The
Basic Guide to Forensic Awareness
Author:
Martin Gaule
ISBN:
1903639093
Publishers:
The New Police Bookshop
Price
£9.50 RRP UK
This
publication is a ‘booklet’ consisting of just 68 pages, but one that was well
known to me before I was asked to review it. Soon after it was first published
in 2002, I received a copy from the publishers, and having read it, I
immediately added it to the list of recommended reading for my University
Forensic Science students.
The author has vast
experience as a Crime Scene Examiner and Crime Scene Manager, and is now
employed by the Forensic Science Service.
As the title states – this
booklet is about ‘basic forensic awareness’ and in my view it covers the
subject extremely well.
As the author states “No
apology is made for the fact that the book is written in a simple and what some
might consider patronising manner. This is a deliberate move aimed at ensuring
the reader, whatever level of knowledge they currently have, will find the book
simple to understand and easy to read”.
I am aware that Police
training in the UK is much more complicated now than it was in my day, (the
early 1960s). As well as learning
criminal law, road traffic law etc, Police Officers now receive extensive
training in such things as diversity, ethnic minorities, human rights
legislation and whole myriad of other things. The result of this is that Police
basic training in forensic awareness has been reduced and in some cases dropped altogether. The author states that,
“This book aims to provide a basic but fundamental supplement to Police
training”. It is my opinion that it does just that.
The Police Officer on the
beat is invariably the first one to attend a crime scene, and it is of vital
importance that he or she should be fully aware of what forensic evidence may
be present, how to secure and preserve it, and most importantly how to prevent
contamination. I believe that this book is worth its weight in gold and should
be provided to all Police Officers on completion of their basic training. I
also highly recommend it to any student studying Forensic Science, or like
subjects.
Andy Day. 2005.
Introduction
The idea of a dictionary of crime and
police work arose initially at the suggestion of an author of crime fiction who
had asked me to help him improve the air of realism around a murder
investigation he intended to describe in his latest book. Despite unprecedented
mass-media attention, he complained, outsiders had still largely to trust to
informed guess work whenever they sought to capture the essence of what really
went on at the heart of the police service. I have heard that sentiment echoed
since then by a number of crime journalists as well.
Aside from those who earn their living
by writing about the police. It occurred to me that a comprehensive collection
of crime and policing terms could also prove to be beneficial for police
officers themselves. I consulted a number of ex-colleagues from the Met, and
they agreed: on a theoretical level there were textbooks aplenty on criminal
law and police procedures and there were directories to be consulted on
questions of structure and organisation within the job; from a practical point
of view, there were still a few grizzly old job: lurking around who had
forgotten more than most of us had ever learnt about how to work a beat and
specialists from the stolen vehicle squad no doubt knew the ins and outs of a'
cut and shut. Nowhere, however, was all this information brought together under
one roof. Such a collection, it was suggested could also brine enjoyment and no
little nostalgia to those who number amongst the large corpus of retired
officers. While school-leavers considering a career in the police would have a
sound starting point in their quest to decide whether 'the job' was the job for
them.
Similarly it was my oven view that a dictionary would prove a
useful reference to students and practitioners of law and criminology. and to
members of the many other professional and voluntary organisations whose work
brings them into contact with operational police officers.
As far as the content of the A-Z is
concerned. I have sought to cover as broad a scope of police-related subjects
as possible. These range from attestation as a recruit constable to the
tactical decisions confronting the senior investigating officer in a serial
murder case. Many of the more mundane details of non-operational areas of
police work have been omitted however, and I have confined traffic matters to
the more serious and well known offences such as drink/drive and causing death
by dangerous driving. Because of my met background, much of the terminology will reflect that used in London. in most cases the underlying procedures may be assumed to mirror those carried out in the provinces
where they may simply be known by a different name. However, in those instances where a given entry describes a practice or term which is peculiar to the capital, that fact is indicated in the notes.
Once the work on the A-Z got underway. I
found myself particularly drawn to investigate the origins and meaning of what
I have been content to call ‘jobspeak' - that rich vein of professional terms
and idioms which serve to define so much of the operational culture within the
police service. During the formative early years of my own career, I remember
my fascination at some of the ingenious examples I encountered. One lad on my
relief was unkindly known as Chi-Chi, another the Olympic Torch. Both were
members of the Ghurka regiment. Amongst the senior officers at the station were
butterflies, seagulls and mushrooms. All these and many more items of ‘jobspeak'
are explained. No doubt I have missed countless others besides.
Along the same lines, familiar
expressions of prison slang are listed and, for those with a particular
interest in the drugs-scene, there are around seventy controlled drug
street-names, as well as their generic titles and details of the vocabulary
associated with their use.
A thematic index has also been included,
where entries are listed under broad subject headings. This, I hope, will prove
a useful tool to crime writers and crime journalists especially, assisting any
research into a particular area of crime or police work which they may be
undertaking.
For those who wish to delve further into
this fascinating and eternally evolving contest between cops and robbers, the
bibliography on the final pages lists what I consider, from my own experience
and from all the material to which I have had recourse during my research, to
constitute some of the most accurate and most worthwhile reading currently
available.
Finally, for stylistic reasons I have
used the male personal pronoun throughout. In all cases, this may be read as
'he/she' or 'him/her' as appropriate. The same is the case with other
references, such as rank-holders and job titles within the police and offender
types or victims of crime outside it.
Ashley Rickman Cambridge March 2001
Foreword
There is something about the work they
do which makes police officers shrewd observers of the human condition. Facing
danger on the streets and intervening in situations of high stress and tension
gives them a jaundiced and sometimes grim view of life. But to be a successful
upholder of the law also requires a highly-developed sense of humour.
As a result police officers have developed a peculiar language all their own. It is a lexicon of buzzwords which reduce the most complex technical terms to snappy and easily understood abbreviations and express many aspects of police work and culture in hilarious rhyming slang.
These days many police officers are
feeling embattled - isolated, besieged and misunderstood by almost all groups
in society. So, in private, the language officers use to one another and code and
body language.
On the streets they have to be careful
not to give offence and to gain the compliance of the people they deal with by
using the appropriate language at all times. Police officers' restraint and politeness
in sometimes very trying circumstances is extraordinary. Rarely, if ever, is
the language of the police station heard on the street.
Ashley Rickman has captured all of this
with accuracy and a light, fresh touch. This book is a welcome addition to
British police literature. It will not only be, as it was intended, a valuable
reference work for writers of crime fiction and law and order journalists, but
it is also a most entertaining and amusing read in its own right.
Chester Stern
Crime Correspondent of The Mail on
Sunday President of the Crime Reporters' Association March 2001
Ashley Rickman has served in a wide
variety of postings across London, as a detective and uniformed officer, and
has received several chief officers' commendations for courage, persistence and
devotion to duty. Since leaving the service, he has pursued his lifelong
interest in the written and spoken word, working as an editor for writers of
crime fiction, gaining a degree in medieval languages from the University of
Cambridge, not to mention compiling a dictionary of crime and police work.
This book is offered as a useful point
of reference for students and practitioners of law and criminology, and to
members of the many other professional and voluntary organisations whose work
brings them into contact with operational police officers.
Human Rights:The Guide for Police Officers & Support Staff.
Comprehensive manual - annotated and fully referenced. Target audience - human
rights trainers/auditors, managers, best value auditors.
Human Rights: The Pocket Guide for Police Officers & Support Staff.
Ready reference pocket guide to Human Rights Act, Articles and legal principles. For busy operational police officers and support staff engaged on all duties.