AboutJack Toomey Expertise Please do NOT ask questions about potential jail sentences that you or your friends may receive in court. There is no way for me to know that. I am NOT a probation officer or a parole officer so questions about those subjects will be rejected. I am a police officer with 26 years experience. Can answer questions about crime, police procedure, investigations, criminal law, search and seizure, traffic offenses. Prefer not to answer questions on the death penalty. Please do not ask homework questions. Remember this. The law in every state is different so questions about laws that are specific to your state could be difficult to answer.
I also cannot give you legal advice on what to do or not to do in court.
I have worked with authors in the past and will be happy to review scenarios or plots with authors to check for believability or accuracy.
Experience Police officer with 26 years experience. Twelve years in patrol and fourteen years in the detective bureau investigating every type of crime including murder, rape, robbery, theft, fraud, missing persons, etc, etc. Also taught at the police academy in areas such as constitutional law, search and seizure, and lineups.
Education/Credentials B.S. in Criminology from the University of Maryland.
Question I have a question regarding Dispatch jargon/procedures.
I'm an aspiring screenwriter currently writing a crime based thriller. If I explain the scene it might help.
My detective character is tracking a vehicle last seen in the parking lot of a 7-eleven. Caught on security camera, they have the registration number.
At this point my detective character is driving along when dispatch informs him via radio that the vehicle has been sighted.
I want this to be realistic as possible including all codes used etc. Actually if I type the scene in the way a civilian would say it and then it would be greatly appreciated if you could interpret it in law enforcement speech. Also I have no idea how dispatch contacts a specific detective via radio. Anyway here's the conversation in it's most basic form.
DISPATCH
Detective Freeland (needs to contact him specificallY)
Freeland picks up radio.
FREELAND
Freeland here.
DISPATCH
vehicle has been sighted in parking lot of Good Samaritan
hospital on Wiltshire Blvd.
Obviously I want it as realistic as possible as I'm sure inconsistencies like these in movieland are irksome enough.
Thankin' you in advance.
Answer Hi,
There are not two police departments in the county that use the same radio codes. For example for years a Maryland county bordering Washington, DC used the code 10-50 for a traffic wreck while the DC police used 10-50 for an officer in trouble. I can't tell you how many times the Maryland officers raced to the state line for what they thought was an officer in trouble.
Having said that I am not aware of any code that would describe what you are telling me. I think that based on my experience that it would have been said in plain language. In fact Homeland Security is encouraging police departments to abandon radio codes because of the confusion it causes from county to county, state to state, etc. Fire departments have already changed over to plain language.
The only guidance I can give you is that a detective or police officer would not say "Freeland here". He would answer with his radio number since FCC requires that. So if he was Q375 he would answer "Q375". The dispatcher would probably not say "sighted". More likely "your vehicle is in the parking lot of.........."
