7 crime fiction mistakes that make you look dumb

1. Not all police officers in the UK carry a gun. The vast majority do not and those that do are extensively trained and under regular scrutiny. Any doubts about their suitability lead to them losing the authority to carry a firearm.

2. Police radios have many of the features of mobile telephones from 5 years ago. They are not merely like a pair of tin can joined together with a piece of string. An officer can speak with or send a text message to any other police officer anywhere else in the country.

3. CID cars do not have blue lights and sirens. CID cars are merely normal saloons as driven by Joe Public. Any unmarked police cars that are equipped with hidden blue lights (often fitted into the grill at the front of the car) and collapsible STOP signs (fitted into the rear parcel shelf), are used by road policing officers, firearms officers or those from serious and organised crime or counter terrorism units.

4. Crime scenes are not the domain solely of detectives. There will always be a uniformed presence there often long after the last detective has left.

5. Police officers don’t test drugs by tasting them. It’s very dangerous. Any drugs they come across are sent off for forensic analysis or in some cases where the suspect admits what they are, they can be tested by trained individuals in a police station.

6. The HM Coroner does not attend the scene of a crime until many weeks or months later and then as part of their inquest and not as part of the initial police investigation.

7. The time of death cannot be reliably estimated through measurement of the dead body’s temperature. It is far easier to examine the stomach contents and deduce the time the last meal was consumed. Providing that is a stomach and its contents still exist.

Don’t forget that you can obtain your copy of the British Police and Crime Directory for Writers and Researchers by clicking on the picture below: