After studying for the Catholic priesthood, Tom Basinski traded in his Roman collar for a badge and gun to patrol the mean streets of his hometown, Flint, Michigan. After a year, Basinski moved to Chula Vista, California where he was a police officer for 17 years and a San Diego District Attorney Investigator for 17 more years. While working as a homicide detective, Basinski wrote over 125 stories for various true crime pulp magazines and two award-winning stories for San Diego Magazine. When the magazines became extinct, Basinski wrote No Good Deed (2006) and The Cross-Country Evil: The Shocking True Story of an Eighteen-Year Manhunt for a Killer on the Run (2009). His weekly newspaper column, “Behind Police Lines” is featured in the Chula Vista Star News. His writing documents the often hilarious and sometimes gut-wrenching aspects of police work. Basinski and his long-suffering wife Judy have two adult sons. They live in Chula Vista and Clio, Michigan.

Tom Basinski is moderating the Nonfiction-True Crime: Burden of Proof panel during Session B.