Police Advice for Crime Fiction

Fiction Feedback is proud to offer a police advice service to writers, calling on the multiple skills of Simon Dinsdale, a published crime writer as well as a very senior, retired police officer with vast experience of serial killer investigations, terrorism and special security duties as well as a host of other investigations.

We work in harmony with Simon and would usually recommend his services after you’ve had an initial critique, critique plus or developmental edit with us. That way, we can highlight the areas that need  his attention and you’re only using his services for the areas of the novel that need it – whether that’s a section here and there, just one chapter or the full novel. Usually, Simon’s time will be charged similarly to a developmental edit, and of course we discuss your exact requirements with you upfront.

Alternatively, if you wish to consult us for Simon’s services only, that’s fine too. Just get in touch.

Career overview

Simon Dinsdale served for 30 years with Essex Police and worked in a wide variety of policing roles, achieving the rank of Detective Superintendent.

Steve Wright Serial Killer, Ipswich 2006: Simon an SIO

All Simon’s service was spent on the front line of policing. He was a detective for 27 years, starting out by solving volume crimes such as burglary, robbery and rape. He later served in covert and undercover policing with the Regional Crime Squad, then in counter-terrorism and close protection with Special Branch.

For the last six years of his service, Simon was a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO), leading major investigations in Essex. During this time, he led more than a hundred such enquiries including 30 murders.

Simon now concentrates on writing, as well as speaking and broadcasting about his experiences, for instance on true crime TV programmes. He is the author of the DS Christian Dane police novels, published by Sharpe Books.

Stand-out cases

• Simon led the first ever cold-case investigation in Essex, solving a 28-year-old murder.
• Simon was seconded to Suffolk police in 2006 as one of the SIOs to investigate the serial killing of five women in Ipswich, with the killer identified as Stephen Wright.
• While investigating a murder in Essex he traced two suspects to their home in Northern Iraq and interviewed them there.

Wide experience of policing

Simon’s long experience as a senior investigator, leading murder and other major investigations, have ensured an easy familiarity with and often detailed expertise in all aspects of the kind of police investigations likely to be found in crime novels.

His own novels are testament to how he adapts real-life experience for the purposes of fiction, understanding the balance to be drawn between authenticity and the demands of a novel.

Consequently, Simon is a first-class source for contemporary policing, and in areas where he doesn’t have direct experience, or with regard to the Metropolitan Police and indeed international forces, he has an extensive network of fellow police officers whose expertise he calls on in his work advising crime writers.

He has outstanding knowledge based on long experience for the basics in crime novels where the police are concerned:

• police procedure, scene settings, kit, jargon, and nomenclature
• police structure and hierarchy; who does what, who reports to whom

Specialisms, in Simon’s own words

• CSI/Forensic science. I have lost count of the number of crime scenes I attended. And as I was the lead investigator, those experts were working at my direction. I have an intimate knowledge of how they do their work and all the rules governing how it must be done.
• Kidnap and extortion. I was specially trained to lead these complex investigations and am experienced in doing so.
• Counter-terrorism. Again, I’m specially trained in this area, and again, I have the concomitant experience.
• Police procedure on a daily basis; what happens when and why, what happens next; what is done and what is not done.
• Surveillance: extensive experience and knowledge
• Witness protection: extensive experience and knowledge
• Crime intelligence: extensive experience and knowledge
• Pathology: while I’m not a forensic pathologist I’ve attended more than a hundred forensic post-mortems so know what they look, sound and smell like. I have described PMs in all my books.

Gritty detail

Armed bodyguard

I was an armed close-protection officer (bodyguard) for several years and protected politicians and many members of the Royal household. I have wide experience in the planning and execution of those operations.

MI5 and MI6

As a Special Branch officer I was trained by MI5 and worked with them and MI6 during counter-terrorism operations. Later I was trained as a counter-terrorist SIO and conducted several such investigations.

Undercover policing

I led and managed several UC operations, while a close colleague was a Level 1 UC and carried out some bloodcurdling work. I consult them for the information that comes with hands-on experience.

The novelist’s authenticity balance

While Simon belongs to the school of thought that believes novels should be as authentic as possible, he recognises that, for a novel to achieve its goals, sometimes other factors come into play. His own experience as a novelist is particularly useful here. Simon understands that in a novel credibility is the most important thing of all, and where 100% authenticity isn’t possible, then having a novel that is rooted in authenticity means any areas subject to artistic licence are very likely to be believable, providing the positive reader experience every novelist seeks.

We also like to remind authors that to write a successful novel the demands of fiction must never be overlooked. For instance, the work must entertain. So if the authentic police work is dull, tedious and prolonged, the writer must find a way of glossing over this. Similarly, results can take a long time to come back from the lab in real life, yet sometimes, to keep the plot moving, in the novel there would need to be special circumstances that allowed them to arrive with the investigating officers sooner.

Overall, we find that if a writer, like Simon, knows the likelihood of timescales and all other elements of an investigation in real life, they are best placed to adjust this information as necessary in their novel while not stepping too far outside the boundaries of authenticity. We invite you to share Simon’s specialist knowledge.

Please email us if you have a project that calls for the eyes of the law!