What do you think?
Rate this book
Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers
Not everything you see on your favorite crime show is accurate. In fact, a lot of it is flat out wrong. Police Procedure & Investigation helps you get your facts straight about the inner workings of law enforcement.
With a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly two decades, author Lee Lofland is a nationally acclaimed expert on police procedures and crime scene investigations who consults regularly with best-selling authors and television producers. Now you can benefit from his years of experience with Police Procedure & Investigation .
This comprehensive resource
• More than 80 photographs, illustrations, and charts showing everything from defensive moves used by officers to prison cells and autopsies
• Detailed information on officer training, tools of the trade, drug busts, con air procedures, crime scene investigation techniques, and more
• First-person details from the author about his experiences as a detective, including accounts of arrests, death penalty executions, and criminal encounters
Police Procedure & Investigation is the next best thing to having a police detective personally assigned to your book!
With a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly two decades, author Lee Lofland is a nationally acclaimed expert on police procedures and crime scene investigations who consults regularly with best-selling authors and television producers. Now you can benefit from his years of experience with Police Procedure & Investigation .
This comprehensive resource
• More than 80 photographs, illustrations, and charts showing everything from defensive moves used by officers to prison cells and autopsies
• Detailed information on officer training, tools of the trade, drug busts, con air procedures, crime scene investigation techniques, and more
• First-person details from the author about his experiences as a detective, including accounts of arrests, death penalty executions, and criminal encounters
Police Procedure & Investigation is the next best thing to having a police detective personally assigned to your book!
385 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2007
117 people are currently reading
983 people want to read
About the author
Lee Lofland
7 books24 followersLee Lofland is a veteran police investigator who’s solved hundreds of cases, such as homicide, rape, murder-for-hire, and kidnapping. He’s the recipient of various commendations, including the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Medal of Valor.
As an expert, Lee has appeared on BBC television, CNN, and on NPR radio’s Talk of the Nation, Public Television, and he’s the host and founder of Writers’ Police Academy Online, and the Writers’ Police Academy, a fun and exciting hands-on event for writers.
Lee is the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, a Guide for Writers (Writer’s Digest Books/Penguin Random House), the true crime tale Murder on Minor Avenue, The Trapper, a story in the After Midnight anthology (foreword by Lee Child) and Smelling Elephants in the upcoming People Are Strange anthology (foreword by Lisa Gardner).
He’s published articles in The Writer magazine and Writer’s Digest Magazine, numerous media publications, and he currently writes Case Files, a regular feature article in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Lee writes the daily blog, The Graveyard Shift, and he and his wife Denene are co-founders of the annual Writers’ Police Academy and Writers’ Police Academy Online.
Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling book, Postmortem, was based upon the crimes of the Southside Strangler, a serial killer in Virginia. Lee served as a witness to the state execution of the notorious murderer, the first execution in the U.S. resulting from a verdict based on DNA evidence.
Lee and his wife Dr. Denene Lofland are publishers at New Arc Books, an imprint under the umbrella of Level Best Books. New Arc Books publishes both nonfiction and fiction titles.
Lee is a proud member of the National Sheriffs’ Association, International Literacy Association, International Thriller Writers (ITW),, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and The Authors Guild.
He previously served as Board Member on the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, NCADD in the Silicon Valley, an Advisory Board Member for ECPI’s criminal justice program in Greensboro, N.C., and as a Board Member for the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
As an expert, Lee has appeared on BBC television, CNN, and on NPR radio’s Talk of the Nation, Public Television, and he’s the host and founder of Writers’ Police Academy Online, and the Writers’ Police Academy, a fun and exciting hands-on event for writers.
Lee is the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, a Guide for Writers (Writer’s Digest Books/Penguin Random House), the true crime tale Murder on Minor Avenue, The Trapper, a story in the After Midnight anthology (foreword by Lee Child) and Smelling Elephants in the upcoming People Are Strange anthology (foreword by Lisa Gardner).
