When/where is paperwork done

[studentcj]

I know and keep hearing how officers have hours of paperwork. Well, my questions is when is all these hours of paperwork done. At the end of the shift, during breaks, free time on patrol. It just seems like you wouldn't have time to finish everything if like one incident is equal to like one hour of paperwork or more. It would seem like it would just keep building up. Do you have to take it home with you and if so, do you get paid for it.

[mcsap]

We have laptops in every cruiser. Besides the ability to run plates, warrants etc , they also have an accident, arrest warrant and incident report program on them. You can go from typing a report to running a plate in seconds. When done with a "report", it is downloaded onto a floppy and than the officer takes it inside ( during the shift) and prints it out.

A LOT of times when you see a cruiser parked somewhere, even along a road , they aren't "running radar" , they are doing paperwork. We sit out in the open to be visible. We also have a computer/printer at a separate building away from the station since our patrol area is so big ( 80 sq miles). This way the officer doesn't have to go back to the station just to print a report.

I'll admit that as a rookie, I took some reports home just to keep my head above water but I didn't get paid to do it. And that was a long time ago.

[Wombat311]

During the ad breaks on COPS :p



Actually we have to squeeze it in wherever/whenever we can. Sometimes it just builds up. A lot of the stress comes from paperwork and not having time to do it. Occasionally we would be rostered on for an 8 hour paperwork shift, but due to staffing levels they were few and far between. If you did get one, no doubt someone would go sick and you would be put on the road.

Now though, we've just started doing 12 hour shifts and I find myself with plenty of time to do paperwork.

[Joeyd6]

We do teh paperwork at each job here....except MVA's when it is really busy...Then you get the basics and move on. Unless it is a heavy job...you can do a OK report in 10 minutes....but a "good" one takes about 20-30.

[tpd_six]

We do 95% of our paperwork on our issued laptops. I generally spend between 1-3 hours a night parked somewhere typing. Generally I try to keep caught up as I go so I don't have to try to do it all at once the last hour of my shift. The only thing I go into the office for is to take in a hard copy of my log to hang up. Everything is transmitted electronically to our county system or the state, and we print most things on our car printers, or print to the office printer from our cars.

[1099hunter]

Reports are completed in our squad room as time permits throughout the shift. Usually when I go back to the station to log in an arrest I am able to knock out the report. If you are behind on reports and desire to work on them at home you can but your not going to get paid.

[Star]

Someone told you a lie. We have laptops in our cars. And report takers within the department. It's not that bad at all.

[corporal716]

Before laptops, I did them in the car or anywhere that had coffee and was open at three A.M. You can guess where that was... :D

[ChesCopPodz]

Accident reports I finish off at the scene and am usually done before the tow truck even gets there.

Incident reports/arrest reports depends on how the day is going. If it is a really busy day and I'd be screwing some people over by taking time after the incident to call in my report, I'll call it in at the end of shift. If it won't hurt anyone, I'll call it in right after the incident either from a station or from my cell phone at home if my beat is near home or in my car.

If there's evidence that needs to be turned in, I have to go to the station and do the report and turn in the evidence right after the incident whether others will be screwed over or not.