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8/31/2018 0 Comments SEARCHES FROM THE AIR, DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WARRANTS AND SUBPOENAS, DETECTIVES WORKING WITH PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS - EPISODE 006 -TRANSCRIPT:
This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau. Searches from the air, the difference between warrants and subpoenas, and cops working with private eyes. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.
Welcome to Episode Number Six of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction. My friend, Danny R. Smith, is a retired Los Angeles Sheriff's Department homicide detective that just released his second novel. It's called Door to a Dark Room*, which is available now on Amazon* or at his website, dickiefloydnovels.com. Door to a Dark Room* is the second book in the Dickie Floyd Detective Novel series. So you'll also want to check out the first novel, A Good Bunch of Men*, which you can get as an ebook right now for 99¢ on Amazon.
This week's first question comes from Chris Niles at nileswriter.com.
Chris asks "How does law enforcement go about setting up aerial searches and what would they likely be able to see from the air? How different are rescue operations versus recovery searches, and what variables would make it easier or harder for them to search or find their objectives?" Before I answer this I want to mention that Chris Niles had a pretty big role to play in my deciding to start a podcast. She's part of Sterling & Stone, the folks behind what was the Self-Publishing Podcast and what is now The Story Shop Podcast. My very first podcast experience was talking to Sean Platt, Johnny Truant, and David Wright on the Self-Publishing Podcast a few years ago and I had an absolute blast, but it was all because Chris made that happen. So you guys have her to blame -or excuse me, you have her to thank for me getting into this podcasting thing. So, thanks again Chris for your support. Now she also knows (which you may know if you followed my writing work prior to my starting this podcast) that back in 2017, I guess it was 2016 or 2017, I transitioned from my 17 year career of being a detective in my 20 plus years of law enforcement to becoming a flying pig. So by that I mean I fly now in police helicopters doing exactly what Chris is asking about. So this is kind of in my wheel house. And this week I'm actually on the road recording this in my hotel room in downtown Portland, Oregon because I've been attending a FLIR operator workshop. Now FLIR is the technology known as forward looking infrared but it's also the name of the company that makes forward looking infrared...
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8/24/2018 0 Comments TACKLING INVESTIGATIVE WRITER'S BLOCK, MODERN MURDER BOOKS, DIVULGING INFORMATION TO WITNESSES - EPISODE 005 -TRANSCRIPT:
This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau. How to tackle investigative writer's block, modern day murder books, and divulging information to witnesses. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.
Welcome to Episode Number Five of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction. My friend, Danny R. Smith, is a retired Los Angeles Sheriff's Department homicide detective that just released his second novel. It's called Door to a Dark Room*, which is available now on Amazon* or at his website, dickiefloydnovels.com. Door to a Dark Room* is the second book in the Dickie Floyd Detective Novel series. So you'll also want to check out the first novel, A Good Bunch of Men*, which you can get as an ebook right now for 99¢ on Amazon.
Both are fantastic reads! Danny is a great author and a good friend. I'd love it if you check out his books.
Before we get into this week's listener questions, I would like to wish a big thank you to Guy Alton and Joan Raymond for supporting the show through Patreon. The money raised through Patreon helps offset the cost of hosting this podcast and creating the transcriptions, so I really appreciate the support as it allows this podcast to continue. If you would like to support the Writer’s Detective Bureau podcast for as little as $2 a month or to learn more about how you can set up your own Patreon page, go to writersdetective.com/patreon.
This week's first question is really more of a statement: "When I sit down to write, I'm not quite sure how to go about investigating the case. I've been embarrassed to ask questions because I think the answers may be obvious, but not to me."
