Episode 308 - Writing Realistic Police Procedures with Lisa Regan
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Lisa Regan discusses WRITING REALISTIC POLICE PROCEDURES, including and how crime writers can find reliable sources, connect with law enforcement experts, and navigate jurisdictional differences. She discusses the impact of technology on modern investigations, strategies for balancing realism with storytelling, and the importance of consistency when portraying police characters.
Lisa Regan is the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Detective Josie Quinn series, as well as several other crime fiction titles. She is an International Thriller Writer Award nominee. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen foreign languages. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and Master of Education Degree from Bloomsburg University. She lives just outside of Philadelphia with her husband, daughter, and her Boston Terrier named Mr. Phillip.
In addition to the links below, Lisa as graciously send me the following information for authors researching police procedure:
For medical and forensic stuff, I often use these websites to access academic journal articles. Some papers are free, others are behind a paywall. Most of these sites offer a pay per article option though they're often quite expensive. However, if you know the title of the article, you can often enter it into Google and find it for free elsewhere. You don't need an account to search and for some you don't need an account to purchase an article.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Also, I sometimes try to access textbooks used by police in training (for example, Practical Homicide Investigation or Practical Crime Scene Processing and Investigation). These can usually be found on Amazon but they're typically very expensive. There is a rental option for Kindle but that, too, can be costly. The other sites I usually try, which are hit or miss, are:
Episode Links
https://www.facebook.com/LisaReganCrimeAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/lisareganauthor/
Referenced in the intro:
To buy the Ann Kinnear Suspense Short “More Than a Jest” - https://m.cur.io/collections/0xb2ab07603d0c5681fd997c56030a7cbaf6b6dd51
All my books on Curios: https://www.curios.com/creators/mattydalrymple-X449BR
To explore Curios as an author via my affiliate link: www.curios.com/Joinmattydalrymple
Referenced in interview:
Episode 250 - From Firearms to Fiction with Chris Grall
Episode 241 - Mistakes Writers Make About Working K-9s and How to Avoid Them with Kathleen Donnelly
Episode 067 - Mistakes Writers Make about the FBI and How to Avoid Them with Jerri Williams
For the full list of “mistakes crime writers make” episodes, go to https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDnpWFQZeQuYr0cLOh5CP0eiGlLw7z-MV
Summary
In this episode of The Indy Author Podcast, Matty Dalrymple talks with Lisa Regan about how crime fiction writers can research and write realistic police procedures. Lisa, author of the Detective Josie Quinn series, shares her approaches to balancing authenticity and storytelling, building a network of experts, and adapting to differences across jurisdictions and technologies. The conversation covers practical strategies for crime writers seeking accuracy in thrillers, mysteries, and detective fiction.
POLICE PROCEDURES IN CRIME FICTION
Lisa explains that she began writing crime fiction not with the specific goal of producing police procedurals, but because she was drawn to mysteries with strong protagonists. Over time, her Josie Quinn series evolved into procedurals, requiring attention to accuracy and detail. She notes that readers hold her to a high standard: “Some authors can get away with throwing the rule book out the window… but my readers hold me to a pretty high standard, which is fine with me. The research is a lot of fun.”
Matty observes that consistency is key: a rule breaker can work as a character, but only if established from the start. Otherwise, breaking procedure simply for plot convenience risks losing credibility.
RESEARCH STRATEGIES AND SOURCES
When starting research, Lisa begins with a simple internet search, then carefully evaluates the sources. She emphasizes looking at who is providing the information and verifying it across multiple platforms. She echoes advice from Robert Dugoni: “You know that it’s time to stop when the sources are saying the same things.” While she may consult Wikipedia, she always crosschecks the information with other references.
Lisa also attends seminars and public lectures offered by universities and law enforcement agencies, which often provide valuable insights for both writers and readers. She points out that accuracy depends heavily on location and context, as procedures differ across states, counties, and even individual police departments.
JURISDICTIONS AND DIFFERENTIATION
Lisa stresses that police procedures vary widely depending on jurisdiction. Federal, state, county, and local departments all operate under different rules, and even neighboring towns may have different approaches due to resources or structure. “Every state has different training, different rules, different procedures, sometimes different laws. There is no national standard from what I understand for police training and police procedures.”
She recommends crime writers model a fictional department on a real-world one to maintain internal consistency across a long series. For example, understanding how a specific town handles communications or resources helps avoid creating inconsistencies that could break reader trust.
