Just a note on characterisations within fiction.

Without falling too much into the cliches of Christie,
James and Conan Doyle and describing every body
involved with law enforcement as "stolid"--although
it is worth noting they do all tend to eat at the same
canteen and no prizes for guessing that "rabbit food"
is hardly popular amongst real men doing real men's
work...

....but anyway, it has come to my attention that one
may, broadly, have three kinds of "friend in the Police".

The first is the "old mate from school". These probably
are genuinely friends. If your characters are older then
there's a likelihood of genuine friendship forming at, say
the bar of your local--but really it has to be a local to
be plausible.

The second, broadly speaking, is a "Brother Mason".

Anybody wishing to feature female police officers may
like to note that one traditional reason given for the
establishing of the "Hermetic Order of The Golden
Dawn" was to open the sharing of Masonic teaching
to female initiates. I don't know how true it is, but it
is often cited as a reason. I find it quite hard to form
a mental picture of any of the female Police Officers
who it's been my general finding are, genuinely, fairer
and more concerned with law and justice than bribes
and machismo officiating as High Priestess at a sex
magick ritual but YMMV.

And the third kind, which seems to reflect reality as
much as the first two, is the kind that's referred to as
a "friend" but is, in reality, a "handler".

The Bill has never really managed to portray this
side of Police work effectively to my mind but I suspect
strongly that the terms are genuinely synonymous in
reality. I had to smile when I first cottoned on to that
one. Then after some more consideration strongly
felt I ought to share it, as it's a side of the job that
few authors tackle convincingly but is undeniably
an element in day-to-day UK Plod culture.

Again, a detail for elements of dialogue more than
any great plot device or startling revelation.

Obviously any female Priestesses wishing to
recruit participants for the purposes of creative
sex magick rituals are welcome to make approaches.

SIPSTON

COPYRIGHT (C) 2006 SIPSTON
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