European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 27, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doilis Magazine writing from experience writer Robert Dellinger i m sympathetic to the  by Jerry buc associated Preu five years ago Dallas Barnes and Rober Dellinger were on opposite sides of the  Hunter and the  was a homicide investigator for Tholos Angeles police department. Dellinger was on the run Tor attempting to extort $800.000 fro four airlines and twice eluded the grasp of Fri , they re still making a living off crime far More lucrative and perfectly Legal. They writ for the television cop shows. I d been a Street cop for Many years and i found it easy to write about police said Barnes. I had an Edge on other writers. I knew the jargon and the hardware. I knew the Day to Day happenings of the squad room and patrol  Dellinger said i think having been in prison and gotten to know hundreds of criminals you realize there is no uniform causation. People commit crimes for various reasons. It s the people aspect that s important to me when write a crime Story. I get a Good picture of that person in my mind. Not the  two men writing from experience. Different backgrounds different approaches. Barnes sure i put my feelings into my  feelings have to be biased and slanted to favor the police. But i also understand that the bad Guys Are people. Many times they re very sympathetic characters. What people Are looking for is a some happiness but unfortunately some people like to take Short cuts and wind up in trouble. 1 Don t hat criminals but i Don t like what they do and i m not soft on  i m sympathetic to the criminal. I want people to understand them. I want people Tosee that crime is not always rooted in greed there s desperation loneliness bitterness. My biggest com plaint with to before i started writing was that it glamorized the Chase and the capture out always ignored the end result incarceration. If More shows dealt with the bitterness the alienation the destructiveness of the prison system it would give Young people food for thought. The criminal world would the As glamorous As it s made out to  Barnes 34. Quit a year ago after ii years As policeman. He began writing in 1970 when he was drafted into Community relations for two years. I was off toe Street wearing smooth clothes and out of the mainstream of police work he said. To keep in the mainstream and vent some frustrations i began writing. Ten months later i had a draft o my first novel. See the woman " in Early 1975. Kojak producer Jack Laird read the Book and invited Barnes to write for his show. With a lot of help from Jack we Laboured through my first  he said. It snowballed after  Barnes has since written for  police Story Serpico Joe Forrester and the Blue Knight he s completed two More books and two of his three books Are being made into movies. In his last year with the police he made $70.000 writing and it s a lot More  i had to quit the police. What happened was quickly lost my identity with the rest of the troops. I was no longer concerned with next month s Utility Bill. I did t have to worry about having Beer  Dellinger. 46. Arrived by a different route. Iwas in that upward spiral of super achieve ment corporate lifestyle. I was in the Advertis ing business then was a publishing company vice president. I made $50,000 a year and had abuse in Palm Springs. Then everything i touched turned to mud. I got fired my marriage broke up. I tried to extort $800, 000 from four airlines with a bomb threat. Of course,1 did t have a bomb. I was t that crazy. I escaped from the Fri twice once in a shooting and once in Acar  he wound up in the Federal prison at terminal Island just South of los Angeles. He sought permission to organize a writing class and soon had among his students watergate figure g. Gordon Liddy. Bank robber Edward Bunker former mafioso Joseph Bonanno and would be presidential Assassin Sara Jane Moore. Many writers starting with policeman author Joseph Wambaugh dropped by to give advice. Bunker is now a bestselling novelist and Bonanno has a Book that takes up where Honor thy father left off. Dellinger was released la september 1171after serving m months Bat still returns every hasday night to Leach his writing class. He got a teaching Job at California state University at Long Beach but the 100 Job applications he sent out went unanswered. He turned to television writ ing. It was a frustrating two Yean getting started he said. No one would buy anything because i did t have any screen credits and i could t get an screen credits because no one would buy  Abc bought a love Story treatment for $5,000 but would t let him write the script. Finally in june 1975, Wambaugh the policeman author helped him get his first credit on the Blue Knight the series based on his  made Only $9,000 in his first year of writ ing. Last year it was $100,000. With sales to such shows As Joe Forrester switch Serpico Nashville 99," and the streets of san  said Money is Only the tertiary reason i write. I take assignments that let me say what i have to  give my views of life. And i have a lot of things i want to  writers said they Don t like being typecast As crime writers and Are moving into other  is writing the screenplay for the novel supersonic about an set plane that gets into trouble at 79,00 feet. Dellinger has completed a screenplay with one of his prison class graduates is working Ona novel and negotiating to write a two hour Pilot for a dramatic series. It Skiep to arrest itself monday june 21, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 13