TECHNOLOGY AND MODERN POLICING
The rise of technology has added new challenges for crime writers. License plate readers, cell phones, surveillance cameras, and smart devices make it increasingly difficult to plausibly allow characters to evade detection. Lisa admits, “Honestly, in real life, I don’t understand how anyone commits a crime and gets away with it.”
However, smaller departments often lack the funding to implement advanced tools across all vehicles or officers, offering opportunities for writers to adjust scenarios realistically. Cell phone coverage also remains inconsistent, with certain rural or mountainous areas lacking service—a fact writers can still use in plots. But these gaps are shrinking, raising the risk that a story relying on lack of service may quickly feel dated.
Lisa and Matty discuss how writers can either embrace technology as part of the story or deliberately set narratives in earlier eras to sidestep these constraints. Matty recalls learning that even wearable fitness devices have been used to establish exact times of death, illustrating how new technology both complicates and enriches crime fiction.
BUILDING A NETWORK OF EXPERTS
Lisa emphasizes the importance of developing a pool of subject matter experts. She started with her personal network, connecting with a former classmate in law enforcement who volunteered to answer questions. She also uses social media to ask for contacts, often receiving multiple leads. When necessary, she cold emails professionals directly.
The format of interaction depends on the complexity of the question. For straightforward details, email is sufficient, but for layered scenarios, Lisa prefers phone or Zoom calls. She always provides clear context to help the expert understand what she needs, while being careful not to overburden them.
Matty underscores the value of experts who understand the needs of fiction, noting that some are willing to suggest scenarios that, while unusual, could still work in a novel. Lisa agrees, saying such collaborators are “worth their weight in gold.”
COMMON MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Both Lisa and Matty highlight the danger of inconsistencies. A character who follows rules in one book but ignores them in another without explanation frustrates readers. Similarly, procedures must remain consistent within the fictional world the author has created.
Another pitfall is failing to account for regional variation. Lisa recounts how readers sometimes challenge her on scenarios, such as a neighborhood without surveillance cameras, but she knows from firsthand experience that not every community resembles an urban setting. Writers must remember that what is realistic in one place may not be in another.
FORENSICS AND SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
Forensic evidence presents another challenge. Lisa notes that many police officers already have a broad understanding of forensic practices, but specialized areas—such as blood spatter analysis or advanced fingerprinting—require consultation with experts. She recalls a conversation with a consultant about elimination prints, which revealed unexpected nuances about how they are processed and stored.
Writers can sometimes conduct their own research. Matty shares her experience of buying a burner phone to understand how it really works, discovering practical obstacles that could enrich a plot. Lisa agrees that first-hand experiments can provide realistic details often overlooked in fiction.
UNEXPECTED LEARNING FROM EXPERTS
Lisa describes research for her book The Couple’s Secret, which included consulting Doug Bishop from United Search Corps about recovering submerged vehicles. She learned that submerged cars are filled with mud and biofilm, and that evidence must be processed quickly before it hardens “like cement.” These details, which she had never considered, reshaped her depiction of such a scene.
She also recalls shadowing search-and-rescue dog handlers and witnessing how a dog could track a person from nothing more than the scent left on a car door handle. These moments illustrate the power of direct observation and expert guidance to transform a story’s realism.
BALANCING REALISM AND STORYTELLING
Both Lisa and Matty emphasize the need to balance accuracy with entertainment. Writers should not present outliers as norms but can use them to drive plots if framed correctly. Realism enhances credibility, but crime fiction must remain engaging. Lisa appreciates experts who understand this balance and work with her to find plausible paths for her stories.
TAKEAWAYS FOR CRIME FICTION WRITERS
The conversation offers several takeaways for writers of thrillers, mysteries, and detective fiction:
· Start research broadly but verify details through multiple reliable sources.
· Understand jurisdictional differences and model fictional departments on real ones for consistency.
· Embrace technology as part of modern crime storytelling but also recognize budgetary or geographic limits that create opportunities for plot twists.
· Build a trusted network of experts and respect their time by asking well-framed questions.
· Incorporate specialized forensic knowledge thoughtfully, consulting professionals when necessary.
· Use personal experimentation to gain insights that enrich narrative details.
· Balance accuracy with storytelling to keep readers engaged while maintaining credibility.
Lisa concludes that while crime fiction demands rigorous attention to accuracy, it also allows creative flexibility. By combining careful research with thoughtful storytelling choices, writers can produce compelling and believable narratives that satisfy readers’ expectations for authenticity.
This episode of The Indy Author Podcast provides practical strategies for crime fiction research and writing realistic police procedures, offering valuable guidance for authors seeking to strengthen their thrillers, detective stories, and mystery novels.