Police Science - Mystery Author

Here's a question I've had on my mind for some time... and it appears that there are a few here who may be able to guide me in the right direction.

For some time I have been considering getting into writing mystery and police procedural novels. (Literary fiction is fun to write, but well... it's a hard sell.) I used to love writing detective stories when I was younger, and realize they were full of inaccuracies. I want to see if I can get around the inaccuracies by educating myself sufficiently.

I've been considering taking a course in either Police Science or Private Investigation for this purpose ... to get to know the terminology and correct procedure. I do not need a course that would lead to eligability to be a PI or for any purpose other than knowledge.

I noticed that ICS has a PS and PI course -- has anyone taken either of these? Are they informative? By informative, I mean -- could a reasonably intelligent person come out of such a course with enough knowledge of proper procedure to have a cop and a PI chatting about something, for instance?

Any help appreciated.

I have noticed several books at the local store such as "Prepare for the Police Exam" and so on -- maybe these are the route to go? I've also noticed several Writers Digest type books that specifically cover writing this kind of thing -- but perhaps these aren't enough?


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Quinn

 

If I remember correctly, Charles Sturt University in Australia has a whole bunch of Police/Security degree programs within their DL offerings. I can't claim any special knowledge in this area so I can't speak to whether the content of these courses would be of any help to you. It's a place to start though.
Jack

 

In a word - NO. You have to get down in the trenches and talk to PIs and police officers. That's the only way to do it. No course will give you what you need here.

Having been a state-registered Private Investigator for several years in a past life in between public school teaching and college teacing (gosh that was fun too -- won't go into details about why I gave it up!) I can tell you that each state has its own regulations regarding licensed or registered private investigators. Some states have no regulations and anybody can hang out a shingle. My state has very strict regulations and the Department of Criminal Justice Services requires specific training and professional development on a regular basis that is provided by qualified DCJS training personnel.

I have known many PIs in the course of my work and they are from all walks of life. A simple "college" PI course will not give you the information you need to write about our work. You need to talk to PIs from several different areas of investigating to find out about the differences in training.

Along those same lines, PI work has many facets. What you learn about one aspect of PI work will not be a true indication of all types of PI work. I have done child abuse investigations, missing persons, insurance fraud, retail asset protection, employee theft, and of course the never-ending domestic cases (believe it or not potentially the most dangerous of all PI work). Each type of investigative work is different and the investigators' backgrounds and personalities and training are different.

I have had dealings with law enforcement officers and attorneys and court officials in several capacities as a PI and each case is different. The communication between PI and police or judge are quite different in child abuse or domestic cases than it would be in insurance or criminal cases. I have not actually worked any criminal cases but I was mentored by a criminlogist and PI for a couple of years who were both former police officers. That is another issue to consider also when creating conversations between a PI and police officer. If the PI is a former police officer the communication is quite different than if the PI was never in law enforcement.

Just a few thoughts for further consideration.

Leslie *who really misses the "rush" of catching them in the act -- but does NOT miss the overnight surveillances on 30 degree winter nights and the all-day surveillances on 100 degree summer days)

 

Thanks for the feedback, Leslie. Taking what you've said into account, my question is now: "Would such a course of study allow me to interface more cleanly with PIs and police officers?" By interface, I mean -- would it be necessary for effective communication with those whom I wish to learn to portray?

Cheers,



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Quinn

 

The military makes a distinction between those who have ”graduated” from a course from those who have ”experience” in the field. The two are as different as apples and oranges.

Law enforcement is the same. Just because you have ”graduated” from a course-of-instruction does not mean you can interface with ”experience.” The two distinctions are as different as night is from day.

You can graduate from a police academy, but until you hit the streets and ”interface” with the public (screaming domestic disputes, drunken fights, in-progress burglaries or robberies, citizens screaming at you, people pointing guns at you and the list could go on…….), you will never fully understand ”the police experience.”

