{"id":8332,"date":"2020-01-14T07:36:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T12:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8332"},"modified":"2020-01-14T07:36:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T12:36:37","slug":"how-authors-get-police-procedures-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8332","title":{"rendered":"How Authors Get Police Procedures Right"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Guest\nPost: Author John Schembra<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Are\nyou writing police mystery-thrillers? Want to get the policing details right? I\ndo too, though I may have an advantage, having been a police officer for 30\nyears in Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nhome setting for my books is the San Francisco Police Department, but sometimes\nmy characters must seek the help of or coordinate with other departments or\nfederal agencies. Cross-jurisdictional situations present a challenge for writers,\nas not all law enforcement agencies conduct investigations the same way. General\ninvestigative protocols are roughly the same, but every department will have its\nown set of procedures. These differences may affect evidence collection,\ninterrogations, interviews, use-of-force policies, and so on. The list is long.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nyour readers have diverse backgrounds, which means there is always that person\nout there who will know if you make a mistake\u2014and probably tell you so. Research\nis critical. Knowing how a particular agency conducts investigations, along\nwith its personnel\u2019s everyday duties, adds realism and actually makes the\nwriting simpler, helping you manage the possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting\npolice procedures right has other benefits too. It can make a difference in\nwhether readers believe your story, which has a big impact on whether they like\nyour work overall. If they do, your book could show up in a favorable review,\nand your fans can give it good marks in discussions with other potential\nreaders. Unfortunately, if you get those details wrong, it could mean a less\nthan sterling review, and none of us want that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do you conduct the research you need? The best way is to talk to a police officer from the agency you are writing about. In my books, set in the SFPD, I was lucky that my best friend\u2019s son and daughter-in-law were SFPD officers, and the wife was a forensics and crime scene technician. They were a big help whenever I needed answers to a procedural question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, I\u2019m a member of the Public Safety Writers\u2019 Association, whose membership is made up of people from around the country with police, fire, emergency medical service, and military backgrounds and the people who write about them. That network is unfailingly helpful to writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe agency in your book is fictitious, model its procedures after an agency\nthat resembles it. Look for one of similar size, serving a community with\nsimilar demographics, and use its procedures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very\nlikely the agency you\u2019re using as a setting will have a website, and you can contact\n(via email) the public information officer. I have found them to be very\naccommodating and willing to help. They want policing information to be correct\ntoo! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom line: getting it right is satisfying and enjoyable for readers and, I believe, makes the story easier to write. It enables you to cover the all-important details that will make your readers feel they were there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Schembra spent a year with the 557th<\/sup> MP Company at Long Binh, South Vietnam, in 1970. His experiences as a combat MP contributed to his first book, M.P., A Novel of Vietnam<\/em>. <\/strong>Upon completing his military service, John joined the Pleasant Hill (California) Police Department in Contra Costa County. In 2001, he retired from there as a Sergeant, after 30 years of service. His second novel, Retribution <\/em><\/strong>(2007), <\/em>describes homicide detective Vince Torelli\u2019s hunt for a serial killer. Since then, he\u2019s published two more novels featuring Torelli\u2014Diplomatic Immunity <\/em><\/strong>(2012)and Blood Debt<\/em><\/strong> (2019)\u2014as well as the stand-alone, Sin Eater<\/em><\/strong> (2016). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Post: Author John Schembra Are you writing police mystery-thrillers? Want to get the policing details right? I do too, though I may have an advantage, having been a police officer for 30 years in Contra Costa County, east of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"How Authors Get Police Procedures Right -- Advice from a 30-year police professional. Why and how he still does research too.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,174,632,29],"tags":[1683],"class_list":["post-8332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detective","category-first-draft-blog","category-police","category-writing","tag-john-schembra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/John-Schembra.jpg?fit=1371%2C1614&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2ao","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8334,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8332\/revisions\/8334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}