He’s published articles in The Writer magazine and Writer’s Digest Magazine, numerous media publications, and he currently writes Case Files, a regular feature article in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Lee writes the daily blog, The Graveyard Shift, and he and his wife Denene are co-founders of the annual Writers’ Police Academy and Writers’ Police Academy Online.
Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling book, Postmortem, was based upon the crimes of the Southside Strangler, a serial killer in Virginia. Lee served as a witness to the state execution of the notorious murderer, the first execution in the U.S. resulting from a verdict based on DNA evidence.
Lee and his wife Dr. Denene Lofland are publishers at New Arc Books, an imprint under the umbrella of Level Best Books. New Arc Books publishes both nonfiction and fiction titles.
Lee is a proud member of the National Sheriffs’ Association, International Literacy Association, International Thriller Writers (ITW),, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and The Authors Guild.
He previously served as Board Member on the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, NCADD in the Silicon Valley, an Advisory Board Member for ECPI’s criminal justice program in Greensboro, N.C., and as a Board Member for the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
January 27, 2023
Stars: 5 out of 5
This is a very good book for anyone who wants to learn more about how law enforcement works in the USA. Sure, the target audience is writers, especially those writing crime fiction, but I think this would be beneficial to anyone not familiar with the system.
I know I learned a lot from this book. I was so confused when I arrived in the States about why there were different police cars on the road: state troopers, sheriff deputies, regular police, you name it. Or why they all had different uniforms. Or what they jurisdiction and duties actually were. This book does an excellent job explaining that.
I also found the explanation of different courts and which cases each court can pass judgements on. And of course, the description of the prison system, as well as what life is like on the inside is rather fascinating. And, as the author points out, often quite different from what the general public is accustomed to seeing in the movies and TV shows.
In fact, I liked the emphasis the author made on the fact that real police work is very far from what is depicted on the silver screen. Nobody solves a case within a neat 45 minutes episode. The evidence is not always cut and try. The fingerprints can be smudged and unusable. The DNF evidence can come back inconclusive or too degraded to be useful. The lab can be so backed up that the wait to get results is months long.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book immensely, even if the information is now a bit dated (I think it was written in 2007). It had been on my TBR list since 2014, so I'm happy to finally mark that off.
This is a very good book for anyone who wants to learn more about how law enforcement works in the USA. Sure, the target audience is writers, especially those writing crime fiction, but I think this would be beneficial to anyone not familiar with the system.
I know I learned a lot from this book. I was so confused when I arrived in the States about why there were different police cars on the road: state troopers, sheriff deputies, regular police, you name it. Or why they all had different uniforms. Or what they jurisdiction and duties actually were. This book does an excellent job explaining that.
I also found the explanation of different courts and which cases each court can pass judgements on. And of course, the description of the prison system, as well as what life is like on the inside is rather fascinating. And, as the author points out, often quite different from what the general public is accustomed to seeing in the movies and TV shows.
In fact, I liked the emphasis the author made on the fact that real police work is very far from what is depicted on the silver screen. Nobody solves a case within a neat 45 minutes episode. The evidence is not always cut and try. The fingerprints can be smudged and unusable. The DNF evidence can come back inconclusive or too degraded to be useful. The lab can be so backed up that the wait to get results is months long.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book immensely, even if the information is now a bit dated (I think it was written in 2007). It had been on my TBR list since 2014, so I'm happy to finally mark that off.
August 13, 2008
This is a great reference book for writers who wish to understand police procedures. It is more than that though.
Lee explains how the hierarchy of law enforcement is structured between local police departments, sheriffs departments, the state police, the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals and more.
He also gives examples of terminology we all have heard and thought we understood. Such as the difference between a crime scene and the scene of a crime. They are different.
Or the difference between homicide, murder, and manslaughter. No they are not synonyms.
