For all you mystery writers. You have cops in your scenes. Do you know a cop? If not, cops have different body language than the average joe citizen. I know, I'm married to one. when I started my mystery series it was pretty easy for me to figure out how my cop was going to act, how we would react and what his body stance would be. Yep, I just observed hubby.
I love watching him interact in public. The most obvious thing I learned about his actions was that in a restaurant, he will NEVER sit with his back to the door. Being a writer, I'm an observer of people and this drives me nuts, because I have to sit with my back to the door. I get stuck watching the looney birds in the corner play smoochy face or whatever, while he gets to watch people come and go. I know I could run in and sit down in the seat facing the door, but it's a protection, macho thing on his part. So I watch the looney birds.
I ran across a great post by Lynda Sue Cooper about cop body language, and this gal really drilled it. It's because she and her husband are both cops. As I read the post, I thought, "Oh boy, she must know my husband."
The next time you write about a cop or any professional for that matter, stop and think about what in their profession causes them to do certain things or act certain ways.
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