October 18, 2006 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to police officers turned authors, has added its 500^th book written by a state or local police officer.

Today, David Reichert is a member of the United States House of Representatives.  But, in 1982 he was a homicide detective in the King County Sheriff’s Office.  His book, “Chasing The Devil: My Twenty-year Quest To Capture The Green River Killer,” begins in 1982 when the bodies of three women were found in and near the Green River, in suburban Seattle.  Twenty years later, DNA evidence linked Gary Ridgway to the first victims; and Ridgway would ultimately confessed to killing 53 women.  David Reichert, by the time of Ridgway’s arrest was the King County Sheriff.  Reichert would close a “case that many thought would never be solved. His absorbing account offers an in-depth look at the obstacles and the frustrations; and, the leads that went nowhere and the prime suspects who were eventually cleared.”

David Reichert was born August 29, 1950 in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. His family moved to Washington in 1951 living first in Renton. Later, they moved to Kent, where he attended Kent Meridian High School. In 1970, Reichert earned an Associates degree from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon.  From 1971 through 1976, Reichert was a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

David Reichert joined the King County Sheriff's Office 1972.  While a member of the Sheriff’s Department he was the commander of several prestige units such as SWAT, hostage negotiation, bomb disposal, traffic and an acting commanding officer in the  internal investigations unit. Reichert was a leading member of the Green River Task Force, which was formed to track down the "Green River Killer."  Between 1984 and 1989, he and his partner Robert Keppel extensively interviewed Ted Bundy, in order to develop a psychological profile of the Green River killer.

In 1997 he became its first elected, non-partisan, King County Sheriff in 30 years. He served two terms as Sheriff  and won the 2004 National Sheriffs' Association's Sheriff of the Year award. In 2004 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Recognizing Reichert’s valuable experience and unique perspective as a veteran law enforcement officer, Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, appointed Reichert as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology. Reichert is only the sixth freshman in the history of the House of Representatives to be given a committee chairmanship.

The Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology has jurisdiction over all aspects of emergency preparedness, including national exercises and training for terrorist attacks, coordination between federal, state and local governments and the private sector in terrorism preparedness, and research and development of new technologies for combating terrorism. Reichert is also Vice-Chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Chairmanships empower Reichert to utilize the vast knowledge he has acquired in over thirty years in law enforcement.