Investigative Reporting and Criminal Investigation

Investigative Reporting

• Investigation involves collecting facts to identify the suspect, locate them, and provide evidence of their guilt.

Criminal Investigation

• Deals with the identity and location of the offender and provides evidence of guilt through criminal proceedings.

Appropriate Investigative Report Writing

• Reports should be structured to communicate relevant and factual information.
• Key goals of report writing include:
  • Accurate description of event and incident details
  • Clear and concise content
  • Admissible and credible in a court of law
  • No portrayal of opinions or open-to-misinterpretation information
  • Sufficient information to establish factual relevance of conclusions
  • Timely completion and presentation

Importance of Investigative Writing

• Serves as records for police administrators and planning
• Can be used as legal documents in the prosecution of criminals
• Can be used by other agencies
• Can be useful to local media that needs access to public documents
• Reflects the writer's personality
• Can be a basis for research

Requisites of a Good Investigation Report

• Accuracy – true representation of the facts to the best of the investigator's ability
• Unity – entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus
• Coherence – each sentence flows smoothly into the next without obvious shifts or jumps
• Topic sentence – indicates the idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with

Radio Codes/Phonetics

• Emphasis on the usage of passwords or call signs, radio net diagram, authentication system, APCO ten codes, and code words
• Codes were developed to help radio users communicate quickly and concisely under tough conditions

Two-Way Radio Communication Language

• Shorthand expressions and codes are useful for radio communications
• Examples include:
  • Roger that – Message received and understood
  • Roger so far – Confirming part way through a long message
  • Affirmative – Yes
  • Negative – No
  • Come in – Asking another party to acknowledge they can hear you
  • Go ahead – I'm ready for your message
  • Say again – Repeat all your last message

Note Taking

• Notes are the basis for the report
• Take notes to assist memory with specific details, such as names, dates of birth, serial numbers, addresses, and phone numbers
• Arrange and organize notes in logical order, relating to time, place, person, cause, and effect

Organizing and Planning

• Proper organization and planning make the report clear, easy to read, understandable, and concise
• Organizing and planning are closely related to chronological order
• Understand the assignment and the purpose of the report

Writing the Narrative

• Express ideas and make an impression on the reader's mind
• Place yourself in the reader's position and try to visualize their problem, knowledge, and dependence on the report

Proofreading

• Review the report to ensure it is the best it can be
• Consider the reader's perspective and ask:
  • Is this report the best I can do?
  • Would I want to read it to the Chief of Police?
  • Is there anything else I can do to make it better?

Uses of Police Report

• Identification of criminals
• Source document for filing criminal complaints
• Record of all investigations
• Basis for additional follow-up investigations

Types of Report Writers

• Those who write without thinking
• Those who write and think at the same time
• Those who think first and write afterwards

General Contents of Police Report

• Initial information – establishes how the officer became involved with the incident and additional background information
• Identification of the crime or incident – includes facts necessary to show that the specific crime or incident has taken place
• Identification of the involved parties – includes reporting persons, victims, witnesses, and suspects if known

Memorandum

• Informal letter about a thing or things to be remembered or a brief written outline of the terms of a transaction
• Common practice in the police service for official matters

Parts of Memorandum

• Heading segment – includes the person it is written for, the sender, the subject, and the date
• Opening segment – includes the purpose of the memo, the context, and the problem
• Task segment – describes what should be done to help solve the problem
• Summary segment – brief statement of the key points and recommendations
• Closing segment – courteous ending that states what action the writer wants the reader to take
• Necessary attachments – includes forms, documents, lists, graphs, tables, etc.