I'm betting this sounds familiar. You probably have a great idea for a crime story, but now even outlining the scenes of the story has your head spinning. What am I supposed to write? In what order does all of this happen? CSI, DNA, GSR, ADW, DRT. The acronyms alone are enough to make your head spin, so it's easy to feel lost in all of the investigative minutia, and I want you to know you're not alone. That's what this podcast is all about. I equate it to trying to watch a baseball game with a bunch of diehard fans and not knowing the basics of the game. Yeah, I get that the guy with the bat is trying to hit the ball, but then what? If he hits the ball, which way does the batter run? What happens if the ball is caught? Does it matter if the ball hits the ground? What the heck is a walk? RBI, ERA, DL, DH, WTF. If someone could just explain the basics of the game, this would make so much more sense. If you feel something similar about writing police procedure, then, for your crime story, the goal of the game is to learn the truth and to be able to prove it. That's it. You're probably thinking, what about the culprit? What about DNA? What about the right to remain silent? What about the clues that need to be in my story? All of those things are important, but your story's North Star is the full truth of what happened. All the rest are tools, tactics, or rules to discover that truth. Let's start with a vocabulary term for you. It's in Latin, so standby. It's called corpus delicti. It's the legal term that refers to the facts or information showing that a crime was committed by a specific person. You're probably thinking, great. How does that help me? The way we us 8/16/2018 0 Comments PROBABLE CAUSE FOR WRITERS, WORDING FOR WARRANTS, CHAIN OF EVIDENCE FOR MURDER WEAPONS - EPISODE 004 -TRANSCRIPT:
This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau. What writers need to know about probable cause, the wording for warrants, and chain of evidence for a murder weapon. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.
Welcome to Episode Number Four of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional quality crime-related fiction. Before we get into this week's listener's questions, I'd like to wish a big thank you to Guy Alton and Joan Raymond for supporting the show through Patreon. This show would not be possible without the support of listeners like Guy and Joan. thank you so much. If you'd like to support the Writer's Detective Bureau podcast for as little as $2 a month, or to learn more about how you can set up your own Patreon page, go to writersdetective.com/patreon. What an amazing week this has been! This episode, Episode Four, is the first one I've recorded since launching this podcast, and I've been blown away by your feedback. I honestly wasn't sure how many people would even listen to this, and to be honest, it's weird to sit here all alone in my home office talking into microphone. I kind of just figured I was a high-tech version of the people I normally deal with on the street that talk to themselves. But you're really out there, so thank you so much for listening, for reviewing the show on iTunes and Stitcher, and for being so kind. Above all, I want to encourage you to send me questions for future episodes. I read every single one, and honestly, I love helping you with getting these 8/10/2018 0 Comments ANTIFREEZE AS A POISON, WHEN A CASE GETS PERSONAL, AND NETWORKING WITH COPS - EPISODE 003 -TRANSCRIPT:
This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau: Antifreeze as a poison, when a case gets personal, and my super ninja trick for networking with cops.
I'm Adam Richardson and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau. Welcome to Episode #3 of the Writer's Detective Bureau podcast, which is dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters with the craft of writing crime related fiction. You can submit your own questions at writersdetective.com/podcast and I'll do my best to answer them on an upcoming episode. Before we get into this week's listener questions, I would like to wish a gigantic thank you to Joan Raymond at joanraymondwriting.com. She is my very first patron over at patreon.com. This show would not be possible without the support of listeners like Joan. Most listeners of this show are writers and we all know that writers make the best readers so please consider checking out Joan's website at joanraymondwriting.com to learn more about her work. If you'd like to support the Writer's Detective Bureau podcast for as little as $2 a month or to learn more about how you can set you your own patreon page, go to writersdetective.com/patreon.
Author Kim Hunt Harris writes, "My murder victim was given antifreeze in an alcohol drink. Then was suffocated with a pillow to finish him off. My amateur sleuth performed CPR. Would my sleuth be able to taste or somehow know that the victim had ingested antifreeze? Would it, for instance, cause a tingling sensation or anything like that?"
