Customer Reviews

Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers (Howdunit)

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This book should be required reading for anyone writing crime fiction. It is packed full of just about everything a writer needs to make their fictional police characters ring true. Lofland's book dispels many of the myths of police work that are shown in abundance on popular TV shows. The book is well organized and interspersed with stories from Lofland's twenty year career as a law enforcement officer. His narrative of a shootout with a bank robber will touch even the most jaded heart. The tale of the Mountain Man will make you laugh out loud.

Crime writers, if you only buy one book this year, this is the one to get.

I had the pleasure of being in one of Lee's writer's conference lectures. I found his classes to be the most helpful of all the one's I'd attended (no small feat).
On the basis of what I saw in the lectures I later picked up a copy of his book. The ones at the conference sold out before I could get any.
Lee's information is the most thorough of any police procedural book I have come across, and he portrays the information in easy to read format that keeps the readers engaged.
Any failings are small enough to be overlooked (IMHO), though he should probably stay away from writing fictional scenes as samples. ;o) They tended to be a bit overwritten. Luckily, they are few and far between, and do NOTHING to diminish the value of this work.
You won't go wrong if you pick up a copy.

My book shelf is full of books that promise to explain in detail the police procedures careful writers need to understand but this one actually delivers. Not only is Lofland's approach comprehensive, the book is organized and very easy to read. The index allows you to look up specific points but I found myself reading it from cover to cover because it's so well written. I'd highly recommend this great guide to any writer serious about getting the details straight or anyone simply interested in the world of police procedures.

The subtitle for this book indicates that it was written primarily for the writers of crime books and crime-related short stories. But that is a much-too-narrow focus. This book is for anyone who is interested in police work, criminal investigations, and all of the aspects that fit under those two general categories. And it delves into these areas to a much greater depth than the ever-popular and ever-growing list of television programs that claim to be "reality-based" crime shows.

Nearly everybody is now familiar with terms such as crime scene investigation, autopsy, the exclusionary rule, blood spatter analysis, flash-bangs, DNA evidence, and the Miranda warning. But if you want to know what kind of equipment crime scene investigators need, what kind of training goes on in police academies, how long rigor mortis effects a corpse, what a "sally port" is, what kind of chemicals are used to make meth, or the difference between ASPs and shock sticks, this is the book for you.

Author Lee Lofland is well known to writers of crime novels mainly because of his expertise in the field, but also because of his clear, concise, and jargon-free writing style. He is a writer's writer, but he is also a reader's writer. His prose is clean and direct, his organization logical, and his coverage comprehensive.

I highly recommend this book for anyone--writer or non-writer--who wants to know what REALLY goes on during a criminal investigation, inside a courtroom, or behind prison walls.

Russ Heitz
www.russheitz.com

Lee Lofland brings his experience as a veteran police investigator, who worked his way from an officer in Virginia's prison system, then a sheriff's deputy, a patrol officer, and a detective to Police Procedure & Investigation. According to his web site, Lee solved cases dealing with narcotics, homicide, rape, murder-for-hire, robbery, and ritualistic and occult crimes. He was an undercover officer and even a narcotics K-9 handler. He's certified in the U.S. Department of Justice, Virginia State Police Academy, and the DEA, as well as continuing to be certified in Crime Scene Management and Crime Scene Investigations.

One major thing Lee lets readers know is not everything shown on TV and in the movies is correct or accurate. Much is completely wrong. The material in this book, including photographs and illustrations and detailed information, gives a firm basis for mystery/suspense/detective writers to incorporate reality in their stories and books.

Chapters include "Law Enforcement in America," with a breakdown of local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies; "The Police Academy," with information about the training and courses found in different jurisdictions; "Police Officers: Their Duties and Equipment," including job descriptions and equipment used.

Personally, I found the chapters "Detectives" and "Tell it to the Judge: Courts and the Legal Process" to the most helpful for me in my writing career at this point, but most of the information is useful and enlightening. An index at the back of the book and appendixes helps readers find itemized material.

Lee presents information in such a way that almost everyone can easily understand what he writes. He shares his mass experiences and research so that readers can know reality and authors can make their writing more interesting, believable, and realistic.

The material on the back of the book states, "Police Procedure & Investigation is the next best thing to having a police detective personally assigned to your book," and I wholeheartedly agree.

I advise that anyone interested in procedure and investigations find, and keep on hand, a copy of this book. Police Procedure & Investigation by Lee Lofland is one of the best written and most usable reference books for readers and writers interested in crime, mystery, police, and law enforcement.

Reviewed by Vivian Zabel

Today's readers are savvy and quick to pick up on inaccuracies, so it's important for a writer to be up-to-date on terminology and procedures. Police procedure, murder investigations, the straight dope on DNA, autopsies, prison terminology, and a whole lot of other areas in the crime and mystery genre, Lofland's book is one-stop shopping. Highly recommended.

This is a great reference book for writers who wish to understand police procedures. It is more than that though.

Lee explains how the hierarchy of law enforcement is structured between local police departments, sheriffs departments, the state police, the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals and more.

He also gives examples of terminology we all have heard and thought we understood. Such as the difference between a crime scene and the scene of a crime. They are different.

Or the difference between homicide, murder, and manslaughter. No they are not synonyms.

Yes, this book would make a fabulous gift for writers in your life that even want to barely touch on crime as an aspect in their work to help avoid making cringe-worthy mistakes, but it would also make a great gift for anyone who is interested in going into law enforcement. It would be an excellent reference book for someone trying to understand all the new lingo and terminology involved in that profession.

I have to think it would be better written than a lot of dry as sawdust textbooks on the subject.

Lee has a great sense of humor and it comes though on the page.

This is a great book even if you aren't interested in writing about crime or going into law enforcement, for it will help you to understand the occupational complexities of those who are sworn to protect and defend us.

Lee's book is brilliant--filled with every piece of information a mystery writer could ask for. Mystery Readers International agrees--they just gave the book one of their 2008 awards for Best Mystery Non-Fiction!

Congratulations, Lee. You deserve it.

Lee Lofland has written the ultimate insiders guide to police procedure, an invaluable cheat-sheet for crime novelists who want their fiction to feel as real as possible. Now every writer has a friend on the force he can turn to for accurate information on how cops do what they do.

i am so glad that i purchased this book. i just got it today and already it has been invaluable to me as a writer.
there is lots of info in this book that i didn't know and am being surprised as i read.
thanks, Lee.
mary speranza author (POOKIE)