Yes, this book would make a fabulous gift for writers in your life that even want to barely touch on crime as an aspect in their work to help avoid making cringe-worthy mistakes, but it would also make a great gift for anyone who is interested in going into law enforcement. It would be an excellent reference book for someone trying to understand all the new lingo and terminology involved in that profession.
I have to think it would be better written than a lot of dry as sawdust textbooks on the subject.
Lee has a great sense of humor and it comes though on the page.
This is a great book even if you aren't interested in writing about crime or going into law enforcement, for it will help you to understand the occupational complexities of those who are sworn to protect and defend us.
Lee explains how the hierarchy of law enforcement is structured between local police departments, sheriffs departments, the state police, the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals and more.
He also gives examples of terminology we all have heard and thought we understood. Such as the difference between a crime scene and the scene of a crime. They are different.
Or the difference between homicide, murder, and manslaughter. No they are not synonyms.
Yes, this book would make a fabulous gift for writers in your life that even want to barely touch on crime as an aspect in their work to help avoid making cringe-worthy mistakes, but it would also make a great gift for anyone who is interested in going into law enforcement. It would be an excellent reference book for someone trying to understand all the new lingo and terminology involved in that profession.
I have to think it would be better written than a lot of dry as sawdust textbooks on the subject.
Lee has a great sense of humor and it comes though on the page.
This is a great book even if you aren't interested in writing about crime or going into law enforcement, for it will help you to understand the occupational complexities of those who are sworn to protect and defend us.
September 3, 2017
Informative and more interesting than the average reference book. The author may not have intended it this way but this book explains a lot of the police shootings of unarmed citizens. It goes on and on about training with all sorts of weapons. There wasn't a single chapter on de-escalation, because I'm guessing this isn't something they're taught.
I'll for sure never touch drugs and the amount of detail he went into about autopsies was enough to turn my stomach.
I'll for sure never touch drugs and the amount of detail he went into about autopsies was enough to turn my stomach.
November 15, 2017
I bought this how-to for authors to prepare myself for plotting a mystery. After reading this and interviewing the representative police department for my story, I do feel much more confident that I am capable of realism as far as police are concerned. This said, the latest edition is ten years old, and so all references to technology may or may not be outdated. Even if the text was more recent though, I would still double-check facts as best I can, and I recommend this as good practice for anyone undertaking a procedural. The book often addresses subtopics in a generalized manner with a disclaimer that policy varies by department/region. My point is that this makes sense in retrospect, but it makes me wish there was more specific information available for the actual department I'm researching. While this book is a great start as far as research, it shouldn't be anyone's only source. As far as the author's style, it's well-written, but I wish Lofland had added more anecdotes, because what there were of them were great, but too few and far between.
February 26, 2022
Why didn't I buy this book years ago? It contains fantastic information on police procedures, crime scene investigations, and how criminals are processed. It's peppered with Lofland's own stories from his decades in law enforcement, plus commentary from many other officers. The book acknowledges opportunities and incidents of abuse and errors. One big downside: the book was published in 2007 and is out of print. I really wish a new version would come out, addressing changes in technology and procedures.
March 10, 2025
As a writer of crime fiction, I found this book loaded with pertinent information, which I'm sure to reference often as I continue to write. Lofland's experience as a police officer and his obvious depth of research make this a "must-have" for anyone involved in writing suspense, mystery, and crime fiction.
March 30, 2019
This book doesn't tell you everything you need to know about police work, but it's a great start for your research. I intended to read only the chapters I needed, but read the whole thing it was so interesting.
January 31, 2017
Can't recommend this book highly enough. Every thriller writer must read it and own it. Hell, anyone writing about police officers in any capacity must read it. Aside from covering the correct police procedures (the way they are performed in real life as opposed to what we're used to seeing on TV), you'll learn about blunders to avoid. For example, a detective never returns to the crime scene to collect more evidence: once they're done with it, they're done. And they don't investigate a crime on their own after getting suspended (what I had in my plot and will now change)—if they do, they most likely get fired. You'll also find out what happens to a body of someone murdered after it was found, and what happens to a body of a killer when they're being electrocuted—what it looks and sounds and smells like. Grim but very accurate details.