That's an excellent question and I cannot say that I have ever encountered an antifreeze case so I don't know if it tingles or not. I do know that it tends to be sweet and as a result, it actually kills a lot of cats and dogs because they're attracted to the taste. As of late, antifreeze manufacturers have actually tried to add a bitterness taste to keep that from happening at least for children, but I believe it is still rather sweet to the taste, but I don't know about it actually tingling. Doing some online searches, I'm seeing that the antifreeze would very likely cause nausea and vomiting. Your sleuth would most likely find signs that they had thrown up and actually, the descriptions of ingesting antifreeze, which is ethylene glycol, often presents itself very much like alcohol poisoning. It's a good call of having it go into an alcohol drink so your sleuth would most likely believe that it was strictly just over-drinking with the alcohol. I don't know that they would detect the taste by any means, especially if the victim had vomited. You then went on to say that there was suffocation with a pillow. Now the suffocation with the pillow would actually be the indicator that... 8/10/2018 0 Comments NEXT OF KIN NOTIFICATIONS, NOIR HARD-BOILED THRILLERS, AND MONEY LAUNDERING - EPISODE 002 -TRANSCRIPT:
This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau: Next of kin notifications, Is the noir genre dead? and money laundering. I'm Adam Richardson and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.
Welcome to episode number two of the Writer's Detective Bureau podcast which is dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters, just like you, with the craft of writing crime-related fiction. You can submit your own questions at writersdetective.com/podcast. Before we get into this week's listener questions, I would like to wish a gigantic thank you to Joan Raymond at joanraymondwriting.com. She is my very first patron over at patreon.com. This show would not be possible without the support of listeners like Joan. Most listeners of this show are writers and we all know that writers make the best readers. Please consider checking out Joan's website at joanraymondwriting.com to learn more about her work. If you'd like to support the Writer's Detective Bureau podcast for as little as two dollars a month, or to learn more about how you can set up your own Patreon page, go to writersdetective.com/patreon
Richard Harris asks, "How do police handle it when they need to inform someone of a friend or family member's death?" That is an excellent question and it's one of those things that we also often see portrayed incorrectly in television and movies. We don't do it by telephone. We go out and contact that family member or that close family friend in person.
Very often we will bring a chaplain with us as well and if you read any of Michael Connelly's books, you'll hear him refer to it as the dirty work and it really is one of the absolute worst parts of the job. The thing about doing this that makes it so tough is that you have to be clear with what you're telling the person. You can't hem and haw and beat around the bush or use euphemisms for death. You literally have to ... You can't say "passed on" or "is no longer us" as it's like, "What does that mean?" You literally have to say that your loved one is dead or your loved one has died and it's... 8/10/2018 0 Comments detective character career path and multi-jursidictional murder investigations - episode 001TRANSCRIPT:
I'm Adam Richardson and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.
Hey, there. Welcome to the Writer's Detective Bureau. I am Adam Richardson, a veteran police detective and I'm here to help you write better crime fiction. This podcast is essentially going to be a series of Q&A's and then hopefully some interviews and some resources. So, if you'd like to submit your own questions, you're welcome to do so by visiting writersdetective.com/podcast. I obviously can't answer every single question I received but I'll do my best. So, let's get started with the very first question on the very first episode of the Writer's Detective Bureau. Caro writes and it looks like Caro is short for Caroline, I'm assuming. Caro writes, "What is the typical career progression for a police officer in a large US city like Boston, from Police Academy to beat cop to detective? More specifically, how would a typical police officer be when they join a precinct? How many years will they remain a beat cop before getting a chance to apply to become a detective? What's the typical age for new detectives and once a detective, how many years before they are the primary detective on a case? And how many years would be reasonable before they get promoted to sergeant or lieutenant?" I will take this in stages. The typical career progression for a police officer would be, as you mentioned, to start at the Police Academy and depending on where you are in the United States, you may attend the Police Academy through a college where you enroll as a private student. And then upon graduation, you seek employment or as in the case, for me, in my own career, I was employed by the police agency first and they paid me to attend the Police Academy. And while you're in the Police Academy, you're either called a recruit or a cadet but you're still a civilian in most cases. Upon completing the Police Academy, I then or all of the police cadets -your character or the police officer in this question, would be sworn in upon graduation and then they would start field training, so they would be assigned a Field Training Officer. And then by being assigned to a field training officer or an FTO, they then have a veteran partner to essentially teach them the practical side of |
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