Principles of Investigations

and Report Writing

Brian C. Kennedy

Principles of Investigations and

Report Writing

A criminal

investigation is

only as good

as

the report that

supports it.

Investigation Basics

•Who is an

investigator?

•What is an

Investigation?

•When does an

Investigation Begin

Basic Legal Beginning of an

investigation.•Probable cause -

Probable cause means that

police must have a

reasonable belief that a

crime has been committed,

or is being committed, by

the suspect

•Reasonable Suspicion –

an objectively justifiable

suspicion that is based on

specific facts or

circumstances and that

justifies stopping and

sometimes searching a

person may be involved in

criminal activity

Basics of Report Writing Skills

•Write in the first person.

•Use chronological order.

•Use past tense.

•Use active voice.

•Use correct spelling and punctuation.

•Use correct subject/ verb agreement.

•Use correct pronoun reference.

•Avoid jargon and wordiness.

•Write facts rather than opinions.

•Choose the correct word to describe the incident.

•Organize the report by using openings, paragraphs, and headings.

Quality

“The best investigation is only as good as the

report completed about it. A quality report is an

effective report, and to qualify as effective it must

be:

•Complete

•Clear

•Concise

•Accurate”oPolice Magazine, May 2008

Note Taking

•Purpose:oRecord storage

oBuilding Blocks

oAid to Memory

•Mechanics of Note TakingoReadable

oAccurate

oConcise

Notes to Sentences

•0700 rec’d call, 459 now, 123 N. Main

Street.

•0710 arrvd scene

•0711 PR R. Foster (3-16-59) arrvd busins,

0645, frnt door open.

Sentences to Reports

On February 6, 2005, I was assigned to

uniformed patrol, unit 1A12. At 0700 hours,

I received a call of a burglary in progress at

123 North Main Street.

Reports

Source of Activity:On February 6, 2005, I was assigned to uniformed patrol, unit 1A12. At 0700 hours, I received a call of a burglary in progress at 123 North Main Street.

Observations:At 0710 hours, I arrived on scene were I was met by the Person Reporting, Raymond Foster. Foster told me that he arrived at his place of business (123 N. Main Street) at 0645 hours and found the front door of the business open.

Tell the Story

What happened?

Create a mental picture so

the reader knows what happened.

The reader:

Supervisor Detectives Victim

District Attorney Witnesses Judge

Defense Attorney You

Write in First Person

•To make reports easier to read and to understand, most department ask officers to write in the FIRST PERSON.

•The writer of the report refers to himself/herself as I, and uses the first person pronouns me, my, and mine.

•The more formal third person this officer, reporting officer (R/O) or this writer reference is old-fashioned and unacceptable in modern law enforcement.

Missing Information

Missing information can be used to infer

that you are:

•Not very professional

•Not Thorough

•Do not have certain expertise

•Not Truthful

Write in Chronological Order

•Chronological order is order by time. Your report should tell what happened in the order that the events took place.  

•Get all the facts and then list them in the order in which they happened. It is much easier to understand what happened if the details are written in chronological order, even if the people involved do not tell you the information in chronological order.

Write in the Past Tense

•Everything you write in your report has already

happened, so use the past tense.

•In present tense, you would write: The suspect lives at

1010 Swanson Court. A defense attorney might ask:

“Does the suspect still live there?”

It’s likely you will have to say that you do not know. If you

have to say, “I don’t know” many times, you will destroy

your credibility. If you write in past tense, you can say

that what is in the report was correct at the time you

wrote the report.

Past Tense

•Do not use the emphatic form (the word did) in

combination with other action words (verbs).

This form implies that something else happened.oIncorrect: I did issue a citation. (But it was ignored.)

oCorrect: I issued a citation.

oIncorrect: Markly did say that Norman had a gun. (But

later he changed his statement.)

oCorrect: Markly said that Norman had a gun.

Basic English Rules

Or, the what your teachers

have been telling you for

years!

