The Desk Sergeant I began my life in criminal justice as an Air Policeman.  After the Air Force I attended college on the G.I Bill (thank you taxpayers) with the intention of becoming a computer programmer, but life sitting behind a CRT^1 all day was not for me.  I was hired by Stockton, CA Police Department during the skyrocketing crime wave before 1990 and lasted eight years before I was retired.  During that time I worked two years as an evidence officer processing about 1,000 crime scenes, and later making hundreds of arrests after thousands of calls for service.     I worked many years as a criminal defense investigator in San Joaquin and surrounding counties, primarily working major felony and murder cases, including several capital cases.  Without much thought I gave up that business and went to work as a law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service, which is about as much fun as a person can have while wearing a gun.  I worked in national parks in Colorado, Washington state, Arizona, and California before returning to Stockton to work as an investigator for the San Joaquin County Public Defender's Office.  I now teach criminal justice in Stockton.     I have a B.S. in Legal Studies (cum laude) from Humphreys College with a minor in English, and an M.S. in Criminal Justice (magna cum laude) from the University of Cincinnati, where I belong to the National Criminal Justice Honor Society.     The lovely young lady standing next to me is an Italian Polizia di Stato (State Police) officer I met in Florence, Italy.  I have no idea of her name, but if someone can find out, I'll post it here.     Contact me here: admin@desksgt.com  Spammer URLs will be banned from the site. ^1 For those too young to remember, CRT stands  for cathode ray tube, which are the big, clunky screens we had before LCD screens came along.