??? For any FBI agents on the board

[jeff1981]

Good morning,

I'm looking for some background info (I'm a writer working on a fiction piece) on FBI equipment so I don't make my characters look foolish. Any FBI agents (current or retired) who would be willing to share some basic info?

1. What is typically assigned to an agent? (pistol, rifle, shotgun? Laptop computer? Car? etc) Does equipment for SWAT/HRT differ from "regular" agents? (1911 vs Glock, etc)

2. What would an agent investigating white collar crime typically carry on his/her person- gun, holster, spare ammo, smart phone, or anything else?

2. Do agents have offices, or work out of their homes?

3. Iphone or Android? Windows or Mac? (Sounds silly to care, but these sort of details add realism)

4. Are HRT agents doing that full time, or do they also work in other capacties?

5. Anything you see in movies or on TV that's clearly absurd, or bothers you- stuff I should make sure NOT to do?

**To be clear, I am not asking for any ifo that would be sensitive in any way, just trying to make sure I portray my characters realistically and respectfully.**

Thank you for your service,
Jeff

 

[Texas Star]

Thanks for asking.Those are good questions, and as both a writer and a reader, I concur that much of the enjoyment in a novel has to do with correctness in this area.

 

[crazyphil]

"...whatever success I have had has been through writing what I know
about." Ernest Hemingway 1928

 

[Muss Muggins]

This is just me, but sentences like "Smith holstered his .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 13 with a three inch barrel in his brown leather Safariland holster, unlocked his black 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and reported that he was en route on his Motorola DTR550 handheld radio . . . " are tiresome and needlessly detailed. Plus, you will always get unintended anachronisms like I typed above . . .

 

[Shark Bait]

^^^Thanks Muss. I needed a laugh this morning. But I wish the OP luck in the quest for info.

 

[WardenRoss]

It's not just you....Here's one example...........

Special Agent Muss unfastened his seatbelt, slowly un-holstered his Glock 23 and placed it on the passenger seat. He wanted it to be in plain sight.

Then, ever so slowly, he pulled the faded, dark green Crown Vic through the drive-thru at the King Kong Buffet. His only prayer was "Hope she don't see the check engine light, it's so embarrassing." And, just as planned, the cute Chinese girl leaned completely out of the drive-thru window to get as close to the Agent as possible.

Then, she notices the Glock. You could see the expression in her eyes.
"You must be police! I give you extra rice!" Muss was exuberant! "Works every time!" he says to himself as his empty stomach growls. "Wonder if she's workin tonight?"


,
,
,
,

EDIT - Want to wish the OP best of luck and success with his FBI story.

 

[Texas Star]

This is just me, but sentences like "Smith holstered his .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 13 with a three inch barrel in his brown leather Safariland holster, unlocked his black 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and reported that he was en route on his Motorola DTR550 handheld radio . . . " are tiresome and needlessly detailed. Plus, you will always get unintended anachronisms like I typed above . . .

You have to spread it out more, mentioning this stuff in different scenes. But one can artfully include all.

Few authors really know guns well. Donald Hamilton and Peter O'Donnell both did well, but Hamilton really owned guns and hunted. He also wrote for, Gun Digest and outdoor titles. His Matt Helm books were quite good, much beyond the Dean Martin movies.

Peter O'Donnell probably got his data mainly via reading US gun magazines, but made quite intelligent choices, once he got past arming Modesty Blaise with an unknown model of Colt .32.

Unless the book is being written by a current or recently retired agent, it'll have to be researched by a non-agent author. Careful research can produce a good book with minimal errors.

John Sandford manages, despite having been a newspaper reporter before becoming an author, and David Lindsey wrote superb books after riding with Houston homicide cops.

The cop novel really written by a cop, like Joe Wambaugh, is rare.

You don't have to write about what you know, but do need to write about what you can learn. The OP is trying to do valid research. I wish him luck in crafting a plausible book, or series, if he's lucky.

 

[Cardboard_killer]

Few audiences know guns well either. There's a reason you still hear glocks being cocked in movies--the audience expects to hear a cocking sound so hollywood has to put it in despite their on-location gun expert telling them it's wrong.

 

[Texas Star]

"...whatever success I have had has been through writing what I know
about." Ernest Hemingway 1928

Wilbur Smith has said much the same. But he doesn't know guns as well as he pretends to. He knows some, but has gaps in his knowledge that irk me when he makes an error.

But much of his background info is correct, although less in his ancient Egyptian-set books than in his modern ones. But he still tells a good tale.

 

[jeff1981]

This is just me, but sentences like "Smith holstered his .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 13 with a three inch barrel in his brown leather Safariland holster, unlocked his black 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and reported that he was en route on his Motorola DTR550 handheld radio . . . " are tiresome and needlessly detailed. Plus, you will always get unintended anachronisms like I typed above . . .

I agree with you.... what I try to do when I start writing is put together extremely detailed character profiles- for my use- and then as the story unfolds, I refer back to these profiles when details are needed. To do this well, I have to know all I can about my characters... hence the questions. If I get these details wrong, it can send the story arc off in a silly direction, which ruins the story for anyone who knows the difference.

Trying to dump all that info into a few sentences does not work well though. Not well at all.

