This isn’t about cops, but cop shows: a person is an important witness, or they’ve been attacked, or they’re being stalked, and it’s nighttime. They go home, or to a hotel, or to stay with someone, and they walk around the well-lighted room in full view of uncurtained, unshaded windows. 
Sometimes they even stand at the window and look out for a while. I never do that at night, even when I’m not being stalked.
Seriously! And at night you can’t see out, but people can sure look in.
When someone tells you to do something, the only correct response is “copy that.”
Yeah, well police really do not like Jessica Fletchers. Often the “concerned amateur” helping out is actually the killer.
Yeah. Oddly, a .357, a .38 special, and a 9mm make the same size hole. If it is a .22 or something you could guess 'a small caliber", myabe.
They learn that in the academy, right after learning how to taste a tiny bit of powder in a baggie, and instantly identify it. Without being affected by it, at all.
If you’re the first cop at the scene of a bomb threat and find the bomb, you’ll immediately see that there’s no time for the bomb squad to arrive, because all bombs have big red digital readouts that show exactly how many minutes and seconds are left until it goes off. So disabling the bomb will be up to you.
You’ll see a red wire and a blue wire. ALWAYS cut the blue wire.
…or, is it the red wire??
The blue wire. Whenever there’s something wrong with my dishwasher, I jiggle the blue wire.
I mentioned it somewhere up above. There doesn’t seem to be any concept called “conflict of interest.” 9 times out of 10 no one cares that the prosecution’s witness is the brother of the prosecutor questioning him. As if the entire cross examination wouldn’t be “so she’s your sister and you’re her star witness? The one time out of ten that they are told to not be involved they are involved anyway will no Ill effects.
Iirc isn’t the modern way to defuse a bomb by freezing the detonator?
No!! You fool!!
(or just jiggle any wire you wish)
They all look gray to me.
Sorry, but ethically, you’re going to need to quit your bomb squad job.
Do the boot test first.
NEVER cut the blue wire. ALWAYS cut the wire when the soundtrack stops as you hover over it with your diagonals.
Tripler
If ever I had an authoritative post, this’d be it.
And to think, we were here when The Tripler Suggestion made its debut.
The corollaries are yet to be claimed, such as “Pay attention to that out-of-place object, it’ll be a crucial clue an hour later” and “You know he/she’s the one when the background behind them goes out of focus.”
Oh, I hate that. The bloodless shootings and stabbings in TV shows and older movies are so unrealistic they can jerk me right out of the story. My brother and I used to joke about the advanced sound-wave weapons everyone apparently had in the Old West and other old-movie milieues, that killed you without leaving a mark on your body.
Fuck it - I’m pulling ALL the wires -
I feel like things have gone 180 degrees the opposite direction in “darker and grittier” modern cop shows/movies, with any bullet wound producing a gaping hole spewing absolute geysers of blood and viscera. And it’s inevitably the entry wound that produces the big spurt, even though entry wounds are often just small holes. It’s the exit wound that causes the most visible damage.
I was actually quoting a TV show. I was wondering if anybody would recognize it.
If you find yourself in the presence of a celebrated amateur detective, get OUT. RUN!
Murder follows those people like a shadow - you could be the victim of the next case they solve.
(It really should have been titled ‘Murder, She Caused’)