Y: EVERYTHING CRIME FROM A – Z

Yesterday

It’s hard for a criminal to get away with murder these days. As a writer, we have to be aware of modern technology and use it correctly in our books.

Remember when cell phones became common place? The writer had to come up with clever ways for the protagonist to be in a difficult situation without being able to call for help. The phone wasn’t charged, they left it in their car (or house or purse, etc.)

Nowadays we have super advanced DNA tests that can pinpoint eye color, height, nationality, etc. to a highly probable degree.
Public cameras are almost everywhere catching the public’s movements.

Cops now have GPS tracking darts which allow them to shoot a small sticky dart containing a micro GPS tracker from the grill of their patrol car onto a suspect’s vehicle.

 Automatic license plate recognition systems utilize cameras inside of patrol cars to automatically run every license plate the camera sees.

Drones can be used to give a bird’s eye view of a crime scene or an active shooting.

The police are outfitted with body cameras that record arrests and can be used as evidence in court.

ShotSpotter predicts where a gunshot was fired from. It can distinguish between the gunshot and the resulting echoes.



Thermal imaging is used to get ‘heat signatures’ of an area to help the  police locate suspects hiding in a dark building. It can also help locate a missing child/person. Does this mean the K9 is obsolete? Say it isn’t so!

 
Yesterday’s methods are constantly evolving and as writers, we need to keep up!

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