 

[jeff1981]

[QUOTE The OP is trying to do valid research. I wish him luck in crafting a plausible book, or series, if he's lucky.[/QUOTE]

I'd love to write a book someday.... but I'm afraid this is just for a short story (+/- 5,000 words) for a college class. I'm a former dairy farmer gone back to school for Psychology at age 37, and somehow have ended up taking creative writing. My original topic was to be related to agriculture and country life.... but the professor thinks that's too close to what I know so I was informed I'll be doing a crime story set in a city. Hence the need for information.

 

[lkabug]

Someday someone will write a major book about crime in small towns in America like. Monowi, Nebraska.

 

[ExRanger714]

I'm not FBI but. . .

While the term "white collar crime" has only been around for 80 or so years and the FBI is 110 it has been part of the FBI mission since the founding of the Bureau.

Without knowing the time frame of your story it is difficult to research your questions.

Had you seen this?

White-Collar Crime — FBI

 

[sigp220.45]

Good morning,

I'm looking for some background info (I'm a writer working on a fiction piece) on FBI equipment so I don't make my characters look foolish. Any FBI agents (current or retired) who would be willing to share some basic info?

1. What is typically assigned to an agent? (pistol, rifle, shotgun? Laptop computer? Car? etc) Does equipment for SWAT/HRT differ from "regular" agents? (1911 vs Glock, etc)

2. What would an agent investigating white collar crime typically carry on his/her person- gun, holster, spare ammo, smart phone, or anything else?

2. Do agents have offices, or work out of their homes?

3. Iphone or Android? Windows or Mac? (Sounds silly to care, but these sort of details add realism)

4. Are HRT agents doing that full time, or do they also work in other capacties?

5. Anything you see in movies or on TV that's clearly absurd, or bothers you- stuff I should make sure NOT to do?

**To be clear, I am not asking for any ifo that would be sensitive in any way, just trying to make sure I portray my characters realistically and respectfully.**

Thank you for your service,
Jeff

I retired from the Bureau in 2016 after 25 years. You don't say what time frame so I'll just answer for 2016:

1 - Every Agent has a handgun of course. Glocks rule the roost, though there are a few Sigs still grandfathered in. No revolvers. Long guns are issued by each office and is generally up to personal preference. I always drew an MP5/10, but those are gone now. The other choices are 14" 870s and semi-auto M4s. Everyone gets a takehome car. You can get a laptop if you want, I never did. SWAT guys now get Glock 17s in FDE. 1911s are all gone. HRT has a variety of guns to choose from.

2 - Handgun, 2 mags, probably cuffs, cellphone, badge usually on belt in front of gun, creds in a wallet.

3 - Office. There are 56 field offices and hundreds of Resident Agencies (RAs). I was in a one-man RA for five years, but I still had an office.

4 - I'll pass on answering that.

5 - HRT is a full time assignment, based at Quantico. Each field office has a SWAT team, those guys do it as an additional duty and also work cases.

6 - Almost everything in the movies and TV is wrong. It would be easier to PM me with questions about specific things.

 

[DWalt]

I have a suggestion. If you are close to an FBI office, just contact them and tell them what you are doing and ask if they will help you get what you need.

 

[yaktamer]

This is just me, but sentences like "Smith holstered his .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 13 with a three inch barrel in his brown leather Safariland holster, unlocked his black 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and reported that he was en route on his Motorola DTR550 handheld radio . . . " are tiresome and needlessly detailed. Plus, you will always get unintended anachronisms like I typed above . . .

When I read this, in my head I hear Steve Martin's voice from the narration of the opening scene in "Chubby Rain," the movie that the movie "Bowfinger" is about.

 

[Old Corp]

Just wanna thank the OP for bothering to ask and try to get somewhat informed.
A few years ago I was reading several books written by a renown NC author, Nicholas Sparks. He lives in the Eastern part of NC, same as me, and most of his stories are set here.
Read a book set in Craven Co., NC (New Bern is county seat) and one of the main characters was a Deputy with that Sheriff's Office.
OMG - it was awful.
Said Deputy made his own hours, went anywhere and well outside the county while working. Never handled calls but 'settled disputes' on his own, 'swiping off the safety on his Magnum service revolver'. He went from being a Patrol Deputy to a Detective and back and forth all on his own, the list went on.

Being bored, I emailed the author through a provided link in the book, nicely pointing out all the errors in his concept of what a Deputy does and offering to help if he would like.
Got no reply. Oh well.

 

[CH4]

This is just me, but sentences like "Smith holstered his .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 13 with a three inch barrel in his brown leather Safariland holster, unlocked his black 2008 Ford Crown Victoria and reported that he was en route on his Motorola DTR550 handheld radio . . . " are tiresome and needlessly detailed. Plus, you will always get unintended anachronisms like I typed above . . .

Agreed!

Sounds like a book I was just barely able to finish - The Doomsday Bunker.

 

[Marshwheeling]

A tip from my stepfather, who was in the FBI: "You can always tell a gummint man by his white shirt and his black Plymouth." Actually, he got that from a passerby in Harlem, who had made him for a Fed without difficulty. He was staking out a peripheral witness in the Alger Hiss case; you can judge for yourself how up-to-date the info is.

That episode was the closest thing to an actual adventure in his FBI career. Every one of his stories did involve one or more of those black Plymouths, though.

 

[16thVACav]

Assuming your story takes place in the present, don't make the common mistake of mentioning "the smell of cordite in the air" after a firearm has been discharged.