400 Police Authors and Women’s History Month

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books added three women police officers. Coinciding with National Women’s History month, the 400th police writer is a women.

Volitta Fritsche is a detective sergeant with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department. In addition to her 18 years with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department (Indiana), she has an additional 8 years experience in the criminal justice system having worked as a dispatcher, corrections officer and court reporter. She has written two books, Deadly Decisions which is the story of a mother’s search for her missing son; and, a children’s book, Genuine.

Donna Wudyka was hired by the Detroit Police Department in 1987. She retired on a duty-related disability in 1997. Donna Wudyka’s book is Shattered Badges, Broken Hearts: An Officer's Nightmare. The book is the true-life account of a January 1996 officer-involved-shooting that claimed the life of police officer Patrick Prohm. According to Donna Wudyka, her book, “describes the aftermath of the shooting, and the hell that the City of Detroit put my partner and I through: Injustice, discrimination, harassment, numerous violations of the union contract, embarrassment, and mental anguish. My partner and I thought the incident was traumatic enough. Wait until you see what came after it.”

In 1992, Maureen Tracy joined the San Diego County Sheriff's Department as a deputy sheriff. She is the 400th author to be added to the list of state and local police officers who have written books.

After the academy Maureen Tracy worked in a correctional facility and was ultimately transferred to a specialized unit. Her book, The Department, is an account of her experiences on the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Maureen Tracy stated about her book, “One fall morning I received the phone call that changed my life. In turn of personal traumatic events I made a mistake on the job. However, despite the mitigating circumstances discovered through the Internal Affairs investigation, I found myself on the chopping block and headed toward termination. Was my mistake immoral? Yes. Were the actions of many people on this Department immoral? Absolutely. This is a story about the "good" of my job and the love I had for it. It is about the "bad" in the harassment, animosity and jealousy I experienced. This is the "truth" as to why I left the Department.”

The March newsletter from Hi Tech Criminal Justice will feature an article about the 21 women police officers who are currently listed on Police-Writers.com

Police-Writers.com now hosts 400 police officers (representing 170 police departments) and their 862 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.