William Harmening is a retired Illinois law enforcement officer and former professor of forensic psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. He has authored numerous textbooks in the areas of criminal justice and forensic psychology and has consulted as an expert witness in over two-hundred police use-of-force cases in thirty-five states, including the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Illinois at Springfield (M.A. Psychology) and a 1982 graduate of the Illinois State Police Academy. He now lives near Nashville, Tennessee.