Antecedent

•Basic Principle:

A pronoun usually refers to something

earlier in the report (its antecedent) and

must agree in number — singular/plural —

with the thing to which it refers.

Spelling and Punctuation

Basic Principle:

Spelling always counts!

Avoid looking –

Stupid

Careless

Unprofessional

Uneducated

Use an Active Voice

•Every sentence has a subject and a verb. Active Voice: When the subject performs the action of the verb. •Active voice: I asked the man about the broken mirror. 

Passive Voice: When the action is done to the subject. The subject receives the action of the verb.•Passive voice: The fire was reported by the child.

•Reports should be written in active voice whenever possible.

Use Active Voice

•The report was

written by Officer

Jackson.oPassive voice

oSeven words

•Officer Jackson wrote the report.oActive voiceoFive words

oIf you save two words per sentence, in a five paragraph report, you will save approximately 40 words.

Subject/Verb Agreement

•Singular subjects require a singular verb. (Note:

Verbs that end in s are singular!)oI was not aware of the new procedure.

•A plural subject must have a plural verb.oThey were sent to the hospital.

•The pronoun “you” always requires a plural verb.oYou were never good at telling a lie.

oYou all were to finish the exercise before you left the

class.

Subject/Verb Agreement

•Singular (He/ She)oIs

oWas

oHas

oDoes

oKnows

oWants

•Plural (They)oAre

oWere

oHave

oDo

oKnow

oWant

Subject/Verb Agreement

•Collective nouns are words which indicate

a group (like committee, jury, department,

squad).oIf the noun is used to show the group as an

entity or whole (one), use the singular verb. The jury was able to reach a verdict.

oIf the noun shows members acting as

individuals, use the plural. The Squad cast their votes for a new president.

Subject/Verb Agreement

•Certain subjects look like they are plural when they are really singular. The words each, either, neither and any word that ends in –one, -body, or -thing are singular.oAnyone Anybody AnythingoNo one Nobody NothingoEveryone Everybody EverythingoSomeone Somebody Something

Subjects Joined by And

•If two or more singular subjects are joined

by and, they are considered plural. (1 + 1

= 2)oOfficer Thompson and Officer Sims were

transferred to District 5.

•If singular and plural subjects are joined

by and, they are plural.oOfficer Green and three teenagers were asked

to testify in court.

Subjects Separated by Or or Nor

•If two subjects are separated by or or nor,

the verb agrees with the subject

positioned nearest to it in the sentence.oMrs. Gayle or her sons were in the house at

the time of the incident.

oHer sons or Mrs. Gayle was responsible for

the fire.

Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

Basic Principle:

A pronoun takes the place of a noun. Each

pronoun has an antecedent – the word that

the pronoun takes the place of and refers

to. Each pronoun refers to only one

antecedent.

Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

•The pronoun must agree with the

antecedent in gender and in number.oIncorrect: Each officer must bring their notes

to the meeting.

oCorrect: Each officer must bring his (or her)

notes to the meeting.

oBetter: All officers must bring their notes to the

meeting.

Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

•The same rules that apply to subject/ verb

agreement also apply to pronoun

antecedent agreement.oThe female child held her pencil in her closed

fist.

oAttorney Jim Spartus was asked to bring his

estimates on the damage to his client’s boat to

court on Wednesday.

oThe three suspects asked for their lawyers

Ambiguous Pronouns

•When a sentence is

written in such a way

that the reader does

not know who or what

the pronoun refers to,

the sentence has an

ambiguous pronoun

Ambiguous Pronouns

•Each pronoun in a sentence should refer to only

one antecedent.oIncorrect: Officer Swanson saw the man carrying a

television set, and he began to run. Who does he refer to–

Officer Swanson or the man?

oCorrect: Officer Swanson saw the man carrying a

television set, and the man began to run.

oCorrect: Officer Swanson saw the man carrying a

television set, and he, Swanson, began to run.

What is Jargon?

And, why should we avoid it?

