Equipment issues. To any cops reading this, need I say more? For you authors, in your novel, does your main police character ever experience dangerous and often embarrassing moments in the patrol car? These examples came from a friend of mine with somewhere around thirty years of police work under his belt.
“Ever had a cop in a murder mystery where either the radio just wouldn’t work or there was an over-saturation of airtime and he can’t get on the air? I was in a chase once and couldn’t tell anyone. One time I was going Code 3 (lights and siren) while leaning out the window and banging on the light bar to keep it working. Another time a cab driver stopped traffic so I could get out of the 4th Avenue tunnel on a Code 3 run when all my equipment quit. Another time I was about to stop a drug car for MANTIS (Metropolitan Area Narcotics Trafficking Interdiction Squad) and my car died every time I hit the lights.”
If you want realism, write the most ridiculous equipment failure you can think of. I guarantee that some cop somewhere will read it and say, “Hey! That happened to me!”
©Alison Naomi Holt 2025
1 comment
Night patrol…on the far side of patrol area when the dept had gotten a new supply of pepper spray. Had one hooked on my gun belt and twisted in the vehicle to grab something and the darn thing went off in the car….went CODE 3 back to the station and was stripping as I ran into the locker room…what a night. Small town…had another night when I did a felony stop (for armed robbery) by myself because everyone else was on an open building check…Had to use inter city dispatch for back up…cause my peers were on radio silence. Got the suspects….but I was worred I wouild have to change my britches….Didnt want a repeat of that night