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The Crime Writer's Guide to Police Practice and Procedure
The essential detective in your pocket—something to reach for when your writing needs that short, sharp shock of modern-day investigating
Every writer has paused at some key point in the development of their story to wonder what happens in real life. How would the murder in my story be investigated by the police? How far can I go without leaving holes in the plot? Can I use low count DNA to identify the killer? How does a cop react to a bloated body or, even worse, just part of one? Written with answers to these questions in mind, this is the essential guide to police procedures and practice written specifically for writers. A handy reference book to dip into, or a textbook to guide you from the outset while you are still developing your plot, this guide will leave you confident that you have covered all angles of your thriller.
Every writer has paused at some key point in the development of their story to wonder what happens in real life. How would the murder in my story be investigated by the police? How far can I go without leaving holes in the plot? Can I use low count DNA to identify the killer? How does a cop react to a bloated body or, even worse, just part of one? Written with answers to these questions in mind, this is the essential guide to police procedures and practice written specifically for writers. A handy reference book to dip into, or a textbook to guide you from the outset while you are still developing your plot, this guide will leave you confident that you have covered all angles of your thriller.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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127 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 26, 2018
Great overview of police practice and procedure in England. No idea how I ended up reading the whole thing from cover to cover in a matter of two days - that was never my intention. It's that readable.
April 28, 2018
Really useful and easy to read, a must for any crime writer who has no first-hand knowledge or experience of police procedures
September 22, 2020
This book is a great overview and jumping off point into the world of British policing. It's succinct and covers a lot of topics in brief.
For me, it mostly confirmed and clarified things I already knew, but it also introduced some new things and corrected some wrong assumptions I had. It gave me some good ideas for where to go next with my research. It didn't feel like a comprehensive handbook, but I don't think I expected it to be that.
The best part of this book is the author's suggestions on how the information he shares is relevant to writing - how you can exploit and use it to create narrative conflict, where you can be more flexible, and what the critical things to get right are. This adds an invaluable sense of perspective and earns it the 5* from me.
If I had one tiny criticism, it's that I would have liked a bit more about the day to day activities of police officers; a little more detail on the activities of the PCs, DCs, civilian staff, and so on (even if this was just suggested further reading). There was a greater focus on the upper ranks, assuming, I think, that most crime writers want to create characters with some authority and responsibility (a DCI, for example). This is great for informing your protagonist, but less helpful for creating side characters and a complete picture.
For me, it mostly confirmed and clarified things I already knew, but it also introduced some new things and corrected some wrong assumptions I had. It gave me some good ideas for where to go next with my research. It didn't feel like a comprehensive handbook, but I don't think I expected it to be that.
The best part of this book is the author's suggestions on how the information he shares is relevant to writing - how you can exploit and use it to create narrative conflict, where you can be more flexible, and what the critical things to get right are. This adds an invaluable sense of perspective and earns it the 5* from me.
If I had one tiny criticism, it's that I would have liked a bit more about the day to day activities of police officers; a little more detail on the activities of the PCs, DCs, civilian staff, and so on (even if this was just suggested further reading). There was a greater focus on the upper ranks, assuming, I think, that most crime writers want to create characters with some authority and responsibility (a DCI, for example). This is great for informing your protagonist, but less helpful for creating side characters and a complete picture.
April 21, 2015
I read this book because I have no idea about the police system and yet will be including bits of it for my next novel.
It’s actually quite good, even if you don’t write pure crime. It gives you the levels and names of police bureaucracy as well as how procedures work. It told me what numbers of people work on crimes, rapes and ordinary offences as well as how suspension, bad jobs, punishment etc works in the police force.
It expelled a lot of the myths which fiction and TV has created around suspension and office hates etc. Some however, like badly looked on people getting all the boring or horrible jobs, is true.
The only thing this book has none of is the comradery and how people act with each other in the police. This we have to create by ourselves it seems. However, at least now we can do it with the right name tags and equipment (there are also sections on forensics and police databases).
A good read for those, like me, that are clueless about the inner workings of the force.
Doesn't take too long to get through either. About a day or a day and a bit in sections.
I’d give it a 4/5.
It’s actually quite good, even if you don’t write pure crime. It gives you the levels and names of police bureaucracy as well as how procedures work. It told me what numbers of people work on crimes, rapes and ordinary offences as well as how suspension, bad jobs, punishment etc works in the police force.
It expelled a lot of the myths which fiction and TV has created around suspension and office hates etc. Some however, like badly looked on people getting all the boring or horrible jobs, is true.
The only thing this book has none of is the comradery and how people act with each other in the police. This we have to create by ourselves it seems. However, at least now we can do it with the right name tags and equipment (there are also sections on forensics and police databases).
A good read for those, like me, that are clueless about the inner workings of the force.
Doesn't take too long to get through either. About a day or a day and a bit in sections.
I’d give it a 4/5.
January 26, 2013
This is an excellent guide to how the police forces work in England and Wales. Who will be first on the scene when a body is found? How is evidence collected? How are criminal investigations planned and managed?
Michael O’Byrne is a retired British police officer who rose from constable to chief constable (the highest rank), having worked in the Royal Hong Kong Police, the Metropolitan Police (including New Scotland Yard), Surrey, Thames Valley and Bedfordshire. He writes in plain English, with intelligence and humour.
Even if you're not writing crime books, it’s an interesting read.