March 3, 2014
Writing about criminals is easy--they can do pretty much anything. But when writing police there are rules, procedures and laws that characters must (usually) follow. For an author, studying the ins-and-outs of police procedure is a daunting task...especially since most books on the subject go into far more detail than necessary for a novelist. This book is one tool that can help fill in the gaps. It is well organized, so you can easily locate just the information that you need, and it gives just enough detail to understand what you need to know to write about police investigations.
April 13, 2015
Lee's sense of humor and witty banter makes learning police procedure entertaining. In this book he explains the differences between common phrases, such as "crime scene" and "scene of the crime", "homicide", "murder", and "manslaughter". A must for every crime writer's (especially) toolbox, Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide For Writers is a tool I'll refer back to again and again. Well worth the money. Incidentally, his blog (www.leelofland.com) is a wealth of information, too!
January 5, 2018
Majoring in forensics? Crime writer? Or do you just have an avid curiosity to learn the sequences of events when they eventually find you and your arrested? This great book of procedures. It should sit on every mystery, crime writer’s desk.
Reviewed in Le Coeur de l'Artiste: http://www.djadamson.com/le-coeur-de-...
Reviewed in Le Coeur de l'Artiste: http://www.djadamson.com/le-coeur-de-...
February 6, 2012
Great reference work.
February 4, 2017
This is a great research tool to have on hand.
December 14, 2024
As a writer, I highly recommend this book for all crime novel research that deals with police officers.
I actually wasn't expecting this book to be this good, if I were honest. I was expecting it to be written kind of text-book style like most history books, but Lee Lofland writes with such a friendly manner, it's as if he were speaking with you directly. He has a very pleasant sort of of writing style, almost like he's laughing with you over a cup of coffee. Dare I say he made me laugh before I'd even finished the prologue! What I especially enjoy is that he lets you into his head and into the mind of a police officer. For instance, what does a crime scene look/smell/taste like? What goes on between officers at a crime scene and how different real life is from movies and TV shows. He includes little scraps of stories of his time on duty that bring out the every day things that no one would think about happening. So it makes it...real.
It has everything you need about researching a police officer's life. From the real police academy to fingerprinting, DNA, etc. Warrants, legalities and arrest procedures are also covered. It also goes through everything about prison life...things that I didn't know and it really gave me a lot to think about.
The only caveat I would caution about this book is that it was written back in 2007 and a LOT has changed. For instance, marijuana was still considered a Schedule I drug! So while the book is excellent for research, definitely make sure that you check up on current events and such before writing about something in today's day and age.
One more thing about this book. I just want to say thank you to Lee Lofland for painting a police officer's world as he did. He reminded readers that 1. Police officers are humans, too. 2. He brought to light that TV shows don't always portray them accurately and I think that doesn't just go for the way they solve crimes; I think it also goes for how they think, act and their conduct. 3. For the record, I never want to go to pris0n. Yikes! 4. The chapters talking about crime scenes...it really, really made me think about everything our police have to put up with. It takes a special person to be a police officer and even though I knew that before, it just brought it home in a very real light to me and made me extra grateful for the men and women who face the world's worst every single day so we don't have to.
I actually wasn't expecting this book to be this good, if I were honest. I was expecting it to be written kind of text-book style like most history books, but Lee Lofland writes with such a friendly manner, it's as if he were speaking with you directly. He has a very pleasant sort of of writing style, almost like he's laughing with you over a cup of coffee. Dare I say he made me laugh before I'd even finished the prologue! What I especially enjoy is that he lets you into his head and into the mind of a police officer. For instance, what does a crime scene look/smell/taste like? What goes on between officers at a crime scene and how different real life is from movies and TV shows. He includes little scraps of stories of his time on duty that bring out the every day things that no one would think about happening. So it makes it...real.