Avoid Wordiness

•Good police reports can avoid wordiness

by doing the following:oUse simple words

oUse active voice

oAvoid wordy phrases

oAvoid redundancy

Examples

•Incorrect: In

subsequent

endeavors to

ascertain her

whereabouts on July

28, I questioned the

suspected perpetrator

as she exited the

premises of her

employment.

•Correct: I later

questioned the

suspect as she left

work to learn where

she had been on July

28.

Avoid Wordy Phrases

•Each and every

•Red in color

•Due to the fact that

•If this should prove to be the case

•Paced back and forth

•Members of the gang

•Each

•Red

•Because

•If

•Paced

•Gang members

Avoid Redundancy

•Past experience

•True facts

•Future plans

•Meet together

•Reduce down

•Final result

•Join together

•Basic fundamentals

•Experience

•Facts

•Plans

•Meet

•Reduce

•The result

•Join

•Basic/ fundamental

Report Facts, Not Opinions

•How do you know?

oSee

oHear

oTaste

oTouch

oSmell

Report Facts, Not Opinions

•Report facts, not your opinions.oOpinion: Peterson is a violent person.oFact: Peterson has been arrested twice for domestic

abuse.

•Be sure to cite the source of your information.oThe victim entered the garage at approximately 2311

hours. (How do you know? Were you there?)oThe victim said she entered the garage at

approximately 2311 hours.

Use Specific Words

•Accuracy involves detail,

so be sure your

sentences are specific

enough to give the reader

a clear picture.oThe suspect was driving

recklessly.

oThe suspect did not stop

the vehicle before it struck

the child on the sled.

Attitude Toward Reports

•Defense Attorney:o“If it isn’t on paper, it didn’t happen.”

oDefense attorneys always check to see who

was the arresting officer. Every officer earns a

reputation for the quality of reports that he or

she writes.

Attitudes Toward Reports

•Juries:o“If I don’t hear it in court, it didn’t happen.”oIf something is not in the report, it is harder to bring up

in court. If you testify about information but it’s not in the report, you’ve lost credibility. There is no good answer to the question, “Why isn’t it in the report?”

oOn the witness stand, if an officer can’t remember but says that the information is in the report, the jury usually believes the report.

Writing a Report

•Most reports will begin with a face sheet.

•Face sheets are used to oDirect information gatheringoRecord pertinent statisticsoOrganize informationoReduce the length of the narrativeoProvide a quick reference for others

Writing a Report

•Once your notes are in

order, write the

narrative. Each

narrative will have oAn opening or Source of

Activity

oChronological facts of

the investigation or

Observations

oA closing or disposition

Writing a Report

•The opening will containoWho the officer(s) and complainant(s) are

oWhat the officer was doing at the time of the

call and the date/ time of the call

oWhat the incident was

oWhen (time and date) the officer received the

call

oWhere the incident occurred

Writing a Report

•A typical opening, with heading, may read

as follows:

Source of Activity:

On Tuesday, March 18, 200-, I was on patrol

alone. At approximately 1042 hours, Dispatch

called and said that a Henry Bartell had

reported a battery in progress outside Katy’s

Café, 123 Main Street.

Writing a Report

•The chronological narration of the incident

should outline what you did to investigate

the incident.

•Use headings to keep your report

organized. Exact headings will depend on

the type of incident that you are

investigating.

Writing a Report

•Source of Activity

•Observations

•Victim’s Statements

•Witness’ Statements

•Officer’s Actions

•Suspect’s Statements

•Description of Stolen

Goods

•Evidence

•DispositionoArrests

oCitations

oJuvenile Custody

•Status

•Headings may include:

Writing a Report

•Under each heading use one or more paragraphs. Use a new paragraph to signaloA shift in focus

New perspective/ viewpoint New topic or idea within a topic

oA change of timeoA change of locationoA new person or speaker

Set off dialogue

oA new section of the report

•Paragraphs may include numbered or bulleted lists.

Questions??