In the UK, the ‘bobby on the beat’ who travelled on foot and knew his/her patch, the shopkeepers, villains, hot spots and helpers like the back of his hand gradually dwindled as more officers were in cars, racing to 999 calls. The general public were dismayed by this reduction in visible law enforcement and perceived…
The National Crime Agency isn’t a particularly well-known part of UK law enforcement but in the Cornish Crime Thriller series the character of Vikram Verma works quietly in the background, helping DI Rego with international aspects of organised crime. I sometimes give them the shorthand of ‘the UK’s FBI’ as a shorthand to explain what…
In the first three books of the Cornish Crime Thrillers series, readers meet the somewhat unpleasant character Chole Rogers, a civilian police analyst who works at several of the stations in the Western peninsula. She’s a contemporary of Tamsyn’s, whom she knew at school and has never liked. The feeling is mutual. Tamsyn suspects that…
Contrary to popular belief, all police officers in the UK are trained with firearms. This is because incapacitant spray (a type of pepper spray, Parva or Captor) is considered a firearm. Having said that, only specially trained firearms officers regularly handle guns. Airguns are more widely available, but to an inexperienced eye, they look scarily like…
Forensic: the scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime DNA or to give its full name Deoxyribonucleic acid is unique to every single person on the planet (even identical twins, although theirs would be very similar), and is the Holy Grail of police work and has been able to close…
Modern police work means that officers and patrol cars are also mobile offices. In DEAD WATER, a fellow officer explains to Tamsyn that they previously used the HORT1 (Home Office Road Traffic Form) self-carbonating pads “for minor offences like dropping litter, or using a phone while driving, in some instances speeding offences, bald tyres”. Forces then moved on to…
For DEAD MAN’S DIVE, one of the important secondary characters is Sergeant Nate Tregowan, Devon & Cornwall Police, the Dive Supervisor from the Dive and Marine Unit based at Plymouth The above photograph is from D&C police divers training at Nelson’s steps, the Royal William Yard, Devonport Dockyard. (Named not for the current Prince William,…
At the beginning of 2023, more than 400 drones were used in police forces across the UK – that number is growing rapidly. Last month, Norfolk Constabulary began trialling ‘Drone as First Responder’ that will see drones remotely deployed to be first on the scene of police/traffic/fire incidents. The drones have a high-definition downlink allowing…
Dogs have a long history of working with humans to hunt and protect property, and there are records in France and Britain from 600+ years ago of parish constables using Bloodhounds to track outlaws. The first experiment with ‘official’ police dogs was in 1888 when London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Charles Warren, hoped that they could…