It has everything you need about researching a police officer's life. From the real police academy to fingerprinting, DNA, etc. Warrants, legalities and arrest procedures are also covered. It also goes through everything about prison life...things that I didn't know and it really gave me a lot to think about.
The only caveat I would caution about this book is that it was written back in 2007 and a LOT has changed. For instance, marijuana was still considered a Schedule I drug! So while the book is excellent for research, definitely make sure that you check up on current events and such before writing about something in today's day and age.
One more thing about this book. I just want to say thank you to Lee Lofland for painting a police officer's world as he did. He reminded readers that 1. Police officers are humans, too. 2. He brought to light that TV shows don't always portray them accurately and I think that doesn't just go for the way they solve crimes; I think it also goes for how they think, act and their conduct. 3. For the record, I never want to go to pris0n. Yikes! 4. The chapters talking about crime scenes...it really, really made me think about everything our police have to put up with. It takes a special person to be a police officer and even though I knew that before, it just brought it home in a very real light to me and made me extra grateful for the men and women who face the world's worst every single day so we don't have to.
April 15, 2020
This is a very well done book that portrays the realities of police work, from an officer's first encounter with the academy to officers' thoughts on TV portrayals of their job. The main take-away: It isn't TV out on the streets.
As an author writing crime/suspense fiction, I try to bring realism to my stories. This book will be a valuable tool toward that end, and I was pleased for the sake of those in law enforcement that I try to portray to see that my emphasis on the lives and interactions of my crime-fighting crew is better placed than would be a constant stream of unrealistic encounters with the public.
For anyone wanting to turn off the TV and get real, I highly recommend this book. Well done, Officer Lofland. And thank you for adding just a bit more paperwork to your career in law enforcement through the penning of this book.
As an author writing crime/suspense fiction, I try to bring realism to my stories. This book will be a valuable tool toward that end, and I was pleased for the sake of those in law enforcement that I try to portray to see that my emphasis on the lives and interactions of my crime-fighting crew is better placed than would be a constant stream of unrealistic encounters with the public.
For anyone wanting to turn off the TV and get real, I highly recommend this book. Well done, Officer Lofland. And thank you for adding just a bit more paperwork to your career in law enforcement through the penning of this book.
November 4, 2017
I write suspense and feature a detective in nearly every book, especially my latest draft which includes a narrative written from a detective’s point-of-view. It’s important to me to get their process and thoughts right. This book was very helpful, particularly with the author’s own commentary and personal thoughts regarding his process. It’s important to know the steps followed when responding and documenting a crime scene, but it’s also helpful to get into the mind of a detective, what they’re thinking as they search the scene. I also plan on talking to several retired detectives to bounce my storyline(s) off them, but this book was also a very helpful read for me. I highlighted many sections!
December 30, 2022
Un livre qui tient toutes ses promesses en expliquant de façon claire et concise tout ce que l'on croit savoir par le cinéma et les séries TV et qui, forcément s'avère au mieux loin de la vérité, au pire complétement erroné : Les différents services des forces de police en activité aux USA, les rouages judiciaires...
L'auteur prend aussi la peine de démonter plusieurs mythes et idées reçues sur la police US, répandues par les séries TV.
Le livre se distingue des autres du même genre par ses notes d'humour et par diverses anecdotes personnelles vécues par l'auteur, lui même fort d'une trentaine d'années de service à la criminelle.
L'auteur prend aussi la peine de démonter plusieurs mythes et idées reçues sur la police US, répandues par les séries TV.
Le livre se distingue des autres du même genre par ses notes d'humour et par diverses anecdotes personnelles vécues par l'auteur, lui même fort d'une trentaine d'années de service à la criminelle.
May 11, 2019
Do you want real cops to laugh or cringe at your brilliant work of literature? If not, read this book and put it to use. Mr. Lofland provides clear and concise explanations of how and why law enforcement works as it does.
