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| ATF agent Rick McMahan and Maggie |
by Maggie Toussaint
When it comes to learning about police lore, the Writer’s Police Academy is a font of useful information. Held at a Greensboro, NC police training academy and organized by Lee Lofland, this recent event was packed with hands-on knowledge writers need to know.
Hollywood cops have more technology than you can shake a stick at, and our everyday law enforcement groups would love to have a fraction of those gadgets. From TV, we expect DNA results in minutes or hours when the reality is more like months. For a rush DNA job, it takes about a week, though new procedures and tests are in development.
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| Barbara Graham and handcuffing instructor Stan Lawhorne |
Sound intriguing? Read on for snips of other cool stuff:
Locard’s Principle – when two objects come into contact, an exchange of material occurs.
All people shed skin cells and hair every day, about 150 hairs a day.
CSIs turn the room lights out and use those itty bitty flashlights because it helps them see better. Footprints, hairs, and other bits of trace evidence really pop under these conditions.
If a bioterrorist comes to your neighborhood, don’t opt for the white dusk mask at the hardware store, get yourself a N95 respirator mask.
One key fits all handcuffs. Enterprising crooks hide keys on or in their bodies.
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| CJ Lyons takes down a suspect for handcuffing, with Cpl Dee Jackson |
Bleach cleans up bloodstains, but its use is detectable. Blood can be detected even under multiple coats of paint.
Blood spatter is dependent on on velocity, directionality, and point of origin. Unless dripped straight down, the spot more resembles an infinity symbol, with some excursions.
A sniper can shoot a one-inch square at 100 yards. As they increase distance, say 200 yards from a target¸they can hit a two inch square and so on out to 1,000 yards.
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| At the crime scene, from left, Dr. Denene Lofland, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, and Maggie |
In 97 % of homicides, the suspect is interviewed in the first 30 days. About 61% of homicides are cleared.
Witnesses lie.
Suspects give faulty confessions.
Ego is bad for investigations.
Moisture and higher temperatures accelerate decomposition. Don’t add garden lime to that shallow grave; it’s a plant nutrient.
Our gun laws derive from social and historical events. Only the US has a gun tracing system.
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| SEMWA's Stacie Allen, green shirt, takes super pictures |
When undercover, a cop relies on personality, attitude, and persistence to get the job done.
At the Writer’s Police Academy, I experienced the FATS, the Firearms Training Simulator. They stuck a gun in my hand and showed me how to use it. Moments later, a scenario played out on the screen before me. I learned firsthand that it takes a special person to rush headlong into danger, that suspects don’t respect cops or guns. It’s easy for your brain to freeze, or for you to get tunnel vision and ignore the rest of your environment.
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| Guilford Co. Sheriff's Office Ltc Randy Shepherd |
I’ve barely scratched the surface of my notes, but I hope I conveyed how valuable this experience was to me. At Writer’s Police Academy, writers get firsthand information, experience a micro-window into this law enforcement world, and receive answers to their policework questions.
I highly recommend it.
Maggie Toussaint
mystery and romance author