Michael O’Byrne is a retired British police officer who rose from constable to chief constable (the highest rank), having worked in the Royal Hong Kong Police, the Metropolitan Police (including New Scotland Yard), Surrey, Thames Valley and Bedfordshire. He writes in plain English, with intelligence and humour.
Even if you're not writing crime books, it’s an interesting read.
September 14, 2013
Excellent book, well written with clear guidelines for writers outlining what is correct and what is not. I would recommend this book as a great starting place for anyone wanting to write books in the crime genre.
January 2, 2017
This was a great read. It was great to read the perspective from someone who has worked as a member of the force. It does concentrate on the UK's system, so it's a must-read for anyone writing in that context.
March 11, 2018
A good introduction to police procedures, but at only 170 pages there's a limit to what the author of the book can cover. However, the information that is covered is useful and will certainly help writers get the basics down, and the author also includes a short list of websites to investigate for further information if it is required. Easy to read this is definitely a good place to start your research. He also mentions a few authors during the course of the book which I found helpful as a sort of "well, who does this thing well?".
May 26, 2024
A very useful insight into police procedure in the UK. I would consider this essential reading for anyone that is writing or intends to write UK based crime fiction. However, it’s coming up on 10 years since the second edition was published and, inevitably some of the information is out of date. It’s also mostly a dry read. It’s a credit to the author, keeping it factual and informative, but a little this side of dull as a result.
February 11, 2019
This is an excellent resource. Great fun to read it through and then watch / read a few detective dramas and see how close they come to reality. I love the postscript - Michael's views on some of teh most famous crime writer's out there. Very enlightening.
I'm sure this is a book I'll come back to many times.
I'm sure this is a book I'll come back to many times.
October 13, 2017
Brilliant reference guide for writers explaining who's who in the police hierarchy, how police investigations are conducted in the real world and providing an invaluable insight into the workings of the UK police force.
July 1, 2018
For a complete dummy like me, I found this guide to UK-specific policing to be a grab-bag of useful info. It's inevitably dry in places and uses broad strokes. But I still found it valuable enough that I'll probably pick up a physical copy for easy reference.
June 17, 2017
This is an excellent book. Well written and insightful. The author has a very good idea of what a writer needs to know and what they don't.
August 5, 2019
Brilliant! Told me exactly what I needed to know.
February 9, 2020
Great overview of police practice and procedures. Also, it is written in an easily readable style. A must for any budding crime author.
November 4, 2020
Really interesting and insightful into the workings of police and other agencies
April 7, 2022
Informative.
June 26, 2022
I read the first edition and came back for more. Informative and interesting
August 29, 2023
Good book. I'm not a crime writer but this book gave me some needed info around forensics that was helpful for a little bit of police procedure in my novel. Easy to read and clear.
October 4, 2024
This is a super informative and digestable book on police procedures. However, I was disappointed it didn't cover arson or missing person case procedures.
February 18, 2014
This is not a police manual but a brief overview. The 170 pages outline what police officers would do and why at various points in an investigation. It is a description of first principles to some degree.
The material covered includes how a murder investigation is processed, police powers (and if they're insufficient then there is always the standby of bluffing it), forensics, other sorts of serious crimes, the use of force, technology, but perhaps most interesting of all is the use of criminal profiling. O'Byrne seems unconvinced of the usefulness of profiling. The science is largely based upon less competent serial killers (they got clumsy and consequently caught) whose capture and convictions were not based upon profiling.
The spread of information seems well chosen and is very useful to a crime writer not already versed in such matters. Unless you've ever worked in law-enforcement, this book is indispensable for any crime-writer's bookshelf.
The material covered includes how a murder investigation is processed, police powers (and if they're insufficient then there is always the standby of bluffing it), forensics, other sorts of serious crimes, the use of force, technology, but perhaps most interesting of all is the use of criminal profiling. O'Byrne seems unconvinced of the usefulness of profiling. The science is largely based upon less competent serial killers (they got clumsy and consequently caught) whose capture and convictions were not based upon profiling.
The spread of information seems well chosen and is very useful to a crime writer not already versed in such matters. Unless you've ever worked in law-enforcement, this book is indispensable for any crime-writer's bookshelf.
August 30, 2015
A good, solid introduction to police procedures in England. It's only 170-odd pages long so its coverage is necessarily superficial but it gives enough of a start in most areas to allow you to dig deeper elsewhere.
The writer, a retired senior police officer, is an aspiring crime fiction writer. Given how clearly he writes, I can't believe that he hasn't been successful yet: his store of anecdotes and cases must be huge.
The writer, a retired senior police officer, is an aspiring crime fiction writer. Given how clearly he writes, I can't believe that he hasn't been successful yet: his store of anecdotes and cases must be huge.
August 23, 2012
A must-have reference for UK crime writers, although quite a short book, so I would like to see a follow up with even more information as we go into 2012. The book is well written and informative, based on real life and thoughtful experience, although at a few points, the author's text takes on an opinionated stance (Particularly when dealing with one particular profiler).
June 26, 2021
An enjoyable and well-written easy-to-follow reference book which proved its worth within seventy-five pages, requiring me to re-write several sections of my current novel-in-progress. An excellent index and several further sites to investigate are also included - one to keep close to hand.
February 13, 2014
Very useful book on UK police procedures, naming conventions and structures. Possibly missing out on details on culture, as he says himself it's the thing missing from most novels, but I imagine that's hard to add well without it being force specific/becoming dated.
August 24, 2015
Great resource - well worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews