Guest Blog by novelist and real life DC Lisa Cutts: Ten crime fiction misrepresentations about real-life policing

Lisa Cutts is the daughter of a former Metropolitan Police officer and obtained her first degree in Law, working in a number of jobs in London and around the South East area, before becoming a police officer herself in 1996. She later achieved a second degree in Applied Criminal Investigation. She balances working full- time for Kent Police with writing crime fiction.

 Her first novel ‘Never Forget’ has been optioned for TV and her second novel Remember Remember was released in August 2014

Her fictionalised detective constable Nina Foster investigates murders. Her full-time job is as a detective constable who investigates murders. 

Lisa says "With over eighteen years as a police officer, nine of those working on murders and other serious crime, I’m still learning with every investigation I work on. It should take years of work as a detective before becoming part of a Major Crime Department. I don’t pretend to know everything, but that is why we work as a team. It would be unreasonable to expect a crime writer to interview a police officer for a couple of hours – even go out on patrol with them or do a great deal of research – and not get something wrong in their novels. Often it is not what a police officer will tell or show you, it’s what they won’t or can’t tell you that counts.

 The first few days of a murder investigation are frantic; tempers get frayed, days off are cancelled and no one sleeps or eats properly. The aspect that is not often written about in crime fiction, because it can be tedious and time-consuming, is the attention to detail. By being very familiar with a Major Incident Room, I’m able to take some of the more dynamic parts of what goes on and use them in my books, without neglecting the horror facing those left behind after the slaughter of their loved ones. I’ve also made passing mention of the monotony of police paperwork; and while I’ve spared the reader the details, I do however think it’s important that it is represented. Evidence doesn’t get itself to court.

 When I set out to write my crime novels Never Forget and Remember, Remember, I wanted to write the most convincing police procedurals I could. It was important to me that readers would enjoy the story, that what I was writing could actually happen, and that the main character would be a believable and likeable detective constable. I had underestimated how difficult this would be.

 Before becoming a crime writer myself, I read and enjoyed crime fiction for decades, so I’m reluctant to call this article ‘mistakes that crime writers make’. I have always been keen to share what information I’m allowed to reveal about murder investigations, and while I can’t show everything, here are some common misrepresentations about real-life policing I’ve noticed over the years:

Ten crime fiction misrepresentations about real-life policing

 1.    A lack of team work in investigations, with lots of in-house fighting 

It is all about the team, every single time. Police officers rely on each other, even if they don’t like each other. That aside, it takes scores of police and civilian employees to successfully investigate a murder, arrest the offender, get him or her to court, and ultimately sent to prison. No one can do it alone. It is physically impossible. One or two individuals on a team may make a significant difference but everyone has a different skill and is vital to the investigation.

2.    Some police officers really do have a sense of humour 

My books contain humour because it is a very real aspect of police work. The work can be depressing and disturbing at times. I want to be clear that there is absolutely nothing funny about murder and rape, and police officers aren’t amused by it. The gallows humour mentality is, however, a coping strategy, and it helps officers keep their sanity. Crime fiction often doesn’t show the sarcasm and banter between officers because they aren’t likely to demonstrate such behaviour in front of ‘outsiders’. It could give the public the wrong impression, when all anyone is trying to do is get through the day until the next victim’s tragedy comes along, not mock the severity of the situation.

 3.  No scene preservation
Wandering around the crime scene picking objects up and moving them doesn’t happen if you want to keep your job. Every person in the scene wears a CSI suit, shoe covers, face mask and gloves. Anyone, senior officers included, tottering around the scene not suitably covered is highly likely 

to distribute their own DNA in many places. I wouldn’t want to explain to my DCI why my fingerprints or DNA were all over a house where a dead body was found. I would probably leave my warrant card on the desk and go home before he had a chance to ‘talk’ to me. White paper suits aren’t glamourous but they are worn for a reason. Everyone’s entry and exit times are recorded on the scene log by the PC or PCSO on the cordon and the area may be sealed off for days until it’s released.

 4.      Little recognition of how mistreatment of the prisoner in custody would jeopardise an investigation

All prisoners taken into custody are the responsibility of the custody sergeant on duty. He or she is there to take care of the prisoner’s welfare and nothing goes on in their custody area without them knowing and approving it. There is certainly no chance of walking the prisoner out of custody to talk to them in the incident room or another location without the sergeant’s knowledge. I wouldn’t risk messing with the

custody sergeant by even attempting it. Although it isn’t a criminal act, breaching PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) by, for example, interviewing a prisoner who clearly needs an appropriate adult due to their age or capacity to understand what is happening, may make for a better read but in reality, it might allow someone to literally get away with murder.

 5.      The suspect interviews are over within minutes

 The interview procedure should be a very controlled and monitored process. By the time DNA, fingerprints and forensics are taken care of, it’s likely to be hours between arrest and actually asking the first question. I tend not to write too much about suspect interviews in my novels because in reality, they are all about detail and can take several hours of interviewing over a number of days in a murder investigation.

It isn’t the detective pitting their wits against the prisoner; it’s about asking them the right questions. And people don’t tend to shout at one another. I wouldn’t want a judge and jury to listen to an interview of me hollering at a prisoner. That is, provided the judge allowed it to be played in the first place and didn’t deem it oppressive and inadmissible. As pleasing as a confession is, it isn’t very useful if it can’t be used in evidence.

 6.      DIs, DCIs or Superintendents interviewing suspects
These days, Detective Constables carry out murder investigation interviews. A DI, DCI or Superintendent wouldn’t have the time due to their own roles within the enquiry. It’s not their job to interview suspects or take statements, any more than it’s a detective constable’s job to lead the enquiry. Everyone has a function to perform, and during my years in the police, I have never heard of a DCI interviewing a suspect and have only twice known a DI to do so. I’ve asked colleagues, family and friends about this and it was something that happened from time to time decades ago.

 7.      Superfluous uniform officer at the back of the interview room

 I’m not sure where this originated from but frequently, there aren’t enough officers to get the prisoners out of the cells and then carry out the interviews. There certainly aren’t enough officers to be standing about needlessly.

 8.      DNA / forensic turnaround times are sometimes portrayed unrealistically

 DNA results are by no means rapid. The article for examination needs to be taken to a lab, sometimes a

hundred miles or so away. After some hours, when the examination is complete, the senior investigating officer (SIO) is informed of the findings. Either the suspect will be located, arrested and taken to the nearest designated police station, or if someone

is already in custody, they will be re-interviewed and given a chance to comment. For a murder or rape, the forensic examination can be done more urgently, but the cost is higher. It is certainly not a case of popping by the lab and waiting five minutes for the results.

 9.      Wayward detectives doing what they like, when they like
 I appreciate that boring characters don’t make for a good read, but behaving oddly, going off on your own, not mixing with colleagues and having a general air of mistrust, is likely to mean that a DCI won’t have you on his or her investigation, and other investigators won’t want to work with you. The whole point to it all is to identify and arrest the offenders, and for the team to put together the best investigation possible. Mavericks are dangerous and it will end badly, usually by them breaking the law.

10.   Police Officers breaking the law
 I won’t insult anyone by denying this happens, but officers are dealt with in the same way as anyone else. And rightly so – no one is above the law. Those breaking the law are often the mavericks and can bring the entire murder investigation to a very unsatisfactory conclusion. Punching people in the face and clubbing them with asps or other pieces of personal issue equipment seems to be a favourite of crime writers. Even fictional detectives can’t investigate from a prison cell.