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When you become a police officer, you'll be
writing a lot of reports. Talk about an
understatement. Whether you're using a
pen or a computer, you'll spend an enormous
amount of your time filling out forms and
describing details of events in writing.
While all the report formats may look
daunting at first, you'll soon become familiar
with all the parts that are standardized. The
real challenge to the preparation of any
report will be the report's narrative.
You're going to work with a lot of police
officers who really believe that a report
narrative shouldn't contain very much
information. The amount of information
your narrative contains should always be
dictated by how much relevant information is
available to you -- not by some arbitrary keep
it simple theory.
Simplicity is a wonderful and underestimated
tool when it comes to communication.
However, simplicity is not synonymous with
omission. You could handle an incident
where your report narrative may require only
a couple of paragraphs. On another occasion,
the complexity of the incident, and your
investigative efforts, might require your
narrative to be of considerable length.
In the beginning, you'll omit relevant
information only because you're still
inexperienced. Hopefully, you'll have a
sergeant who is experienced and interested in
your development as a thorough and
competent investigator.
Police officers universally have a bad habit of
omitting information from reports which they
believe should be inferred -- perhaps by
telepathy. For example, a particular incident
writing a lot of reports. Talk about an
understatement. Whether you're using a
pen or a computer, you'll spend an enormous
amount of your time filling out forms and
describing details of events in writing.
While all the report formats may look
daunting at first, you'll soon become familiar
with all the parts that are standardized. The
real challenge to the preparation of any
report will be the report's narrative.
You're going to work with a lot of police
officers who really believe that a report
narrative shouldn't contain very much
information. The amount of information
your narrative contains should always be
dictated by how much relevant information is
available to you -- not by some arbitrary keep
it simple theory.
Simplicity is a wonderful and underestimated
tool when it comes to communication.
However, simplicity is not synonymous with
omission. You could handle an incident
where your report narrative may require only
a couple of paragraphs. On another occasion,
the complexity of the incident, and your
investigative efforts, might require your
narrative to be of considerable length.
In the beginning, you'll omit relevant
information only because you're still
inexperienced. Hopefully, you'll have a
sergeant who is experienced and interested in
your development as a thorough and
competent investigator.
Police officers universally have a bad habit of
omitting information from reports which they
believe should be inferred -- perhaps by
telepathy. For example, a particular incident
might require a particular notification such as contacting detectives. Since the
notification is standard for the particular incident, the officer omits it from the
report. If you have a sergeant who thoroughly reviews your reports, you'll soon
learn that inference has no place in police reports. In other words, if you don't
write it, it didn't happen.
Let's face it...a lot of police officers aren't that great when it comes to
communicating in writing. I supervised some really good police officers whose
writing skills were horrible. The nice thing about being a police sergeant is
one's ability to turn your criticisms into demands for improvement. If you're
one of those police officers whose writing skills aren't where they should be,
don't ever take criticism negatively.
Remember...a narrative is simply a story describing an event(s) and what
actions and tasks you performed in response to the event(s).
notification is standard for the particular incident, the officer omits it from the
report. If you have a sergeant who thoroughly reviews your reports, you'll soon
learn that inference has no place in police reports. In other words, if you don't
write it, it didn't happen.
Let's face it...a lot of police officers aren't that great when it comes to
communicating in writing. I supervised some really good police officers whose
writing skills were horrible. The nice thing about being a police sergeant is
one's ability to turn your criticisms into demands for improvement. If you're
one of those police officers whose writing skills aren't where they should be,
don't ever take criticism negatively.
Remember...a narrative is simply a story describing an event(s) and what
actions and tasks you performed in response to the event(s).
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The Elements of Style
Amazon.com - Composition
teachers throughout the
English-speaking world have
been pushing this book on
their students since it was
first published in 1957.
Co-author White later
revised it, and it remains
the most compact and lucid
handbook we have for
matters of basic principles
of composition, grammar,
word usage and misusage,
and writing style.
Amazon.com - Composition
teachers throughout the
English-speaking world have
been pushing this book on
their students since it was
first published in 1957.
Co-author White later
revised it, and it remains
the most compact and lucid
handbook we have for
matters of basic principles
of composition, grammar,
word usage and misusage,
and writing style.