, equipment and techniques to conduct forensic testing and evidence collection. They will learn the techniques and procedures that are used by professionals in solving crimes. This training will enable them to write more realistic and in-depth stories that include homicide and crime scene investigation.

Classes will be taught on Blood Evidence, Arson, Interrogation, Latent Fingerprints, Sexual Assault and more.

Guest of Honor speaker will be Heather Graham, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, who’s written more than 200 novels and novellas, including published works in the suspense and mystery categories under the pen name of Shannon Drake. 

And the Special Guest Speaker will be Graham Hetrick, a coroner who is a Board Certified Forensic Examiner and Medicolegal Death Investigator. He and his case studies are featured in the Investigation Discovery (ID) channel’s popular television series "The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead," which is now in its second season.  Hetrick has supervised investigations of more than 600 homicide cases and is a subject matter expert on drug abuse, child death, child abuse, violent crimes, forensic methodology and more.

To register for this four-day event, go to www.writerspoliceacademy.com . The registration fee is $435. Group rates are available at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley, the event hotel. The group rate includes a breakfast buffet. Catered lunches will be provided on-site Friday and Saturday.

Tickets for the Saturday night banquet featuring guest of honor Heather Graham are available to the general public as well as to conference attendees. Banquet attendees will have a chance to bid on baskets and auction items from authors and celebrities and to buy books signed in person by some of their favorite authors. Complete information on the event schedules, the banquet and the hotel is available on the Writers’ Police Academy website.

Lee Lofland, a retired police detective, founded Writers’ Police Academy more than a decade ago and held the first event at the police training facility in Hamilton, OH. Subsequent WPA events have been held at international police academies in Greensboro, NC, Appleton, WI, and Green Bay, WI. Over the years, the annual event has attracted authors, editors, translators, publishers and fans of crime fiction from across the globe.

Prior guests of honor, including best-selling authors Tami Hoag and Lisa Gardner, have enjoyed the event so much that they’ve returned as attendees.