![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I see dead people
Jan. 11th, 2002 05:21 pmWell, not all, the time, just every now and then. I was called to attend at a scene of the crime this morning - basically the law requires that a coroner be there to order that the body be moved after the scene of crime people and the pathologist do all the necessary. I'm pretty much superfluous - they don't really need me to be there. At the end of the day I'm just there to say "go," once the pathologists says "Okay". It's a stupid job, really, but I guess someone's got to do it.
Anyway, this dead guy was found this morning, at a factory. The details aren't important, and besides, the homicide boys are on the case as far as the investigation are concerned. It was just fascinating, though, from a writing point of view, to see how the reality of police work matched up with what you see on television or think you know through years of reading detective fiction. The quickness of their conclusions, the professional, methodical way they do things, the zeroing in on details that you wouldn't even think about which change the whole complexion of the case. Within an hour of the arrival of myself and the pathologist at the scene, a working theory as to what had happened was already in place, with about sixty percent of the puzzle pretty much clear. The rest would be just verification of what they think happened.
As much as this job bores the Hell out of me sometimes, occasionally it's stuff like this that I appreciate - the chance to see our boys in action and see how good they are. Reassures me that however idiotic your standard beat cop seems to be sometimes, the guys doing the cases that matter most are indeed competent. Experience like this you just can't measure.
Anyway, this dead guy was found this morning, at a factory. The details aren't important, and besides, the homicide boys are on the case as far as the investigation are concerned. It was just fascinating, though, from a writing point of view, to see how the reality of police work matched up with what you see on television or think you know through years of reading detective fiction. The quickness of their conclusions, the professional, methodical way they do things, the zeroing in on details that you wouldn't even think about which change the whole complexion of the case. Within an hour of the arrival of myself and the pathologist at the scene, a working theory as to what had happened was already in place, with about sixty percent of the puzzle pretty much clear. The rest would be just verification of what they think happened.
As much as this job bores the Hell out of me sometimes, occasionally it's stuff like this that I appreciate - the chance to see our boys in action and see how good they are. Reassures me that however idiotic your standard beat cop seems to be sometimes, the guys doing the cases that matter most are indeed competent. Experience like this you just can't measure.