So, what’s a writer to do? I would make two recommendations:

1. Get involved with a ”ride along” program with a large city police department (if they will allow it) and ride for a minimum of 160 hours before you even consider writing a book. Take notes (jot down the impressionable experiences).

2. Find one or two large cases that are closed/solved (homicide, kidnapping or whatever) and interview the lead investigator(s). Do not do this until you have ridden for at least 160 hours (the ride-along will give you an experiential vantage point).

As you can see, it will take time for you to get the experience! However, since you want to write a novel, you could skip the above and write something (anything) that will sell. Stephen King does this quite well and his captivating novels aren’t based upon his experiential-level; it is based upon his ability to sink the hook-of-interest into the nose of the reader.

Creativity is the bottom line.

 

Thanks, me again, for the advice. I sort of figured that something like ride along after studying the key terminology (so I had some clue of what people were talking about) would be the way to go. It would give me an opportunity to hear the chat, smell the fear, piss my pants, get stared down ... and so on.

Time I have. It's the one resource I do have.

My wife's best friend's husband is a retired officer. That might be one place to start locally to see what I can do about learning the talk. (He's not too many years out of the job to be completely out of tune.) I don't think it would be wise for me to drive along, however, since I have health issues that would preclude it. (Long story short -- when I have to hit a water closet, there's no time to waste, and that would be a Bad Thing.) It may be more of a matter of making absolutely sure that I have police consultants read the novel over for inaccuracies before submitting to a publisher.

Thanks again.


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Quinn

 

I think your best bet would be to arrange some extensive conversations with investigators (law enforcement and PI) to get some idea of where to go with characterization and communication.

Once you have your outline and plot well in mind, talk to some investigators, write a few chapters and then let them read it from their viewpoint. As "Me Again" suggested, creativity is the bottom line. Do you really think Sara Peretsky and Robert Parker and so many others accurately protray cop/PI communication? I don't think so -- at least not based on my personal experience. But the books sell well -- creativity is the key -- it's all in giving the readers something to draw them in and keep them interested. How you develop your characters will determine the communication more than anything else.

One avenue you might want to consider is writing the novel from the perspective of a small locality rather than a large city (there are enough of those types of books and authors out there already).

Leslie *who has thought often about writing a novel about a school teacher-turned-PI and the hassles of getting up at 3 am to do a 3 hour surveillance before going to school to teach 3rd graders all day (I actually did that for a week on my very first case!!)* LOL

 

I like to think along the lines of Hemingway's iceberg metaphor:

"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water."

What the author shows should suggest there is a whole lot more underneath. In order for the one-eigth that shows to convince the reader that there really are seven more eighths sitting just under the surface, the author should be knowledgeable. Some combination of reading, courses, and interviewing may answer my needs here.

I sent in for some info from ICS Canada, and they sent me back a brochure on the content of their Police Science and PI courses.

The course covers:

The Administration of Justice
Criminal Investigation (Parts I through III)
Patrol Procedures (1 and 2)
Evidence (1 and 2)
Fingerprinting Techniques
Handwriting Analysis
Surveylance (1 and 2)
Criminal law and the Canadian Crim. Code
Equipment Usage
Observation
Truth Finding Methods
Traffic Engineering
Traffic Accident Investigations
Drugs and Alchohol
Firearms Usage and Safety
Use of Force, Officer Safety, and Lifestyle Awareness

Course includes policeman's guide to first aid, police officers' file drill, traffic accident reports.

I think, for the 800 bucks CDN (about $533 US) that's a pretty reasonable amount of preliminary background and coverage, before speaking to investigators. Me again has suggested drive alongs -- and I agree that would be best -- but as I've mentioned, I have health issues that would be a real nuissance. ("Um, can we stop over there so I can relieve myself?")

That wouldn't go over to well.




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Quinn

 

I notice also that ICS's PI course is worth 23.5 CEUs, which implies 235 hours of study required (on average). The Police Science course doesn't appear to have a CEU value. What does that suggest to those experienced in the CEU system? Does it suggest that I may get "more value for my dollar" for the PI course, rather the the PS course?



