Specialist museums can give you a more concrete feel about
crime and punishment in the past. The Galleries of Justice
Museum in Nottingham (www.galleriesofjustice.org.uk) and
Littledean Jail in Gloucestershire (www.littledeanjail.com)
are such examples. To find more prison museums around the
world, see https://writ.rs/prisonmuseums.Resources for crime fiction writers
Resources specifically aimed at crime fiction writers are on the
increase. There are now helpful books that cover, for instance,
forensics, police procedure and detective work (see the box-out
for suggestions).
There are also websites that contain useful material. One
interesting site is that maintained by Brian Price (www.
crimewriterscience.co.uk), a UK-based chartered chemist and
biologist. He gives details of various scientific principles relating,
for example, to poisons, knockouts and explosives. He can also
be contacted via email if you have any specific queries.
DP Lyle hosts a US-based site for crime writers at http://
writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com. He focuses on forensicsand is also willing to answer writers’ questions. However, make
sure you first read his submission guidelines carefully.
Networking with other crime writers, for instance through
the Crime Writers’ Association (www.thecwa.co.uk), can be
useful for receiving advice and locating unexplored sources.
Have fun discovering new leads!BEHIND THE TAPE
Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction, from serving police officer Lisa Cutts
BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE BEHIND THE
If you
have a query
for Lisa, please send it
by email to enquiries@
lisacutts.co.ukQ
When someone is killed in a road accident the police call at the
person’s address to inform the next of kin. I’m presuming they
found identification on the body. Now, usually, would two police
officers call, or could it be one? And can it be male or female constables
or must it be a higher rank? I believe they would ask the next of kin
to call at the police station asap to confirm the identity of personal
belongings prior to a visit to the mortuary to identify the body.
I ask this partly because knowing how tight the police budget is,
wasted manpower is wasted money.
Normally the police officers would need to enter the home rather than
break the news on the doorstep, I believe.
Reg HidsonA
You’re correct that officers are likely to identify the person through
ID found on the person or if the driver is the deceased, running
the registration through PNC and any other databases with local
information on the vehicle.
Ideally, the death message would be passed to the family by a Family
Liaison Officer, one from Traffic Collision. The chances of a FLO being on
duty and available may mean they are assigned the family at a slightly
later time, after the message has already been delivered.
It would be whoever is available and is very likely to be a police
constable rather than a sergeant. It wouldn’t be anyone of a higher
rank. Again, ideally, it would be two officers if a double-crewed car was
available to attend the address.It would always be better to break the terrible news in the home as you’ve
mentioned, rather than on the doorstep. Even those who are very anti police
understand the severity of the situation and usually allow officers inside.
Rather than take the next of kin to the station, it would be better to
gain as much information as possible first. Fatal accidents usually mean the
roads are closed for hours and nothing would be moved from the scene
(other than those injured or deceased) for some time. Traffic Collision take
videos and photos, measurements and carry out house-to-house enquiries,
witness statements, CCTV, dashcam downloads and wouldn’t release
anything from the scene in the initial moments.Q
Could a character get away with murder if it was covered up?
If the police only had the victim’s family’s say so to go on and
some innocent texts between her and the victim, could she get
away with it?
Gemma CallaghanA
In short, yes, she could get away with covering it up. However,
depending on the circumstances, the police may not be happy
to leave it there and may delve a little further. At least, I hope
they would. The post mortem, CCTV, interviewing family members and
friends and downloading of electronic devices always gives the police a
great deal to go on. There may well be something that gives her away
if the officers involved are suspicious in any way, meaning they dig a lot
deeper.http://www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 71BOOKS FOR CRIME WRITERS- Kate Bendelow: The Real CSI: A Forensic Handbook for
Crime Writers (2017) - Michael O’Byrne: The Crime Writer’s Guide to Police
Practice and Procedure (2nd revised edition, 2015) - Brian Price: Crime Writing: How to Write the Science (2019)
- Stephen Wade and Stuart Gibbon: Being a Detective:
An A-Z Readers’ and Writers’ Guide to Detective Work
(2019) and A Straightforward Guide to the Crime Writers
Casebook: A Reference Guide to Police Procedure Now
and Then (2017)