In order to solve the most perplexing problems of my first novel, I used four sources: 1) Mr. Lofland's book, 2) the FaceBook page for "Writers' Detective - Q&A," 3) personal conversations with LE officers, 4) the fiction of Michael Connelly. All proved valuable.
In order to solve the most perplexing problems of my first novel, I used four sources: 1) Mr. Lofland's book, 2) the FaceBook page for "Writers' Detective - Q&A," 3) personal conversations with LE officers, 4) the fiction of Michael Connelly. All proved valuable.
January 27, 2018
Worth Your Time...
IF you are interested in detail on matters of this type, then this is a book for you.
Check it out by a download of a sample.
You should get a couple of chapters; enough to help you decide to read more or forget about it.
I had to read more. And I’m glad I did. 👍
IF you are interested in detail on matters of this type, then this is a book for you.
Check it out by a download of a sample.
You should get a couple of chapters; enough to help you decide to read more or forget about it.
I had to read more. And I’m glad I did. 👍
September 13, 2019
A fantastic writer resource
This book opened my eyes on many aspects of the criminal and police worlds.
Until now my main involvement with police and law enforcement has been brief. Calls from me regarding noise complaints, or them calling me about damages to my car didnt give me any insights into the realities.
This book opened my eyes on many aspects of the criminal and police worlds.
Until now my main involvement with police and law enforcement has been brief. Calls from me regarding noise complaints, or them calling me about damages to my car didnt give me any insights into the realities.
October 13, 2019
This is a guide for writers, but I’m not sure how useful it will be for seasoned readers of police procedurals. Mostly, everything described in the book is close or close enough to what is portrayed in books and TV shows. As a reader of the genre, I’m not sure I really want the hyper-realism of police filling out paperwork.
May 6, 2022
I recently wrote my first crime mystery novel. This book was very useful for information about police procedures. Although it was written a while back and some of the forensics info has changed, it provided really valuable information about the law enforcement perspective in terms of the difficulty of solving crimes and proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. As a historian who has taught Constitutional History for years, I knew this from a legal perspective, but this book laid out the challenges from the point of view of a detective. I highly recommend for any aspiring crime/mystery writer. It helped me develop my detective character in the book and was also a somber reminder that real crimes happen to real people and many of them never get solved.
August 8, 2024
This book had a trove of facts about police procedures. As a crime writer, it was indispensable. The book I am working on now has realistic crime scenes, interviews, arrests, and radio communication. I could only do that with what I learned from this book.
I found out about this book from an AutoCrit video with Lee. Thank you, Lee, for this book.
I found out about this book from an AutoCrit video with Lee. Thank you, Lee, for this book.
March 23, 2018
This is a good reference book for writers. I doesn’t cover everything in a lot of depth, but it’s a great place to start. It includes good insight from a former cop and good warnings about common misconceptions inspired by movies and TV shows.
January 6, 2019
I've only read part of this, but will use it as a reference work, so it's more ongoing than actually read. So far, it has been helpful: well-crafted and to-the-point. I think it will continue to be useful for me in making my writing more credible.
April 8, 2019
Great book for writers! Contains all kinds of information about law enforcement, along with anecdotes from the author about being a police officer. If you write crime fiction and have no first hand knowledge about law enforcement, this book is indispensable.
November 12, 2019
While I did pick up some useful information, I wouldn't describe this book as a gem. In part, there was an imbalance of emphasis, such as the very detailed descriptions of uniforms and insignias, while a whole chapter on CSI was just a hysterical polemic lambasting TV shows and films.
February 19, 2021
I've attended Lee's Writer's Police Academy. When his book came out, I jumped on it. It's a reference book for me, so I have read bits and pieces as needed. If you are a writer, or simply have questions about who, what, why, and how - this is the book for you.
May 11, 2018
More informative than any cop show on the air.
June 22, 2018
one of the best reference books for crime writers that i've read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews