Ronald William Glensor

Ronald W. Glensor has spent much of his life in places where curiosity, risk, and human behavior intersect. A retired police executive, military veteran, educator, and author, he writes for readers who enjoy exploring serious questions without feeling as though they have been assigned homework.

Ron served as Assistant Chief of the Reno Police Department and spent more than thirty years in military service, beginning with the United States Marine Corps and later serving in the Nevada Air National Guard. His assignments included tours at the Pentagon involving the expansion of MQ-9 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle assets to bases across the United States.

His work also carried him overseas. As one of ten Americans selected for a research fellowship in the United Kingdom, he studied crime victimization and taught repeat victimization strategies to constabularies across the country. Beginning in 2012, he worked in Ukraine before, during, and after the Maidan uprising, helping develop the country’s new patrol police during a period of extraordinary change. His international work also included police reform efforts in Armenia.

Ron is the co-author of college textbooks on policing, homeland security, criminal justice, and problem-solving, with four new editions appearing in 2026. His books for general readers grow from the same lifelong curiosity, but move well beyond the classroom into humor, crime, exploration, and the mysteries that continue to pull at the human imagination.

In Flushing Back: A Whirlwind Journey Through Generations, Ron takes a humorous look at the clothing, technology, food, slang, and everyday experiences that each generation once thought were perfectly normal.

His newest book, Why Aliens Won’t Stop at Earth for Gas: Are We Alone in the Universe?, turns his attention toward the cosmos. Beginning with Voyager and the Golden Record, he explores the search for life beyond Earth, the enormous difficulty of traveling between stars, and the possibility that our remarkable planet may not be an obvious destination for anyone else.

Ron writes with the perspective of someone who has spent a lifetime studying people, traveling widely, confronting difficult realities, and never losing the urge to look up and wonder what may still be out there.