Kate Nova, of Port town Ghosts, recently confessed her fear of the dreaded little black notebooks that police carry. I found a notebook to be a crucial piece of equipment, taking good notes at a scene can prove invaluable in court. The wheels of justice can turn very slowly at time, and when you’re testifying about something two years or so after the fact good notes can really enhance your credibility. But my all time favourite notebook story doesn’t involve good notes, or even court, but it illustrates another time honoured use of a police notebook.
When I was in Thompson, Manitoba, way back when, two friends of mine went to a domestic in a nearby apartment block. Let’s call them Constable A and Constable B. Constable A and B go to the domestic and handle it in a classic manner. They separate the two, and each one talks to the other, getting the stories, but keeping each other in sight. By the time they had arrived though the arguement was over, they quickly determined that no offence had occurred, and neither party was in danger. The two were just one of those couples that believe that the person that argues loudest, argues best, and they were both very loud. The situation calmed, now it was safe, and the proper time to get the mundane details. Like names, dates of birth etc.
Constable A started asking the questions and as he did he saw Constable B take out his notebook and write in it. Seeing no need to duplicate that task he didn’t bother with his notebook. Their work there done, they headed back to the office for that part of police work that movies are made of… paperwork. Constable A generously offered to write up the file and then the conversation went like this:
A: I’ll need your notebook B.
B: What do you need my notebook for?
A: You were writing down the names so I didn’t bother, I just need to copy the details for the file.
B: I didn’t take down the names.
A: What were you writing in your notebook?
B: The lotto 6/49 numbers were on TV.
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3 responses
Ooops!
When I lived in Inuvik, I used to work as a matron at the station every now and then. It gave me an insight into the work of the RCMP that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I’m sure the people stationed there made there mistakes but I’ve have never worked with a crew that was more dedicated.
Some of my current colleagues – teachers – are not even close to being so people-oriented, which is a sad state of affairs. We are after all looking after the generation that’ll take care of us one day…
I use a black notebook,a Moleskin, partly because Hemingway, partly because I don’t need a huge thick notebook for TV, and mostly because it looks bad ass. I like to counter my more relaxed look with focused professionalism from time to time, keeps people off balance.
But what I really like, those Canadian Military notebooks with the graph paper and teh hard covers. I bought a few of those at a surplus store, and I wish I had more.
Thanks Trudie, It is a job that tends to weed you out quickly if you aren’t people oriented. One of the reasons I loved it so much is that it was filled with people who cared about trying to make a difference in individuals lives. One of the other reasons was it is filled with people with great senses of humour.
Kent, I don’t know if they come with graph paper but you should check out art supply stores for bound sketch books. Like a little hard cover novel waiting to be filled. My new moleskines have been shipped. I’ll probably post on how the engraving looks when they arrive. Check out their site at http://engraveyourbook.com They also do laptops, iPods and cell phones that look super cool