SIGHTS
A waiting area with chairs, a flag, statuary, a map of the city or county, Rotary Club plaques, restrooms, a water fountain, a glass partition that has to be spoken through to gain entrance to the station, a bell to be rung for service, doors with electronic locks and keypads, the dispatch room (computers, phones, TVs), a secure armory filled with weapons, interview rooms (table and chairs, handcuffs, pens and pads of paper), holding cells (concrete walls, a door with a window in it, a steel table and stools attached to the floor), a recording room (computers that record interviews and witness accounts, a TV screen that shows what’s happening in an interview room, pens and paper, table and chairs), transcription rooms (cubicles, officers dictating reports into recording devices, transcribers entering recorded reports into computers), debriefing rooms for bringing officers up to speed on current cases (a large table and chairs, a dry-erase board, a bulletin board, boxes of files, pens and notepads), an evidence room (baggies filled with evidence, a rolling cart filled with labelled baggies, crowded shelves, evidence lockers, boxes of spare evidence bags, an officer logging evidence and recording visitors), offices (for sergeants and detectives, the SWAT team and their equipment, a community service office), a kids’ area where children can wait or be interviewed (soft furniture, coloring books and crayons, board games, blocks, books, toys), a garage used for searching a vehicle for evidence or for prepping a vehicle that will be used for undercover work (tools, automotive equipment) as well as for the secure transport of prisoners in and out of police vehicles, a chain link impound cage for bicycles, witnesses giving statements, suspects being interviewed, children and family members waiting in the waiting area, police officers doing desk work, a break room
SOUNDS
People shifting about in the waiting room, officers discussing cases behind the glass, phones ringing, doors buzzing, keys jingling, electronic doors clicking open, the quiet murmur of dispatchers speaking into headsets, officers interviewing a suspect, the rattle of a suspect’s handcuffs as he answers questions, keyboards clicking, papers being flipped, music playing from a player, shoes squeaking on tile floors, file cabinets sliding open, police radios squawking, people arguing, babies crying, sirens sounding from outside, voices coming over an intercom system, whistling and humming, doors opening and closing, officers chatting and joking in the break room, printers spitting out rap sheets, TV and microwave noises from the break room
SMELLS
Old coffee, cleaning chemicals, metal, sweat, cigarette smoke wafting off the clothing of smokers
TASTES
Coffee, soda, delivery food or a lunch brought from home
TEXTURES AND SENSATIONS
The claustrophobic sensation of being brought into a locked facility, pacing the length of a tiny holding cell, cold handcuffs confining one’s wrists, a hard plastic chair, sweat trickling down one’s back, the powdery feel of latex gloves as one handles evidence, stretching or getting up to walk around after bending over a file or keyboard for a long period of time, a headset that scratches the ears, sore wrists and fingers from sitting at a computer and typing, the weight of a gun at one’s hip, leaning back in a rolling chair as one listens to a debriefing
POSSIBLE SOURCES OF CONFLICT
Uncooperative suspects
High or inebriated suspects
Paperwork and red tape that slows the process
Dishonest or untrustworthy witnesses
An understaffed police department
Unethical or incompetent police officers
Political posturing within the department
Pressure being applied from higher-ups
An officer losing his keys or access card
Pushy lawyers making things difficult
A power failure that disables the electronic locking mechanisms
Misplaced evidence
Conflicts of interest (family members or friends brought in for questioning, etc.)
Broken air conditioning
PEOPLE COMMONLY FOUND HERE
Citizens who want to file a report, delivery people, detectives, dispatchers, friends and family members of suspects, lawyers, police officers, reporters, suspects and criminals
RELATED SETTINGS THAT MAY TIE IN WITH THIS ONE
Courtroom, police car, prison cell
SETTING NOTES AND TIPS
Police stations have come a long way since the days of Andy Griffith. While some remain small, others are sprawling, taking up an entire multi-level building. Many factors will determine the environment of a station, including its budget and the size of the area it services. A low-traffic station might be clean and sterile, while a station in a high-crime area may be less tidy. There may be a large waiting area filled with restless people, or an empty waiting room that consists of just a few chairs. The holding cells could be numerous and spacious enough to fit large numbers of people, or there might be just one or two meant to hold a single suspect.
When designing this setting, think about the city or town where the station is located and the volume (and type) of crime that they typically deal with. A police station located in a hamlet may have a much smaller space and allocate certain rooms as multipurpose areas. As well, they may have no need for an actual evidence room and simply use a security locker instead. If violent crime is rare, they will not have a SWAT team and will store any heavier armor and weaponry in a highly secure room or locker.
SETTING DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
Ms. Minas perched on the edge of her plastic seat, pinching her pocketbook in a death grip. It had been two hours since they’d called about Brian. Ninety minutes she’d been sitting in this chair, surrounded by Meritorious Medal winners and posters of dimpled police officers—none of whom seemed to care that her grandson had been arrested and was being held somewhere behind that glass partition against his will.
Techniques and Devices Used: Contrast
Resulting Effects: Reinforcing emotion