Note Taking PDF

Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management CHAPTER 8 Note taking Chapter 8 Topic 1 1  Faculty of Humanities...

Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management CHAPTER 8 Note taking Chapter 8 Topic 1 1  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING Although other documents will be created by the investigator to manage the crime scene, no other document will be as important to the investigator as the notebook. The notebook is the investigator’s personal reference for recording the investigation. Many variations of police notebooks have emerged over the years. The court will sometimes even accept police notes that have been made on a scrap of paper if that was the only paper available at the time. 2  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING However, beyond extreme circumstances, in operational investigations, the accepted parameters of police notes, and notebooks are: – A book with a cover page that shows the investigators name, the date the notebook was started, and the date the notebook was concluded – Sequential page numbers – A bound booklet from which pages cannot be torn without detection – Lined pages that allow for neat scripting of notes – Each entry into the notebook should start with a time, date, and case reference 3  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING Blank spaces on pages should not be left between entries and, if a blank space is left, it should be filled with a single line drawn through the space or a diagonal line drawn across a page or partial page space. Any errors made in the notebook should only be crossed out with a single line drawn through the error, and this should not be done in a manner that makes the error illegible. In court, the investigator’s notebook is their best reference document. When testifying, the court will allow an investigator to refer to notes made at the time to refresh their memory of events and actions taken. 4  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING When an investigator’s notebook is examined by the court, notes consistent with the investigator’s testimony provide the court with a circumstantial assurance or truthfulness that the evidence is accurate and truthful (McRory, 2014). Alternately, if critical portions of the investigation are not properly recorded or are missing from the notebook, those portions of the evidence will be more closely scrutinized by the defence. The court may give those unrecorded facts less weight in its final deliberations to decide proof beyond a reasonable doubt. For an investigator, good notes are an overview of the things seen/heard and the actions taken. 5  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING A chronology of notes demonstrates the investigator’s mental map of the facts that led to forming reasonable grounds for an arrest and charges. Court cases are often extended by adjournments, appeals, or suspects evading immediate capture. This can extend the time between the investigation and the trial by several years. In these protracted cases, it becomes critical for the investigator to have detailed notes that accurately reflect their investigation to trigger their memory of the facts. As important as the notebook is, note taking skills are often an underemphasized aspect of police training. 6  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management NOTE TAKING Most police investigators develop their personal skills and note taking strategies through on the job experience and in the “trial by fire” of cross examination in court. This void in the training of note taking skills is likely due to: – the broad range of circumstances under which note taking needs to take place, and – because it is impossible to anticipate what facts will become important in every possible variation of circumstances. Thus, some combination of training, common sense, and experience will come into play for investigators to become proficient in recognizing what to record in their notebook. 7