5 Ways Coronavirus Can Affect Your Story

The following doesn’t just relate to the present Coronavirus pandemic but applies to any other pandemic really.

Having lived through and hopefully survived this pandemic, you may be wondering how on earth you can incorporate such a thing into your fiction, especially if you are writing in any genre but horror/dystopian.

Despite the massed panic portrayed in movies, emergency planners work on the assumption that most people will want to carry on their lives as normal and if they can’t, they will work within their government’s guidelines.  Does this sound familiar to you regarding Coronavirus?

Many things will work pretty much as they do in normal times, maybe a little more chaotic or limited in service or delivery but there will not be a total breakdown of society.

So how does this help with your fiction?

Policing and crime will still exist (probably not in harmony) and the general public will still regard the police as an organisation they can turn to, even those who mistrust the police turn to them, even if reluctantly when they need them to sort out a problem for them.

Things that have changed and will during any similar event in the future is that the police will be over-stretched, slower to respond at certain times of the day and in certain circumstances.  Things they deem to be of a minor nature (such as kids playing football against someone’s wall) may not even be responded to.  Those of a more serious nature will receive a response but the number and type of resources that turn up may be insufficient in number or experience.

The police assume that at any given time (in normal times), they will have one-third of their staff unavailable due to annual leave, sickness, training, or court appearances.  In turbulent times, this expectation will rise to 50% of their staff being unavailable.  So you can imagine the logistical problems of being able to round up twenty police officers to deal with a fatal road traffic accident during a pandemic.  A supervisor, typically a Sergeant or Inspector will have to work out what resources they can call upon, what their capabilities are, and deploy them accordingly. So in this example, how few officers can they get away with at any given incident because the ideal number is not an option.  This may mean that the scene cannot be made safe through road closures, thereby allowing traffic to flow dangerously close to the scene, possibly injuring or killing one of the officers attending.  Due to insufficient officers being at the scene, maybe your suspect could evade arrest for causing the accident or being unfit to drive through drink or drugs.

An incident requiring the attendance of armed officers may start off and may be brought to a conclusion by officers who are unarmed because the armed officers are too few in number or otherwise engaged to deal with this incident. This could result in unarmed officers being placed in danger or at worse injured or killed.  Alternatively, the armed suspect may be able to slip away unnoticed.

A crime that ordinarily requires a fingertip search to be carried out over a large area may end up poorly searched by untrained officers over an area that they can manage rather than one that should be searched.  This may well lead to vital evidence or clues being missed.  Can you use this to hamper your fictional investigation?

Roadblock or checkpoints that may be set up to catch escaping armed robbers may not be put in place due to staffing shortages, allowing the suspects to evade capture.  Being less likely to be caught may lead to an increase in the number of crimes the robbers commit, the time they spend on a job, and the way they interact with the victims and witnesses.

Fewer officers working, increases the load placed upon those that remain at work.  This strain leads to bad tempers, poor judgement, mistakes, or avoidance of doing the right thing.  Could this apply to one of your officers or could your Senior Investigating Officer’s intentions be hampered by an officer so disposed?

Alternatively, because during a pandemic lockdown there are fewer people on the streets, maybe your police officers will find it easier to spot the “baduns” using the streets.  Having fewer members of the public to hide amongst, they are easier to find either on the streets or observing the lockdown requirement and staying at home (or their mum’s house).

Hopefully, these five ideas may help your story development or stir your creative juices.  If you would like further ideas of how to take your stories forward or incorporate twists and turns, check out the following books if you haven’t already done so, and happy writing.