Organisation of the MPS (London) - Homicide branch pratical working - Police officer career

[rosesnake]

Hello,

I need informations for the story I am working on and since you have all been so helpful last time …

It's set between 2000 and 2013 in London and one of my MC is working for the Met as a DS then as a DI in the Homicide branch.

The first thing I would like to know is who his superiors are (from him up to the Commissioner) and what exactly

Comments

[jayb111]

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I would like to pass on some advice that was given in a talk I recently attended, given by Michael O'Byrne, who is a retired senior police officer and also a writer. He said that any crime novel that was strictly accurate as to every aspect of police procedure would be so boring that no-one would want to read it. Obviously it's necessary to avoid the worst errors, such as having officers routinely carrying guns, but he said writers should focus on plot, conflict and drama and not get bogged down in procedure. For example it doesn't really matter how many officers are on duty at any one time because realistically you can only focus on two or three of them in a story.

[rosesnake]

Thank you for the advice.

Yes, I know that too many details or too much accuracy will kill the plot. But I want to have the best possible idea of how things are in real life and then I can see what (if any) adaptations I make, what I don't mention. I won't follow all officers on shift but I would like to have an idea of how many people there are in the building for exemple.

Thanks again. I hope someone will be able to answer my questions (quite precise and boring I know but I really would like to know.)

Have a nice day.

Rosesnake

[jayb111]

But does your character know or care how many people are in the building? Is it relevant to the plot?

There can't be a definitive answer anyway. As well as police officers scheduled to be on duty (of whom some are likely to be out on enquiries or off sick or on holiday at any time) there'll be civilian staff, people in custody, solicitors representing people in custody, and people who are there for all sorts of random reasons. I had to go to a police station in the Met area recently in connection with some lost property, and there was a bloke there who'd come to fix the extractor fan in the kitchen.

I do think you should get on with writing your story, and only worry about the details when they directly impact on the plot. If you have a specific question about whether your plot could work, you could contact Michael O'Byrne - he invites questions on his website.

[rosesnake]

Hello again,

All the questions I asked impact the plot in some way (some more than others).

I don't need to know the exact number of people in the building but I would like to know if it's more likely to be a handful of people (say five to ten) or more in the order of fifty people around. And among those people how many are likely to be detectives and how many are civilian staff or 'strangers' (peoples in custody, etc).

Anyway there are still all the other questions I have, mainly those relating to the organisation and structure of the MIT. Can somebody please answer them ?

Thanks a lot.

Rosesnake