For more than thirty years I covered the sometimes mean -- but always interesting -- streets of Las Vegas as a TV investigative reporter. From the devastating explosion of the PEPCON rocket fuel factory in 1988, to the mass murder at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in October, 2017, I have been a professional eyewitness to Las Vegas history. During that time, I was honored with ten Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts … [Read more...]
Dennis Flynn Gives A Brief History of Hostage Negotiations
The subject of ‘hostage negotiations’, or more commonly referred to by most agencies due to its accuracy as ‘crisis negotiations’, is a relatively new police concept, beginning in the early 1970’s. Considering the City of Boston began using night watchmen in the 1630’s and centralized policing started in the 1830’s, less than fifty years is relatively new. It is argued that hostage negotiations began in New York City during the early 1970’s. … [Read more...]
Author Dennis Flynn on Being A Crisis Negotiator and Why He Wrote HELD HOSTAGE
The topic of hostage/crisis negotiations has always been intriguing to me. As a young police officer, I was involved in several “stand-offs” (which is the media’s terminology for police usually dealing with a barricaded or suicidal individual). We would do our best to resolve the situation but the person we dealt with held the cards. They were the ones inside the house/business/car refusing to come out and we knew if we used force to get them … [Read more...]
Forest Through the Trees: Author Dennis Flynn Opens Up About PTSD and the Loss of His Son
There was one topic I had considered including in the book but as I sat down to write it, the wounds were too fresh so I intentionally left it out. Since it has been just over a year and a half, and the wounds have slowly begun to heal I wanted to discuss it in hopes that it will allow someone to get the help they need. The topic is that of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. PTSD is a condition many relate to military personnel but it … [Read more...]
Dennis Flynn
Dennis Flynn retired from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department after 30 years. Following his assignment in patrol, Dennis spent the majority of his career working in undercover and investigative assignments. During his tenure with the Department, he promoted several times; first to Detective, then Sergeant, and eventually to Lieutenant. As a Lieutenant he worked a variety of assignments including as the Swing Shift Commander for the Las … [Read more...]
Dennis Flynn Gives An Inside Look Into the Work of Las Vegas’ Crisis Negotiations Team in HELD HOSTAGE
What do officers say to a hostage taker to have their hostage released unharmed? What can a suicidal subject be told to prevent them from ending their own life? Lieutenant Dennis Flynn spent nearly two decades responding to hostage situations, armed barricaded subjects, and suicidal individuals in Las Vegas. Many of these events occurred beneath the glitter of the Las Vegas strip! His informative book provides a view behind the scenes of … [Read more...]
Check Out This Excerpt From Andy Caldwell’s ROOM 1203: O.J. Simpson’s Las Vegas Conviction
As we turned down the hall toward O.J.’s suite, three more surveillance detectives stood behind a pillar, visiting with each other while waiting for the two surveillance detectives who were closer to the room to signal that the target was moving. They were working with the Palms security and had a room in the same hall as Simpson’s, so the hall could be monitored without a detective just waiting for Simpson to come out of his room. As Rod, … [Read more...]
ROOM 1203 Gives An Inside Look Into O.J. Simpson’s Armed Robbery Conviction
In 1995, NFL great and movie star, O.J. Simpson beat a murder rap for the death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. But in 2007 his luck with avoiding Lady Justice ran out in Las Vegas. ROOM 1203 is the true story of the convoluted and bizarre events surrounding a violent armed robbery of a sports memorabilia collector in a Vegas hotel. On that night, Simpson put an exclamation mark on his spectacular fall from the … [Read more...]
Meet Detective Andy Caldwell
In 1993, I marred Cein Mass, who is an amazing wife and mother, and just 10 days after our wedding I started my law enforcement career when I enlisted into the U.S. Army Military Police Corps. I was station at Ft. Gordon, GA; Baumholder, Germany; and various bases throughout Bosnia in 1996. I had my first daughter, Rebekah, while stationed at Ft. Gordon. I got out of the Army 1998, and within a few months I was hired as a Police Officer with the … [Read more...]
THE RISE AND FALL OF A ‘CASINO’ MOBSTER’s Dennis Griffin Tells Readers How He Became A Writer
What do you do when you suddenly don’t have anything to do? I found myself in that position upon my retirement in 1994. I had been in law enforcement and investigations for twenty years and went to work every day. I actually looked forward to it. And then came that morning when I realized I had absolutely nothing to do. Some guys in that position would find a lot of things to do around the house, like repairing stuff or making improvements. … [Read more...]
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