Expert: William Payne - 8/4/2007

Question
Sir:

My name is William Fowler and I am a Recruit Officer in a local Police Academy in St. Louis Missouri.

We are currently going through our report writing course and I am struggling a little bit.

They want the report to be short and to the point, yet as detailed as possible. I am having a hard time with either writing too much or not enough.

I am trying to get all the facts written in the report in chronological order and am not expressing personal opinions, however the instructors are constantly rewording my reports.

I have searched the web and found limited resources on sample reports to read.

Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated.

I want to have a good foundation in report writing when I hit the street.

Respectfully,

William Fowler

Answer
Mr. Fowler,

Thanks for the question.

A lot of officers struggle with report writing. Police supervisors constantly check reports and send them back to officers so they can either add information or make corrections.

Police reports are critical in law enforcement. I try to instill in my police recruits that the very report they are writing could end up a U. S. Supreme Court case or decision. How embarrassing to an officer and a department if the report is a horrible piece of police work.

The basics of a police report: Who, what, when, where, how and why.

Make sure the report is in chronological order, establish probable cause in your reports if an arrest is made, outline the elements of a crime if one is involved. times/dates match up, Victims/suspects match up. Be detailed, but to the point in your reports, and most of all, be factual.

If you have access to old police reports at a local law enforcement agency, read them and see the different styles of writing and how information is outlined in reports. Find an old crusty sergeant that does a lot of report reading and talk to them about what they like to see in the reports.

Go to the Calibre-Press Web Site. They have a few books that detail report writing.

Hope this helps out.

Good luck and best wishes!