Working on screenplay for police film in Los Angeles and need LAPD officers' advice

[writerguy]

Hello,

As the message heading says, I am working on a police work-oriented screenplay that's set in Los Angeles. While I like what I have written very much, this particular story isn't supposed to take place in "the real world", rather a xerox copy of that "real world".

That being said, I didn't want to completely abandon reality (whereas police procedure, etc. is concerned) and have a law enforcement official read the script and say, "this is so out there, it's not at all plausible".

This of course, is why I'm here. So with that, I'll ask the questions that have been on my mind. I will say in advance, that I apologize if any of these questions are silly or downright stupid.

1. Is it possible that a police officer's brother-in-law could be assigned to work at the very same precinct? Or is this not generally acceptable?

2. If a brother-in-law were assigned to the same precinct, could he still work in the same division (say robbery/homicide)?

3. What would be repercussions if, say, the Chief of Police ordered a captain to abandon surveillance of a suspect and the captain continued to do so? Would the captain be suspended, fired, or brought up on charges-- or any of the above?

4. How much control would a captain have over the investigation of a particular case? Can he/she decide to personally oversee that investigation if it's not to his/her satisfaction?

5. If there are casualties during a sting operation or arrest and a statement is taken of the arresting officer(s), who takes the statement? Is it internal affairs?

I'm sure I have even more questions, but these are the main ones for now.

Thanking you in advance,

WriterGuy

[retdetsgt]

1. Yes. Assigning relatives to the same precinct isn't a big deal. Most depts would avoid one relative working for another though.

2. Yes, again.

3. It would be insubordination. A captain could be disciplined for disobeying an order.

4. Generally, a captain would not micromanage something like that. In an important case, they would want to be briefed periodically.

5. I'm not sure what you mean by casualties. If there is wrong doing suspected on the part of the officers, IA will at least review it. I can't speak for LA specifically, but my dept. we have a team that investigates officer involved shootings.

[Aussie George]

I think the most important question you should have asked is...

"Should there be a very handsome officer called George, and should he be from Australia?"


The answers are....

Yes, and yes. ;)

[GoDirectly2Jail]

Almost all the studios will pay for a LE consultant to make changes on the set that jive with reality, if needed. The screenwriter should not concern themselves with it. Just do a good writing job, and let the other pieces fall into place.