Scott Dickson is a crime analyst in central Texas and a former police detective.
He publishes The Crime Analyst’s Blog and one day hopes to escape the normal workday world by becoming a hack writer.
Scott tweets under the account name @scott_dickson.
For DCC, he answered the following questions:
1: What is your most favourite part of the day?
Early morning. I wasn’t always a morning person but a short stint in the military changed that. I love the peace and quiet of the morning before the world starts moving around. I enjoy watching the sunrise while riding my bike or walking on the country roads near my home.
2: What is the worst kind of person you ever sat next to on a flight?
I don’t fly often fortunately and I can’t say that I have had a bad experience with fellow passengers. I suppose if I had to take a guess it would be someone with hygiene issues.
3: Were you ever in a situation where you came up short with a good come back? You can give it now!
I try and maintain a well rounded arsenal of witty repartee. This helps me to avoid coming up short with a good come back.
4: Which trial/case still haunts you till today?
Years ago when I was a sworn officer, I was the lead detective on the abduction homicide of a 7 year old child. To this day, the case is unsolved. The pressure I was under while working this case was brutal. This case is the main reason I am no longer a sworn officer.
5: If you have a blog, how did you get started? Who or what inspired you to blog?
I had noticed that my agency was getting a lot of good press and had a feeling that many of our officers were not getting to see these stories. I started an internal bulletin that aggregated these stories and added some comments. Since nearly everything in these bulletins came from the media, I changed the bulletin over to a blog, The Crime Analyst’s Blog , as it was a bit easier to manage.
I started getting lots of positive comments about the blog both within my agency and from outside as well. Over the time I have been blogging, I have gradually moved the focus from just generic crime stories to stories about crime analysis and related topics.
6: Did you end up in the profession of your childhood dreams?
Nope. The one profession I remember wanting to do as a kid was to be a truck driver. At the time I thought the idea of seeing the country was fun. Glad that one didn’t work out though. Not sure I could sit in a vehicle that long.
7: Tell us about your most embarrassing experiences in a restaurant, opening a bottle of wine, or do-it-yourself projects. Pick one and tell all!
Let’s just say that major plumbing repairs are not one of my talents.