Today’s post is an extremely short post because there isn’t a lot to say about it, but it is an important part of books and one that is very often misrepresented.
As you know I offer a consultation service where I can answer questions or do a full manuscript read-through to check everything is correct. This post is based on one of the recent questions I was asked while reading a manuscript.
The area where the officers get their coffee and make their meals, (actual canteens are being phased out more and more. It’s not likely you will find them in your average sized station.) the kitchen, is it just for uniform or do uniform and CID share this area and if shared, do CID flex their rank above the uniformed officers when in there?
There are two parts to this.
Firstly, the kitchen is to be used by all, uniformed officers and CID departments.
And secondly, there is never an issue. They are all cops, and PCs and DCs are all the same rank, there is no rank to lord over. It’s just if you are a detective, you have taken an exam and had a bit more training, but you’re still paid the same and the rank is still Constable. Plus, you’re both on exactly the same side, you’re the good guys, and you rely on each other.
The kitchen is an area where you’re having a minute. A bit of time out. It’s relaxed. There’s general conversation. If you know each other, you talk, or you acknowledge each other if you don’t. In smaller stations, you’re more likely to know each other though. In larger stations with several floors, it may be you don’t know everyone.
I wanted to write about this because it’s one subject that I find that is consistently mistaken. That people believe there is a big divide between uniform and CID departments. Remember, the guys (as in any gender) in CID were once in uniform and worked on the team that is still there, (unless they’ve moved station) so they work with people they know well. They’re not suddenly going to start treating their mates like they’re idiots.
I LOVED my time in uniform and when I joined a specialist CID department I didn’t suddenly decide I was above them. Even though I did move stations and didn’t know any of the uniformed officers at my new station, my love of being in uniform still held. The job they do, the camaraderie, the fact that they are the front-line. I and everyone else has nothing for respect and love for uniformed officers.
You can find all other posts in this series HERE.
Rebecca Bradley is a retired UK police detective with over 15 years UK policing experience. Seven of those years were in uniform and the rest in a specialist investigative department where She handled multiple, serious and complex investigations. She is now a crime writer and offers a police procedural fact-checking service, available to all crime writers setting their work in England or Wales.
Please see THIS POST for further details.
Rebecca Bradley writes the DI Hannah Robbins series.
When catching a killer isn’t enough…
The naked, battered body of an unidentified teenager is found dumped in an alleyway and post-mortem finds evidence of a harrowing series of events.
Another teenage death with the same MO pushes DI Hannah Robbins and her team in the Nottingham City division Major Crimes Unit, to their limits, and across county borders. In a race against the clock, they attempt to unpick a thick web of lies and deceit to uncover the truth behind the deaths.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Just how far are the team willing to push themselves to save the next girl?
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
That’s good – you don’t want division in the ranks. Everyone has to be on the same side to battle crime.
Margot Kinberg says
Thanks for sharing this, Rebecca. I think that’s one thing that it’s important to get right: police interactions with each other. As you say, everyone’s on the same side, so it’s only logical there’s be camaraderie in the canteen, for the most part.
Jennifer Young says
That’s really interesting. Thank you.
I’m currently writing crime and that’s one area that the books I’ve read don’t touch on. I have a dozen questions that can’t be answered from the manuals, and most of them don’t relate to crime procedures, but to the background to the job.
Mrs J Young says
I should add – I have no police experience myself!
Brookter says
Thanks for the interesting post!
Just a quick caveat: this is something which has changed a fair bit over the years, I think, so it depends a lot on when the novel is being set.
When I joined, in 1980, the CID collectively (not everybody of course) saw themselves as being a cut above uniform officers generally, who were often referred to as Woodentops (not sure this cultural reference has survived!) I did my CID Aideship in 1984 and I actually had DCs tell me not to go officer assistance calls we heard on the radio when we were nearby with ‘Let the Woodentops deal with it — we’re not raunging around on the floor with yobs, we’re CID.’ I thought that was shocking then and it still shocks me now.
This was particularly true in their attitude to probationers, which was often aloof and dismissive– though that wasn’t an unusual attitude towards probationers generally. Of course this is a generalisation: there were many very helpful DCs and DSs, but in general, CID offices were not welcoming places for young officers.
Over the years, as the CID became more professional and better trained, this changed a lot — I’d say it was starting to change from the late 80s. Part of this, I think, was that PACE in 1984 began to cause a lot of improvements in investigation practices, and especially with taped interviews a little later, some of the older detectives began to be replaced and the old CID culture began to change. (Usual caveat that culture can be different in different nicks, let alone different forces, but I think the above is generally true enough.)
This isn’t to say that there weren’t highly dedicated and expert detectives then — of course there were and they were in the majority. But there was definitely a separate CID culture which gradually disappeared. Life on Mars was heavily fictionalised and played for laughs of course, but some of it rang very true…
I thought I’d just add a rider to your excellent post for anyone thinking about writing a procedural set more than 30 years ago…
Brookter says
A quick follow-up: I think your site is excellent. There’s such a lot of misinformation and misrepresentation around about police work that it’s great to have someone dispelling the myths from the inside.
Steve says
Detective constable is not a promotion. . They are constables same as the uniform constables. They are officers, usually with some training, who are relieved of open public police duties to concentrate on investigations. Hence the newish term investigators.
In my past as a traffic cop in a division, our traffic section detected more crime annually than any other team. But, this allowed the CID to concentrate on the more complex in depth matters.