CDI5

• Report Writing is a means of communication through which events or incidents are made known and/or recorded: crucial for information sharing, decision-making and monitoring progress of activities. It is a skill that every learner/enforcer should master for efficient expression of ideas. Police report writing is a regular part of an officer’s job and just like any other skill in police work, writing effective police reports is a skill that must be learned and practiced.
• REPORT - is detailed account of an event, situation, etc., usually based on observation or inquiry (PNP, 2014) It is a specific form of writing that is organized around concisely identifying and examining issues, events or findings that have happened in physical sense.
• REPORT WRITING- Is a communication that lends itself to a useful tool for people in a free society to express their thoughts and ideas and to obtain what they need or want (PNP 2014). It is a natural and necessary part of the very job description of an investigator.
• COMMON TYPES OF REPORT

  1. INVESTIGATIVE OR FORMAL
  2. BASIC OR INFORMAL REPORTS
  3. SHORT OR LONG REPORTS
  4. INFORMATIONAL OR ANALYTICAL REPORTS
  5. PROPOSAL REPORT
  6. VERTICAL OR LATERAL REPORTS
  7. INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL REPORTS
  8. PERIODIC REPORTS
  9. FUNCTIONAL REPORTS
• INVESTIGATIVE OR FORMAL - Are carefully structured. They stress objectivity and organization. Contain much detail and are written in a style that tends to eliminate. Such element as personal pronouns.
• BASIC OR INFORMAL REPORTS - Are usually short messages with natural casual use of language. The internal memorandum can generally be described as an informal report.
• SHORT OR LONG REPORTS The two page report, or sometimes referred to us a memorandum, is short. And a 30 page report is absolutely long. The implications of a long report are wide-ranging for a business or industry. The long report examines a problem in detail, while the short report covers just one part of the problem.
• A short report can be defined as an organized presentation of relevant data on any topic, money, travel, time, Personnel, equipment, management that a company or agency tracks in its day-to-day operation.
• INFORMATIONAL OR ANALYTICAL REPORTS - such as annual reports, monthly financial reports, and reports on personal absenteeism. Carry objective information from one area of an organization to another. provide facts, data, feedback, and other types of information to assist management to make decisions.
• PROPOSAL REPORT - The proposal is a variation of problem solving reports. a proposal is a document prepared to describe how many organization can meet the needs of another. Most governmental agencies advertise their needs by issuing requests for proposal.
• VERTICAL OR LATERAL REPORTS - Reports that are more upward or downward hierarchy are referred to as vertical reports. Lateral Reports, on the other hand, assist in the coordination in the organization. A report traveling between units of the same organization level as lateral.
• INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL REPORTS - Internal reports travel within the organization. External reports, such as annual reports of companies, are prepared for distribution outside organization.
• PERIODIC REPORTS - They are issued on regularly scheduled dates. They are generally upward-directed and serve management control. Periodic or project reports, also known as status reports are similar to progress reports. Both serve to provide audience members with the detail of an ongoing project. However, a progress report is usually sent at a certain milestone of a project. While periodic reports are sent at regular intervals: daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
• FUNCTIONAL REPORTS - This classification includes accounting reports, marketing reports, financial reports, and a variety of other reports that take their designation from the ultimate use of the report.
• Investigative reporting is an objective statement of the investigators findings. It is an official record of information relevant to the investigation which the investigator submits to his or her superior. It is a document that details the findings or evidence related to the formal complaint or allegation.
• INVESTIGATION - is the collection of facts to accomplish a threefold aim. • To identify the suspect • To locate the suspect • To provide evidence of his guilt
• CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION - Is an art which deals with the identity and location of the offender and provides evidence of guilt through criminal proceedings.
• APPROPRIATE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT WRITING Regardless of whether the investigation will proceed into a court of law, all investigative reports should be structured to communicate relevant and factual information. At a minimum, author/s should ensure that the following goals are consistently applied to every type of report that is being presented.
• • Report contains an accurate description of all event and incident details. • Content is clear, concise and understandable to relevant decision makers. • Content is deemed admissible and credible in a court of law. • Content not portray opinions or information that is open to misinterpretation. • Report contains sufficient information to establish factual relevance of conclusions. • Report is completed and presented in a timely manner.
• IMPORTANCE OF INVESTIGATIVE WRITING The importance of investigative writings are as follows: • They serve as records for police administrators and planning, directing and organizing the units duties. • Reports can be used as legal documents in the prosecution of criminals. • Reports can be used by other agencies. • Reports can be useful to local media that needs access to public documents • The author of the report should also consider that the written work is reflective of the writer's personality. • Reports can be a basis for research.
• REQUISITES OF A GOOD INVESTIGATION REPORT A good investigation report contains the following requisites:

  1. ACCURACY
  2. Completeness
  3. BREVITY
  4. FAIRNESS
  5. FORM AND STYLE
  6. CLARITY
  7. SPECIFIC
  8. Timeliness
• ACCURACY – the report should be a true representation of the facts to the best of the investigators ability.
• COMPLETENES – The question of “when, who, what, where, why and how?” should be answered.
• BREVITY – Irrelevant or unnecessary materials should be omitted.
• FAIRNESS – the investigator should take the facts as he finds them
• FORM AND STYLE - The arrangement of materials presented should be in a manner which will make the report easy to read.
• CLARITY – the language and format of a report are simple and direct to the point
• SPECIFIC – Use of specific words that bring the reader close to the firsthand experience
• Timeliness – Completion of a report promptly
• FIVE BASIC STEPS IN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT WRITING In the PNP, they have 5 basic steps in investigative report writing to be followed under the acronym: G – gather the facts R – record the facts O – organize the facts W – write the report E – evaluate the report by editing and proofreading
• GRAMMAR Is the study of the classes of words, Their inflections and their functions and relations in the in the sentence. It is the structure of our writing. Without correct grammar usage, our ideas and thoughts cannot be communicated effectively or efficiently. It is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves.
• COMPOSITION In writing, a composition is the way a writer assembles words and sentences to create a coherent and meaningful work. An essay, report, presentation, or a term paper.
• Standard English is the most widely accepted form of the English language. It is generally used in media, business and professional correspondence, private and government agencies including academic institutions.
• Police Report writing is just like other forms of communication which is the transmission of information and understanding from one person or group to another. Common understanding is when both the sender and the receiver involved in the communication have a mutual agreement not only as to the message, but also to the meaning of the message. As a result, there is a need to use Standard English in all police correspondence.
• Spelling is a very important part of police report writing. Below are commonly misspelled words. Study them so that you can write these words correctly in your police reports.
• Capitalization or capitalisation is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction.
• A sentence is a word, clause, or phrase or a group of clauses or phrases forming a syntactic unit which expresses an assertion, a question, a command, a wish, an exclamation, or the performance of an action, that in writing usually begins with a capital letter and concludes with appropriate end punctuations, and that in speaking is distinguished by characteristic patterns of stress, pitch, and pauses.
• 4 TYPES OF A SENTENCE There are four types of English sentence, classified by their purpose: • declarative sentence (statement) • interrogative sentence (question) • imperative sentence (command) • exclamative sentence (exclamation)
• Nearly half of a police officer's work involves writing, and because of this, the best arrests will go unprosecuted if the reporting officers do not have the necessary writing skills to record their actions in a case clearly, concisely, and accurately, with sufficient detail.
• An officer's report must document every incident in a complete, clear, and concise manner. Any arrest, follow-up investigation, prosecution, or administrative action that is to be taken as a result of the report must be initiated, supported, or justified by the information contained solely within the body of the report