Ten things to ask your police advisor before filming
If you are making a film, drama, documentary, or branded piece that involves police work, a good police advisor is not just there to check uniforms or tell you whether a scene “looks right”. I can bring my experience of over 30 years policing to help shape the story, protect realism, avoid legal mistakes, and – bonus – I can save you time on set.
A lot of problems happen because people bring in an advisor too late. By then, scripts are locked, locations are booked, and scenes have already been planned around assumptions that do not quite work in real policing. The smarter approach is to ask the difficult questions before filming starts, not after the director has fallen in love with a scene that would never happen in practice #awkward
So here’s ten questions a producer might ask me, their Police Advisor:
1. What is the most realistic version of this scene?
This is usually the best place to start. I can tell you whether the scene works as written, what would actually happen, and where the drama is coming from. Sometimes the answer is “yes, broadly”, sometimes it is “not like that”, and sometimes the most authentic version is more dramatic than the version on the page.
2. What would officers actually say?
Dialogue is one of the quickest ways to lose authenticity. Officers do not speak in neat television soundbites, and the way they address suspects, colleagues, victims, and witnesses matters a lot. I can help you with terminology, radio language, arrest wording, custody phrasing, and the small speech patterns that make a scene believable.
3. What would happen next?
This is the question that often exposes whether a scene has been thought through. If someone is arrested, searched, restrained, taken to a vehicle, booked in, interviewed, or released, there are usually practical and procedural steps that follow. Talking through with me the “what happens next?” helps you avoid writing scenes that stop at the dramatic moment and ignore the consequences.
4. What are we getting wrong about procedure?
Every production has assumptions, and some of them are harmless while others are not. I can spot where the script has compressed time, skipped safeguards, or moved events around in a way that would not work in real life. That is not about being fussy for the sake of it — it is about protecting credibility and keeping your viewer engaged.
5. What are the legal issues here?
This is an especially important question if you are filming arrests, searches, firearms, warrants, custody, surveillance, or public order scenes. There may be legislation, codes of practice, force policy, or safety issues that affect how the scene should be handled. Often, the specific legal stuff might not affect the drama, but if it does, then I can help avoid the pitfalls and save you a lot of costly rewrites.
6. How would this be managed in real life?
Sometimes the scene is plausible, but the logistics are off. Would a unit really turn up that quickly? Would that officer be the right rank? Would the team have the equipment they need? Does that sort of unit even exist? (Spoiler: there’s no SWAT teams in the UK!) These are the sorts of practical questions that can make a big difference on screen.
7. What would officers be concerned about?
In real policing, officers are rarely only thinking about the headline event. They are also thinking about safety, evidence, vulnerability, continuity, command, communication, and what could go wrong in the next five minutes. If you understand what concerns the officers have, the scene becomes much more believable.
8. What would the public see?
A scene may make perfect sense to police professionals but still look odd to a member of the public. That matters, because many viewers will judge realism based on what they think police should look like. I understand the needs of drama, and I can help you balance what is technically accurate with what the audience needs to understand.
9. What should we avoid showing?
Sometimes realism is not just about what to include, but what not to do. That could mean avoiding unsafe practices, incorrect uniform use, unrealistic restraint techniques, or scenes that would create a bad impression for the wrong reasons. It is worth asking directly what would be a red flag to an experienced officer.
10. What is the one thing that will make this feel authentic?
This is probably my favourite question, because it often gets to the heart of the scene. Sometimes the answer is a detail of language. Sometimes it is rank structure. Sometimes it is tempo, body language, or the way a conversation is handled. Often it is something small that the audience may not consciously notice, but they will feel if it is missing or wrong.
Final thought
The best productions do not treat a police advisor as a last-minute fixer. They use me as part of the creative process, from early script work through to filming and playback. Ask the right questions, and you are far more likely to end up with something that feels grounded, credible, and worth watching.
Convinced? Give me a call or drop me a message and let’s see how I can help your next production.
