PFA – Skills and Expertise

Police Film Advisors have accumulated many skills and expertise over five decades of frontline policing. PFA has collectively over 55 years of policing experience which we can bring to your project. Additionally, we have a network of serving and retired police personnel across the country which we can access at any time. We will advise on all aspects of policing throughout history.

Our extensive knowledge and network will ensure that we provide you with the best advice possible to ensure the most authentic and realistic product is produced whether that be a script, manuscript, TV programme, or Film. We will work with you to ensure that your work’s drama, tension, and threat are not compromised but enriched.

Below are details of some of the areas of policing we have experience and expertise in. If you are developing a novel and want to know some key investigative skills that your Detective character might possess, then we can help. When writing a dramatic script with a gruesome crime scene or bent cops, we can help. If you are filming a crime scene and want some advice on how the media are managed or where to place the cordons, we can help. You ask and we will deliver.

Police Film Advisors Skills and Expertise

• CID/Major Investigation Team (MIT) – Criminal Investigations including Major Crime.
• Crime Scene Management – Preservation, cross-contamination, exhibits.
• CHIS – Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Informants) – Development, Recruitment, Management.
• Counter Terrorism  Intelligence gathering, analysis, investigations. Ports/Airports/Airfields/VIP Protection
• Criminal Justice / CPS Liaison – Arrest – Charge – Court.
• Custody / Safer Detention – Prisoner processing, rights, PACE requirements.
• Covert Authorities – PACE –  practical application and use.
• Drugs – Legal classifications, testing, concealment, search.
• Firearms – Police use in the UK. Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) – Firearms Officer to Firearms Operational Command.
• FCR – Force Control Rooms – Structure, roles including public counters (Public Enquiry Offices).
• Gold Commander – Lead for public order, firearms, public events and major incidents.
• History – Five decades of policing – 1988 – 2021, access to a network of Police Historians across the UK.
• Intelligence – Collection, Development, Analysis, Dissemination.
• International Liaison Interpol/Europol Missing, Wanted Persons, Unidentified Bodies, Extradition, Intelligence sharing.
• Media Management Press Liaison, boundaries, and working together.
• NPCC – National Police Chiefs’ Council, formerly ACPO, responsibility, national leads, governmental relationships.
• Neighbourhood Policing – uniform foot and mobile, urban and rural patrols. Community policing.
• Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) – Investigation and Management.
• POLSA – Police Search Advisor Crime scene, Mis Pers, VIP protection of venues, body recovery/major disaster.
• Public Protection – MAPPA – Child Abuse, Adult Abuse, Domestic Violence, Sex Offender Management & Missing Persons.
• PACE – Police and Criminal Evidence Act – Arrest, Detention, Search, Interview, Charge. Covert and Overt Authorities.
• Professional Standards / Anti-Corruption – Investigations and Covert Operations.
• Specialist Operations – Firearms, Dogs, Public Order, Planning, Air Operations.
• Stop & Search – Authority, method, profiling & risks.
• Strategic Policing – Force Structures, Ranks & Roles, Models for Policing, Budget & Politics.

Police Film Advisors – Skills and Expertise