Police work in real life isn't like in the movies.
But if it were, those movies wouldn't make much at the box office.
My husband works in law enforcement, no matter how much I try to convince him to find a job with better hours where he won't be made the scapegoat and poster child for all of society's ills. But he loves it too much, and I'm always forced to concede that with his deep emotional intelligence and compassion for humanity, he's exactly the kind of person everyone deserves to have arrive on scene during the worst moment of their life.
For the most part, though, police work is boring. And incongruous. And open-ended. None of those are great for a movie. Hitting tab to go from form field to form field on a report isn't sexy. Bringing the same person in on criminal mischief charges for the 300th time isn't glamorous. And delivering a death notification to a ten-year-old boy about his mother isn't a potent plot point, it's a complete emotional shitshow for everyone involved and begs for therapy afterward.
From what I can tell, being a cop is a game of hurry-up-and-wait. It's an odd mix of boring and routine and close encounters with unforgettable sadness and evil. Law enforcement officers encounter more trauma each week on the job than most of us do in our entire lifetime. People can't help but be shaped by that.
These are some of the concerns floating around in my little skull as I write the Dana Capone series. I want to do the job of law enforcement justice because the people doing it deserve that. But I also don't want to bore the everliving fuck out of my readers.
What you can rely on when you read the series, though, is that there's some truth to it. When Detective Capone bucks standard procedure, everyone knows it. The detectives and sergeants and patrol officers will remain complex, and the issues among the ranks won't be watered down. Shit will get real. My husband will be holding me to that.
But I'll show you the exciting parts of it. We'll skip the paperwork... unless there's a clue in the paperwork. Because as unsexy as that is, sometimes that's where the biggest moments of revelation happen—alone at the substation at 3am, filling out forms. You'll get to see all sides of policing in this series, because there are so many sides to show, and no, not all of them are pretty to look at. But tell me a profession where all sides of it are easy on the eyes. Every industry is complex like that, but not every career allows you to save lives, to be a source of comfort for strangers in their dark moments, and to get evil off the streets.
That's what draws me to it, and I suspect that's what draws you to it, as well. Complexity is riveting, especially in the battle of good and evil.
If you want to see what it’s like against the backdrop of Austin, Texas, check out my Dana Capone series. Start with the free prequel, Legacy Killers, or jump straight into book 1, Killer Delivery.