When I was asked to apply to be a presenter at the NOBLE Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I didn’t think anything of it. I sent in my application, was accepted and when I was notified, I made the guy who booked me laugh. NOBLE stands for National Organization of Black Law Enforcement. I told him, “I hope you realize I am not black.”

Thus the laugh, and yes, they knew I wasn’t black.

My training is today at the DEVOS Convention Center. For almost two hours, I will show law enforcement from around the country how to track down a cybercriminal from emails and web sites, how to contact ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) and how to work effectively with victims.

That’s one thing about the Internet – it doesn’t know the meaning of race, gender, age or sexual orientation. No matter who you are, you could be a victim. And no matter what type of law enforcement you are, you need to know how to handle these type of cases.

An interesting aside: At the Manchester, NH airport, I was behind a woman at the TSA Precheck line (if you travel a lot, make sure you take advantage of this – you whiz through security). We chatted, walked to Starbucks together and she bought me a latte. Turns out we were both going to Grand Rapids for different reasons, but on the same flights.

On the first one, she couldn’t save me a seat, but on the second, she did, in the middle. The woman in the aisle seat was a witch with a capital B if you get my drift and refused to stand up to let me in. She made me climb over her legs with my bag, proceeded to jab me in my side with her elbow throughout the trip, fidgeted uncontrollably and was a pain in the you-know-what. She was listening to music, so we commented just loud enough for her to hear.

Me: “It’s hard when you come down from that kind of high.”

My new friend: “It’s a shame when you are that young and feel you need plastic surgery” (you could see the scars on her face)

Me: “It’s sad when you are that angry at the world when there is so much to be happy about.”

My new friend: “Definitely!”

At one point, the male flight attendant had had enough of her putting her legs in the aisle and kicked her feet, told her to keep them in her seat area and then proceeded to be very nice to us.

Now I have a new character for one of my stories.

See? You can get good ideas and characters from the negative people out there, LOL (that’s laugh out loud for you newbies).