Common Problems With Police Reports

• An effective police report is well-written. Police image by Zeno from Fotolia.com

  Writing effective police reports is a skill that must be practiced and learned, just as any other skill in police work. A well-written police report is complete, factual, accurate and objective. An effective police report requires time to organize thoughts and outline the events. Unfortunately, many investigators take shortcuts in report writing, which leads to many common problems in police reports.

Confusing and Unclear Sentences

• A police report should have only one interpretation. Unclear or confusing sentences could lead to a misunderstanding of the facts. To be clear, the report should contain concrete facts and details. Grammar is important to ensure each statement only means one thing.

Conclusions, Assumptions or Opinions

• A well-written report should be factual. Opinions and assumptions reflect personal beliefs, which mean nothing in an investigation. Inferences or conclusions without supporting facts and details are also meaningless. Conclusions can be helpful if backed up with facts and details.

Missing Information and Facts

• Information kept only in the reporting officer's head is of no value in a case. All information and facts need to be in a police report. Reports need to contain the "Who? What? When? Where? How? and Why?" factual statements.

Wordiness

• A police report should be concise. Extreme wordiness can make the report confusing. The report should state the facts and only the facts.