Monday, January 25, 2010

Human Trafficking

Part I: Human Trafficking
Interview with Chief Nicholas Sensley

It is an honor today to interview Chief Nicholas Sensley, my friend and former colleague in law enforcement. He is currently the top cop of Truckee (Ca.) Police Department, located in the beautiful Sierra Mountains a stone’s throw from Lake Tahoe. Our paths first met at Santa Rosa (Ca.) Police Department, where we co-served as police sergeants until he finally outranked me.


During that time, I watched Nick become a world traveler as his interests took on a global perspective. First, Nick joined the Pointman Leadership Institute, a faith-based organization whose purpose is to facilitate the development of leaders around the world.  He traveled to former Soviet Republics, Western Europe, Africa and Asia, and the South Caribbean where he and others worked to develop leaders on principle-based leadership and to fight governmental corruption.  

Then, I watched as he developed his own consulting company—Cross-Sector Solutions, LLC—a consulting company whose purpose is to facilitate the development and execution of comprehensive problem-solving solutions to the benefit of local communities.  Through his company he has served throughout Central and Western Europe, Asia, and the United States. As CEO and founder of Cross-Sector Solutions, Nick has developed into one of our nation’s top recognized experts on facilitating responses to contemporary slavery commonly known as human trafficking.   Nick was one of the original US experts on human trafficking and represented the United States at the Organization for Security and Co-Operation (OSCE) expert conferences in ViennaAustria as early as 2004 only 4 years after the United States passed its first anti-human trafficking Act (TVPA).

Friday, January 22, 2010

Hook'em & Book'em

Police and Author Interviews 
Begin Monday Jan. 25th

Hook’em and Book’em launches its first blog of interviews this coming Monday, January 25th. Each Monday thereafter interviews with real-life crime fighters and mystery writers will be posted to start your week off right. One week we’ll focus on those in law enforcement. Alternating weeks, we’ll visit crime fiction authors—known and soon-to-be known authors telling us about their latest work and secrets for mystery crime writers trying to break into the publishing industry. Here are some highlights:

Monday, Jan. 25th and Feb. 8th are police-related blogs focusing on the issue of human trafficking. Chief Nicholas Sensley, Truckee (Ca.) Police Department, will share his other life with us—a globe-trotting consultant helping task forces to nail human traffickers and rescue their tragic victims. He’ll share with us challenges of targeting human traffickers and some of the current obstacles this type of investigation faces.


Monday, Feb. 1—Visit with best-selling novelist James Scott Bell as he shares some of the secrets learned in developing page-turning mystery novels. A man of many talents—writer, attorney, actor, teachers, mentor—James Scott Bell gives us unique insights into fiction writing. We will also get a glimpse of his latest legal-thriller novels and books on writing.

Monday, Feb. 15—Interview with New York Times best-selling author Angela Hunt. She has authored more than one-hundred books, including many page-turning mysteries with very unique plots. We will learn about her latest work Let Darkness Come and how she wrote this legal thriller—a gripping story set in Chicago with a climax you’ll never expect. (Readers: you’ll have to get the novel to find out how it ends).

Monday, Feb. 22 and March 8—Blog focuses on prison gang investigations and collection of criminal intelligence. Mr. Brian Parry—currently a consultant to the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center in Washington, D.C.—is formerly the Assistant Director of California’s Department of Corrections (CDC), serving with that department for thirty years. Mr. Parry brings a wealth of information about prison gangs and the transmigration of gangs across our borders.