Customer Reviews

Police Procedural: A Writer's Guide to the Police and How They Work (Howdunit)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I often refer to "Police Procedural" during writing involving police office/law enforcement characters. I think the writing is comprehensive and covers many elements you will need to write a convincing police character.

My only disappointment with this writing reference, is that there is not enough material discussing popular mistakes in fiction made by authors of police procedurals, (such as the police/witness romance), and there is not enough information about initial police training, codes of conduct, or disciplinary action taken towards police officers. (As happens in nearly every police film). What mistakes warrant suspension? What mistakes warrant getting canned? Who decides on what?

If there is a re-issue of this material, I'd really like to see: discussion of Internal Affairs, in depth discussion of police vehicles, police conduct, and writer's do's and 'don'ts. Overall Great basic reference, but needs more detail for a 5 star book.

This is a good, solid, thorough information source about police departments and how they operate: it covers everything from how recruits are trained to the typical layout of a police station. It also has useful outlines of how various types of cases (homicide, burglary, etc.) are approached by investigators. And, once someone has been arrested, there's a helpful summary of the sequence of events involved in taking the case to trial and what the investigator's responsibilities are at each stage. (I consulted a friend who's a retired Assistant D.A., and her description of this process was very close to the book's, which I felt was a good recommendation!)

Some cautions:
1. This is a "plain vanilla" description of police procedure. For specifics about a department's organization and facilities, whether it has specialists on staff (e.g., a fingerprint expert), and its training and promotion policies, you'll need to consult the actual police department.
2. Ditto for legal information. The definitions of crimes, the terminology used to describe them, the length of sentences, and other factors (e.g., "three strikes, you're out" laws) vary widely from state to state. Also, there may be differences in practice between what the criminal code says and the way it's normally applied, so talking to someone "in the know" is mandatory.

Finally, I found the book VERY hard to read. The author clearly knows his stuff, and occasionally he deviates into an anecdote ... but he honed his writing style on police reports, so by and large the book is heavy going. I'm surprised that an editor didn't go through and, at least, break up some of his full-page paragraphs and shorten his longer sentences -- a lot could have been done with formatting and subheadings to make the book easier to use. Also, I felt that the index was barely adequate (no cross-references, for one thing), and the table of contents is very high-level too, so it took me a long time to find the specific piece of information I needed. I think this is a terrific reference book that should be in the library of every mystery writer -- but it definitely has flaws.

This book should become part of every crime writers library. It describes in great detail the organization and investigative techniques of the police. It does become a little "text-bookish" in parts, but it covers a wide spectrum of police issues, investigating homicides, assault & battery and robbery, as well as vice(drug investigations and tips on arresting and interrogating suspects). It also includes a lengthy chapter on the officers testimony in court cases. Not a lot of information on sexual assault or missing persons cases but all in all it's a great book for writers.

Police Procedural is really a "who does what" kind of book. It allows a writer to use the correct person or group to work a particular crime scene.

Police Procedural explains the police services and uses a 'family tree' to display the order of command within the police department. Police Procedural also goes through the specific jobs such as bomb squad, homicide squad, etc. and it tells you what departments are responsible for certain crimes. It describes arrests and the procedures involved, interrogation, as well as the justice system.

This book is basically a step by step guide of how the police work, how they file, train, what equipment they use, and even how law enforcement officers are selected. Police Procedural shows great pictures of search warrants, general affidavit, etc. Really helpful if you are presenting a document to your character.

Overall this book is packed to the extreme with information...from who does it, what they do, and how they do it! The only down fault I found with this book is that I had trouble staying tuned in to read it in it's entirety, however it IS an excellent reference tool for the crime scene writer and should not be left out of your collection!

I have been using nearly all of the books in the Howdunit series. I am not primarily a crime writer but like being accurate on the little facts I do use when I include a crime or crime scene or police procedure in my books. I have found this book very helpful.

I have no doubt that Police Procedural is a mother lode of information about the police, but the tone is so dry and factual that I found myself unable to make it through the book. Had the writers attempted to keep the tone more conversational (as in Scene of the Crime, Private Eyes, and Missing Persons), Police Procedural would be much more effective. As is, it is still useful as a spot reference, but I found it rather hard to read.

This book covers the basics of police departments, investigations, crimes and arrests, and the judicial system. I would not use this as my sole source because every state has different laws, obviously. So does every branch of law enforcement. It was interesting learning the layout of a typical police station.

Pretty good stuff, but a bit lacking, in my opinion. I wish a retired, LAPD detective would write one of these...or Michael Connelly, who outdoes this one in most of his novels.

This book helped me get my novel, 'Soul's Desire' (written under the name Simona Taylor), going. As a non-American setting a novel in the US and creating a main character who was both American and a cop, I needed something that would explain to me clearly and precisely what the US system was like. This one did the job.