Effective Report Writing

1. Effective Report Writing You can control the outcome of any case or event just by improving your report writing skills 2013-2014 Inservice Course # 2049 Bexar County Sheriff's Office

8. Learning Objectives • To write clearly • To write concisely • To write factually • To justify your actions • Keep liability for you and the Department at a minimum Bexar County Sheriff's Office

9. What is our responsibilty • Report writing is severely neglected in the Law Enforcement community. • We shoot our guns once a year. • We attend inservice training every year. • We renew our driver’s license every 4 years. • When was the last time you took a report writing class??? Bexar County Sheriff's Office

10. Most of us learned our writing skills in High School. • Some took English Courses in college. • You studied grammar, did workbook exercises and wrote essays. • Those learning experiences are invaluable and important….. • …..But not every thing we learned applies to police work. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

11. Police report vs Essays • What’s different from High School English and Police Report Writing? • English teachers value analytical thinking and sophisticated sentence patterns. • Police reports require facts and straightforward sentences. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

12. An English teacher would love this sentence • His head had been shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently by some very sharp instrument. Sherlock Holmes Bexar County Sheriff's Office

13. That sentence is not objective enough for a police report • This sentence is better for our needs: • His head had severe trauma, and there was a long cut on his thigh. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

14. The bold words describe opinions and conclusions • His head had been shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently by some very sharp instrument. • These descriptions are fine for a novel but don’t belong in a police report. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

15. A 2013 case Bexar County Sheriff's Office

16. Agenda • Need for effective writing • Basic elements of report writing • Narrative Mechanics • Documenting overlooked factors in the narrative Bexar County Sheriff's Office

17. What this class does not cover • How to properly use punctuation • How to investigate a crime • How to testify in court • An easy solution to the task of report writing Bexar County Sheriff's Office

18. Why take a report? • To record facts into a permanent record • To provide: • prosecutor’s with a plan • coordination of follow-up activities • investigative leads identified • statistical data • reference material • a source for officer evaluation Bexar County Sheriff's Office

19. Who reads the report? • Other officers • Supervisors • Attorneys • Judges • City/County/State Officials • Probation Officers • Citizens Bexar County Sheriff's Office

20. Good Reports Will CYA • Covering your assets NEVER means falsifying or fudging on a report. Better to admit a wrong action, rather than risk your reputation, job, or ability to testify. • However, expect that your report will be used against you in a civil suit or on the stand to discredit you. • Defense attorneys seldom have an innocent client, so they have to fabricate a guilty officer. Therefore, be diligent about describing your professional behavior as well as the behavior of others at the scene. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

21. CYA • We all know that video can fail to show to an uninformed viewer what is going on outside the camera lens. • It can also fail to show the micro signs of pre-aggression, and it can certainly not show the reputation of the suspect or the information you know about him or her that dictated your conduct during the contact. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

22. CYA • The same is true of a report. The reporting officer must give the reader a close-up view of the event from as many angles as possible. • Don’t ever assume that readers of your report are going to give you the benefit of the doubt, know the good or heroic qualities about you, or even think independently in assessing your conduct. • Tell them what you need for them to know, and be as detailed as you truthfully can. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

23. Golden Rules • Uniformity - format reports the same way • Consistency - write reports the same way to ensure correct information. • Completeness - ensure nothing is missing. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

24. See what happens when proof reading does not occur Bexar County Sheriff's Office

25. Basic elements of report writing • Grammatically correct • Clear • Concise • Factual • Legible • Written in standard English • Complete Bexar County Sheriff's Office

26. Remember If you don’t write a report, the incident didn’t happen! Bexar County Sheriff's Office

27. Remember If it isn’t in the report, it didn’t happen! Bexar County Sheriff's Office

28. Some Report writing issues • It is hard enough to justify our actions in a report. • The Sergeant wants to know what is taking you so long. • Others are asking you questions about the incident so they can get their report done. • No computer is available/no printer. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

29. Look at this in the perspective of a defense attorney • “The inmate was sloppy.” • Soiled uniform, poor hygiene, spoiled food? • Defense attorneys could claim, that’s the situation the officer left my client in, my client had no choice but to be sloppy. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

30. Defense attorney Steven Jones • Tim McVeigh had earplugs. • He was a hunter and a shooter, and he carried a gun with him, just like many hunters and shooters do. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

31. Food for thought • When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law before the criminal gets arrested, we call him an accomplice. • When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law after the criminal gets arrested, we call him a defense lawyer. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

32. In today's society, the scrutiny of police and the tactics we use, is greater than ever before in our history. • It is more likely now, than it has ever been, that an officer will be tried as a result of doing his job. It does not matter if the officer won the conflict or lost. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

33. Questions are raised. • Was this really a criminal? • Did he really commit a wrong? • Was the force used by the officer just and appropriate for the violation and the resistance? • did the officer take advantage of their position and power to deliver a little "criminal justice" before the courts had their chance to work? Bexar County Sheriff's Office

34. For this reason, it is now, more important than ever before, for officers to document the circumstances leading to the use of force. • We must clearly describe the actions of defendants and our counter actions as police. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

35. What if I get sued • The suit will not concentrate on the resistance the offender used. • The opposing attorney will, instead, talk about the officer's level of force. • He will describe the terrible injuries (now healed) that the client has suffered. • The agonizing mental trauma that will take hours of psychological counseling to correct. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

36. The brutality of the officer when he struck the defenseless victim. • The attorney will mention the tremendous power and authority wielded by the bludgeoning officer and their secret society. How the police keep quiet and support their own. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

37. What will the attorney use drive home his point, and dig deep into the taxpayer's pocket. • He will use the officer's report and the lack of information describing the force the officer used to counter the resistance of the client. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

38. He will use the lack of witness statements from bystanders, stating the officers deliberately failed to get their story, because it would support the poor victim's story of police brutality. • The officer has become his own worst enemy. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

39. His memory is the only tool to use against the legal onslaught raged against him in court. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

40. Fellow officers may hinder more than help. • The initial incident is a year or more past. • Also, They did not write down what happened and must rely on their own memory. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

41. If not accurate, their memory may contradict what the defendant officer or fellow officers have to say. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

42. Let’s take a look… Bexar County Sheriff's Office

43. Discussion • Was the driver’s identity clearly expressed? • Which is the bigger issue, spelling or penmanship? • Was there useless information provided? • The identification of marijuana was an afterthought. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

44. Bending the rules It’s okay to start a sentence with and, but, or because. It’s okay to reuse words. It’s okay to use simple contractions. It’s okay to end the sentence with a preposition. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

45. Powerful little words • Use “I” when writing reports • No R/O or third person story • Do Not use the word “MYSELF” in place of “I” or “ME” • Establish name references whenever using “HE” or “SHE” Bexar County Sheriff's Office

46. Powerful little words • Be sure it is obvious who “he” is when writing your report. Mr. Kite stated he saw Jonathan Blue and he was intoxicated. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

47. Powerful little words • Avoid sexist language • Choose words that carry no sexual distinctions (“police officer v. policeman”) • Refer to last names only, after you’ve used the full name once in the report. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

48. Lay vs Lie • Lay – needs a direct subject and one or more subjects • Laid – Past tense of Lay • Lie – No direct object • Every day I lay the book on the table. • Every night I lie down. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

49. Sell vs Sale • The Bexar County Sheriff's Office

50. Bexar County Sheriff's Office