Law Enforcement Report Writing

1. Law EnforcementReport Writing UNIT FOUR Making the case

2. Ten Tips for Writing Reports Efficiently Try using these 10 tips the next time you write a police report, and you’ll be able to complete your paperwork more quickly and efficiently.

3. And that’s only one of the benefits. Anyone who reads your report (a lieutenant, reporter, or attorney) will be impressed by your professionalism and writing ability.

4. You will have avoided outdated (and time-wasting) wordiness that characterizes so much police writing. Here we go:

5. 1. Use names and pronouns (I, he, her) when you write about yourself and others at the scene. Avoid outdated expressions like “this officer” and “the abovementioned witness” or “victim 1.”

6. 1. Cont’d: In the past some officers were taught that impersonal terminology guaranteed objectivity and accuracy. Not true! You have the same integrity whether you’re calling yourself “I” or “this officer.”

7. 1. Cont’d: And think about this: if you were testifying in court, and sworn to tell the truth, you would use everyday language (“I,” “me”) in your testimony. Follow the same practice in your reports.

8. 2. Limit yourself to one idea per sentence. Short, straightforward sentences are easy to read and understand, saving time for everyone. (You’ll especially appreciate this time-saving tip when you’re reviewing a report to prepare for a court hearing.)

9. 2. Cont’d: The longer a sentence is, the more likely you are to make an error. 3. Start every sentence with a person, place, or thing. Normal sentence structure in English begins with a noun, and the grammar is simple:

10. 3. Cont’d: Just put a period at the end. Complicated sentences, on the other hand, require complicated punctuation, and they open the door to sentence errors.

11. 4. Try to limit yourself to three commas per sentence. If a sentence has more than three commas, it’s probably too complicated to be read easily, and it may contain usage or punctuation errors.

12. 5. Be as clear and specific as possible. Contacted” is vague: Did you visit, phone, or email the witness? “Residence” is just as confusing: House, apartment, mobile home, condo? Always strive for clarity.

13. 6. Use simple language. “Since” is easier to understand (and write) than “inasmuch as.” “Pertaining to” is a fancy (and time-wasting) way to write “about.”

14. 7. Stick to observable facts. Conclusions, guesses, hunches, and other thought processes do not belong in a report. Stick to the facts. A statement like “He was aggressive” won’t stand up in court.

15. 7. Cont’d: You can, however, write “Jackson clenched his fists and kicked a chair.”

16. 8. Write in paragraphs. Organizing information in groups (what each witness told you, what actions you did, what evidence you collected) has two important benefits: Your report is more logical, and it’s easier to read and understand later on.

17. 9. Use active voice. A widespread (and mistaken) notion in law enforcement says that passive voice guarantees objectivity and accuracy. Writing a sentence like “A revolver was seen under the nightstand” does not guarantee that you’re telling the truth.

18. 9. It’s much simpler just to write “I saw a revolver under the nightstand.” That’s what you would say in court, isn’t it?

19. 10. Use bullet style. You’ve probably been writing shopping lists all your life. Use the same format when you’re recording several pieces of related information, like this:

20. 10. Larry Holden told me: He and Sharon have been “fighting a lot” She was drunk when he came home from work She threw a package of frozen chicken at him

21. 10. He didn’t touch her These 10 tips can transform your report writing, making you more professional, more up-to-date, and more efficient. Don’t try to follow all 10 right away.

22. Choose one or two to focus on until they become second nature; then go on to one or two more. Keep learning and growing until you’ve become proficient with all 10.

23. One more suggestion: Share what you’re learning with other officers: Your entire agency will benefit, and you’ll be developing your leadership skills. When report writing improves, everyone, especially you, benefits.

24. How To Write Better Police Reports Thorough and accurate report writing can save your career and bolster your reputation as an honest officer.

25. CIVIL LIABILITES Winning a civil rights lawsuit against a municipality or county is like winning the lottery, at least for the plaintiffs and their attorneys. The vast majority of these suits do not go to trial; the city or county will settle out of court without admitting to wrongdoing.

26. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d In the back of your mind, you know what these administrators are thinking: Our officers did nothing wrong, but we are going to pay you this huge sum of money anyway so you will go away.

27. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d Never mind the damage it does to our officers' morale, the public's trust in our officers and the agency; what is important is that we don't lose more money because we don't know how to defend against these frivolous lawsuits. the ACLU.

28. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d Where does that leave you, the individual officer? Hopefully covered by the settlement, but in reality, what do the people you serve think when they learn about the settlement? I know you feel disgusted when your agency rolls over like this and pays some nuisance claim.

29. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d What should disgust you more is that it's likely that one of the reasons your agency and county do not vigorously fight these suits are the reports that were filed by officers detailing what happened during the incidents.

30. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d When it doesn't matter, we seem to write reports that people praise and use as examples in law schools and police academies.

31. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d But in those cases where force is used—and we are most likely to be sued—we seem to be ashamed to tell the truth and admit that we hit, punched, kicked, bit, scratched, and otherwise got nasty with some miscreant. .

32. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d Disregarding that he pulled out a gun or a knife, or wanted to fight anyone in a uniform, there still is a mindset among many administrators and risk manager types that writing out exactly what you did and, more importantly, why you did it, is wrong or not necessary. This is a huge mistake.

33. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d It is no longer accepted, if it ever was, in a use-of-force incident report to use phrases like, "I physically subdued the subject." What does this tell the uninformed reader? Your sergeant may know what happened, but what about the prosecuting attorney or defense counsel? types, and the ACLU.

34. How To Write Better Police Reports – Cont’d Will they know what happened and why? It may be shorter and even accurate to say you "used physical force," but it does not tell all the facts. Consider the following statement as a way to write a report on a use-of-force incident:

35. The suspect swung his fists at me. I told him to stop resisting and that he would be sprayed with OC if he did not. He again tried to hit me, and I sprayed him twice with my agency -issued OC spray. This caused him to back away, but he still tried to hit me. I again ordered him to, "Stop resisting," but he continued to swing his fists at me, yelling, "Screw off, copper." He again raised his fists and swung at me. I then struck him twice on the left knee with

36. my baton. He fell to the ground, saying, "I give up, I give up." I handcuffed the now compliant suspect and drove him to the General Hospital Emergency Room for evaluation and treatment by Dr. A. Smith. After he was medically cleared, he was booked into county jail without further incident.

37. Practical Exercise • Using the previous information assume the officer was you and you need to write a report to document your actions. • Complete Report Form then we will discuss. You have 20-minutes

38. This example is much clearer for you and the reader, and it is more detailed. So why don't we take the time and write all of our reports with this much detail? Probably because cops hate paperwork more than anything else, except certain vile criminals, administrative types, and the ACLUU.

39. Own Worst Enemies Many times, we are our own worst enemies. One thing we do have in our favor is that we can learn from the mistakes of others, with little or no cost to ourselves.

40. Own Worst Enemies Continued Who hasn't heard of some mistake by a department or officer that has become the force of law through an adverse case decision or winced at a judgment brought against a police officer? More likely than not, if it was a civil trial, the judgment was due to a perception of wrongdoing, rather than actual wrongdoing.

41. Own Worst Enemies Continued If you do not record the details of the event and what precipitated the use of force in your report, it looks like you have something to hide. You did nothing wrong, but now you are facing a jury, months or maybe years after the fact and trying to explain why you did what you did when you did it.

42. Own Worst Enemies Continued How does it look to the jury that you are bringing up facts about the case that were never in your report? Any competent defense lawyer is going to use the lack of detail in your report against you.

43. Own Worst Enemies Continued Something to remember is that a jury is a group of 12 licensed drivers, all equally fuzzy on the concept of the law, with no experience in the rigors and subtleties of policing.

44. Own Worst Enemies Continued Jurors are generally well meaning citizens, but their information comes from the local news or the latest "police reality" show, not from being students of the criminal justice system or practitioners of law enforcement.

45. Own Worst Enemies Continued It is incumbent upon you to paint a word picture for the jury and others that will read your reports. You can be the best shot, the fastest runner, an expert at interviewing, and look like a Marine recruiting poster in uniform, but without the ability to write a proper and factual report, it will all be for naught.

46. EVIDENCE COLLECTION The same can be said for evidence preservation. The evidence backs up your report and without it, you can be in deep trouble.

47. EVIDENCE COLLECTION Continued But for years our evidence collection has been geared toward prosecution and not the defense of a civil suit. When was the last time an officer who was assaulted had to replace his uniform and equipment?

48. EVIDENCE COLLECTION Continued What happened to the torn uniform and broken equipment? Were they discarded or were they kept as evidence? We may have taken some quick photos of the damage, but that's about it.

49. EVIDENCE COLLECTION Continued In many departments, only in those dreaded times where an officer has been murdered, are the uniform and equipment worn preserved as evidence.

50. EVIDENCE COLLECTION Continued In the interest of the best evidence available and, frankly, to protect ourselves we need to keep as evidence the torn shirt, ripped pants, scraped leather gear, or broken eyeglasses or sunglasses.