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Quinn

 

Quinn, when, after 27 non-fiction books, my wife and I began work on a novel last year, we discovered what was, for us, a wonderful resource: reference books specifically written for writers, to make them "experts" in various fields. We bought, for instance, the 'homicide' book which was all about crime scene investigations, autopsies, weapons, poisons, and many related areas, even anatomy. So at least readers or reviewers won't laugh and point because we have our hero whip out his 63-caliber semi-automatic Schvang and fire 14 shots into the villain's gazebo.

 

Yes, John, I noticed a series by WD, actually. Is that the series to which you are referring?



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Quinn

 

One of the most important things you should strive to bring to any work of fiction is verisimilitude--not do you as a writer know every last detail of every procedure about which you write, but rather, can you as the writer convince me as the reader to suspend my disbelief and go along for the ride? One blatently false note early on and you've lost me.

You need to know what you don't know, in order to be able to ask the right questions. This means you have to know your characters{/B] cold--their backgrounds, likes/dislikes, relationships, their strengths and weaknesses, whether they themselves are aware of them or not. From that will spring some of the questions and point you in the direction of the possible answers.

You might consider writing a series of short stories involving at least your main character(s), to explore who they are and where they come from. These might end up only as deep background for where you intend to go with the novel or you might decide to try and publish them and develop an audience/demand (called pull through) for your eventual longer work.

I used to work in a literary agency and one of the things that surprised me the most was the very little amount of research I needed to do to in order to demonstrate to some of our clients they simply hadn't done their homework before they sat down to write. It sounds to me like you understand this, but are perhaps becoming overwhelmed with how much research is in front of you.

You have to start somewhere, so just start. No one course, or one interview, or one background book is going to give you everything you need, but the better you know your characters, the easier it will be to hear that little *ping* when you come across one of the puzzle pieces that snug right into place.

Best of luck, and don't forget to hit SAVE often and to keep at least one backup disk!

Nicole
who in many ways wishes she still
worked in a literary agency, just
not in NYC.

 

My kingdom for an edit button.

Sigh.

 

Thanks. Yes, I tend to write short stories and then work them into the final novel. I did that with the novel set in the Middle East, anyway, and with my latest, semi-autobiographical The Aurelian.

Writing short stories to get the "ring" is very helpful. My latest short story, "The Apartment" started off as what was going to be a basic detective story. It turned into something completely different than I started it as. Originally, I was doing a character study of the protagonist, who appeared to be a PI (or a hitman -- not sure which!). Then, I just ran with it and had some fun.

I felt, upon writing it, that had I had adequate knowledge of guns, procedures, et cetera, I wouldn't have gone the direction I did with the story. (Sort of like drawing characters with their hands in their pockets to avoid learning how to draw fingers.)



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Quinn

 

Excuse me for not jumping in sooner, I was just celebrating the Patriots' thrashing of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Quinn, I would second the idea of a ridealong if at all possible, and don't worry about the pit stops, we drink more coffee than anyone on the planet.

The only thing I would add is to keep some dialogue with actual police officers who work or have worked in the area where your story is going to take place. Like other slang, police lingo varies widely in different areas, so a New York City cop telling a story in Los Angeles is likely to get some quizzical looks from the LAPD people. A great place to start to develop some contacts is the Police Officer's Internet Directory, which lists thousands of agency & personal officer's pages. It's at http://www.officer.com

If you have any general police questions, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. I've been on the job for over 14 years, and have worked in Patrol, Special Operations, and the Drug Unit. If I can't answer your questions, chances are I know someone who can.


Bruce

 

Quinn:

Try - Citizens' Police Academy http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/police/opServDiv/comServ/cpa.html
- The Citizens' Academy is a six week program designed to provide Vancouver residents and the business community, first-hand information on the Vancouver Police Department.

 

Thanks, Mike! That looks very promising!



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Quinn