Police reports ?

[bookcart]

Have any of you officers ever bought any books of videos to help you write better police reports? i would like to get a book to teach me how to write police reports and i am not sure which one would be best. thanks

[Nole795]

This is a good question because most applicants study officer safety i.e, defensive tactics, and statutes to enforce. My opinion, good report writing is in the top 3 of what makes a good police officer, next to officer safety, and public communication.

I can't tell you how many recruits I have seen that were excellent on the field in both safety and communication but their report writing was horrible. This is the meat and potatoes of your case, if you can't use proper grammer or articulate the details, your going to get slammed by the defense, ADA, and the Investigations Unit following up on your police report.

While you can teach a recruit the workings of being a law enforcement officer, report writings is one of those skills that should/needs to be developed during the formative years and high school/college.

Bookcart, kudos to you for asking your question. I personally never had to use any aids but I did study English as a minor, so it was easier for me. Hopefully some of the other verifieds here will have good resources for you. Good luck.

[Wombat311]

I can't help you with books to learn report writing. Our Academy teaches people the basics of report writing but they do expect you to have a firm grounding in english skills beforehand.

I read a lot. Have read since I was a kid. It's helped me with my writing skills a lot.

[txinvestigator1]

I suggest a Junior College English class. They are cheap, and you can find one that fits your schedule.


Police reports are no different from any other type of writing.

[Joeyd6]

Title: How to really, really write those boring plice reports!
Author: Kimberly Clark
ISBIN: 1-889031-41-0

[fetom]

I can't help you with books to learn report writing. Our Academy teaches people the basics of report writing but they do expect you to have a firm grounding in english skills beforehand.

I read a lot. Have read since I was a kid. It's helped me with my writing skills a lot.

Is that why your statements commnece


Once upon a time.................. ;)

[fetom]

On a serious note, report writing skills are vital. Many times, the only contact some superiors will have with you is via the written word, If'n yoo caint writ proppa, then they will form an opinion of you from this, conversly, good skills will leave a better impression.

The way our court system is structured, the only time a magistrate sees a police member is when they are at a contested hearing. for Ex-parte matters and some guilty pleas, the Magistrate relies upon the written documnets provided by the informant. This also applies for a majority of coronial matters, particularily for motor vehicle fatalities where the offending driver is at fault. Skillful preparation of the brief will leave the coroner with a good impression of the reporting officer.


As you can tell by my posts, typing is not my strong field, spell check is my bestest bud.

[Wombat311]

Is that why your statements commnece


Once upon a time.................. ;)

Although some traffic accident statements begin...

It was a dark and stormy night....

and yet others

Rodney had no idea he was about to be intercepted by police that night...

[Ranger__101]

Report writing is not a big deal. Most departments have forms, guidelines our outlines of how they want the report written.

As the others have said the key to a good report is proper spelling, grammar, sentence structure and the ability to make the report so that any one who read it will understand what happened.

The most mistakes that I have seen in reports is that the author has written it so that only a Law Enforcement Officer in their department could understand it. They used acranyms, technical works and wrote it out as a strory rather than using this -->

A clear, concise, short narative of the facts and events. Leave out personnal thoughs and extra information. Most of all to reiterate, write the report so that you could hand it to you mother and after reading it, she would be able to understand what happened.