Snow, Robert L. 1949–

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SNOW, Robert L. 1949–

PERSONAL:

Born May 17, 1949, in Indianapolis, IN; son of Paul Allen and Martha Jane Snow; married Melanie Gay (a detective), April 26, 1980; children: Alan Fitzpatrick, Melissa Ann. Education: Indiana University, A.S., 1973, B.S., 1975.

CAREER:

Law enforcement officer and administrator. Indianapolis Police Department, Indianapolis, IN, detective, then field training coordinator, 1978-80, director of planning, 1980-86, chief executive officer, beginning 1986, also became captain of detectives and commander of the homicide branch. Emergency Medical Services Council, Indianapolis, member of board of directors, beginning 1980; Medical Technical Advisory Council, Indianapolis, public safety representative, beginning 1980.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Ten Best Stories of the Year selection, Police magazine, 1981, 1982; Outstanding Young Man of the Year, National Jaycees, 1982.

WRITINGS:

Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property: A Cop Shows You How, Plenum (New York, NY), 1995, revised edition published as The Complete Guide to Personal and Home Safety: What You Need to Know, Perseus (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

SWAT Teams: Explosive Face-offs with America's Deadliest Criminals, Plenum (New York, NY), 1996.

Family Abuse: Tough Solutions to Stop the Violence, Plenum (New York, NY), 1997.

Stopping a Stalker: A Cop's Guide to Making the System Work for You, Plenum (New York, NY), 1998.

The Militia Threat: Terrorists among Us, Plenum (New York, NY), 1999, published as Terrorists among Us: The Militia Threat, Perseus (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Looking for Carroll Beckwith: The True Story of a Detective's Search for His Past Life, Daybreak Books (Emmaus, PA), 1999.

Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2003.

Murder 101: Homicide and Its Investigation, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2005.

Sex Crimes Investigation: Catching and Prosecuting the Perpetrators, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2006.

Contributor of short stories and articles to magazines, including Reader's Digest, National Centurion, National Enquirer, Law & Order, and Police magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

A veteran detective with the Indianapolis Police Department, Robert L. Snow has written several guides to the subject of crime prevention. Reviewers have consistently praised these works as informative and useful. In Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property: A Cop Shows You How, Snow's first book, he covers the most common crimes, explaining how police deal with them and giving recommendations for protection against them. In Family Abuse: Tough Solutions to Stop the Violence Snow presents views on family violence, including emotional, physical, and financial abuse of children, spouses, and elders. Library Journal reviewer Antoinette Brinkman pointed out that Snow's perspective on the issue was "somewhat unusual" in that he recommends legal reforms, training for public officials, and a shift toward perceiving abusive adults as criminals. Brinkman further noted that the book will give professionals in the field "fresh insights" into the complexities of domestic violence.

Snow, who has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Indiana University, takes on another complex psychological subject in Stopping a Stalker: A Cop's Guide to Making the System Work for You. As with his book on family violence, Snow explains some basic types of stalking behavior and provides concrete advice on avoiding and discouraging stalkers. Mike Tribby, writing in Booklist, praised Snow's writing as "controlled" and "spare yet descriptive." Tribby enjoyed Snow's case histories and concluded that Stopping a Stalker is "hard to beat" as a precautionary work. The book also received a positive review from Library Journal reviewer Harry Charles, who noted that Snow recommends self-protection measures because he considers police departments and courts generally reluctant to consider stalking seriously.

In addition to his books on basic criminal justice themes, Snow has written works on Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams and on the American militia movement. His literary career took a different turn, however, when he described a "past-life" experience in the autobiographical Looking for Carroll Beckwith: The True Story of a Detective's Search for His Past Life. In this book, which a reviewer for Publishers Weekly found "improbable" but at times "compelling," Snow describes how several vivid images he experienced while in a "recovered memory" session, in which he had participated as a joke, led him to use his detective skills to pursue the clues. He uncovered evidence suggesting that, in a previous life, he had been nineteenth-century portrait painter Carroll Beckwith. The reviewer observed that Snow's evidence appeared fully authentic, but that Snow presented the case with some reluctance lest he be perceived by readers as irrational. In addition, the reviewer considered Snow's research on Beckwith's life impressive and unusually sensitive to his subject's aesthetic beliefs and fragile artistic reputation. "Snow has the courage of his convictions" in bringing out this "provocative" book, the reviewer concluded.

Snow presents real-life cases of cult crimes in Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers. He touches on several notorious cults, including Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, the Unification Church, and Heaven's Gate, but also on lesser-known groups considered dangerous by some, such as the Church of Satan and the Church Universal and Triumphant. He divides these cults into different types based on their beliefs and provides details regarding how they recruit members, how their charismatic leaders influence members, and how to deprogram someone who has been involved in a cult. In a review for Booklist, David Pitt called the book "insightful," and Michael Sawyer, writing in Library Journal, called it "well written and researched," and claimed it should be available "in all public libraries."

In Murder 101: Homicide and Its Investigation, Snow gives armchair investigators a look into the real-life work of a homicide investigator, including details regarding interrogations, tracking down suspects, and preparing evidence for trial. Also included is a discussion about detectives' roles in working with the victims' families and others affected by murder, which often carries a heavy emotional toll.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, May 1, 1998, Mike Tribby, review of Stopping a Stalker: A Cop's Guide to Making the System Work for You, p. 1483; March 1, 2004, David Pitt, review of Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers, p. 1115.

Choice, March, 2000, M. Slann, review of The Militia Threat: Terrorists among Us, p. 1373.

Library Journal, April 15, 1995, Susan B. Hagloch, review of Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property: A Cop Shows You How; June 1, 1997, Antoinette Brinkman, Family Abuse: Tough Solutions to Stop the Violence, p. 124; April 15, 1998, Harry Charles, review of Stopping a Stalker, p. 100; April 15, 2004, Michael Sawyer, review of Deadly Cults, p. 109.

Publishers Weekly, May 13, 1996, review of SWAT Teams: Explosive Face-offs with America's Deadliest Criminals, p. 65; April 27, 1998, review of Stopping a Stalker, p. 58; November 1, 1999, review of Looking for Carroll Beckwith: The True Story of a Detective's Search for His Past Life, p. 70.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2005, review of Murder 101: Homicide and Its Investigation.