Review: 'Police Procedure and Investigation' by Lee Lofland

Police Procedure and Investigation by Lee Lofland, 2007, Writer's Digest Books, $19.99, softbound, 368 pages. Cover: pretty cool. Where we got it: bought it. Where you can get it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million. 


This is a guide for crime writers, and it's excellent. There's all sorts of information, from an overview of law enforcement in America, to courts and the legal process, to autopsy, to arrest and search procedures. 

Lofland lists courses recruits have to take in the police academy, gives diagrams of different law enforcement hierarchies (police department, sheriff's office, and so on), gives readers an idea of what it's like to be a detective (he was one himself), and tells what prisons and jails are like. 

If you're at all interested in writing about law enforcement, this is the book to have. 

If you like this one, try: Armed and Dangerous: A Writer's Guide to Weapons, by Michael Newton; Code Blue: A Writer's Guide to Hospitals, including the ER, OR, and ICU; and Private Eyes: A Writer's Guide to Private Investigators, by Hal Blythe, Charlie Sweet, and John Landreth. 

You can find Lee Lofland online here: The Graveyard Shift, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WritersPoliceAcademy.com, and CriminalJusticePrograms.com.