Unit 4 Report Writing Lesson 5 PDF

Unit 4 Report Writing Lesson 5 Evaluating the Report Lesson Goal You will be able to evaluate and edit your reports before submitting them. Think About This An officer misspells an inmate’s name while writing an incident report. The officer writes “Inmate Spites was involved in the fight,” in...

Unit 4 Report Writing Lesson 5 Evaluating the Report Lesson Goal You will be able to evaluate and edit your reports before submitting them. Think About This An officer misspells an inmate’s name while writing an incident report. The officer writes “Inmate Spites was involved in the fight,” instead of Inmate Spights. What could happen as a result of the inmate’s name being misspelled? Evaluating the Report The final step in preparing a report is evaluating it to ensure accuracy and correct errors. This involves editing and proofreading. Editing is the process of ensuring that all pertinent facts have been included in a report in an organized and accurate manner. Proofreading is the checking of a report to ensure that all words are spelled correctly, punctuation is used accurately, appropri- ate words are capitalized, and proper grammar is used. If possible, ask another officer to read the report to see if it makes sense. ✅ CO245.1. Use editing and proofreading to evaluate a report The following methods will help you catch mistakes that you might otherwise overlook: Begin by taking a break—allowing some time to pass between writing and evaluating helps you return to the report with fresh eyes and makes finding errors easier. Read aloud—reading a written narrative aloud encourages you to read every word. An alternative is asking someone else to read the report aloud, as another person often hears more errors than you can see. Read with a cover—sliding a blank sheet of paper down the page while reading the report will help you review the report in a detailed, line-by-line manner. Know personal weaknesses—understanding what your typical writing problems are will help you look for those specific errors. Check paired punctuation—checking that you have used both sides of paired punctuation (quotation marks or parentheses) will help you avoid the common error of forgetting the closing punctuation. Chapter 2 Communications / 77 Below is an example of a poorly written narrative report with improper grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. An improved version of the example with proper grammar, punctua- tion, capitalization, and spelling is also provided. On May 16 2012 at approximately 1220 hours. I was on a routin patrol inside D Dorm when inmate Dennis Shaw, handled me a book and said “you’ll find that quotation we were talking about on page 24”. Since I had not discussed any quotation with Shaw, I decide to take the book to the officer and take a look at page 24. When I opened the book a folded piece of paper feel out. On the paper were the following words. “My roommate has some marijuana hidden inside a hole in his pillow.” I show the note to Corp Larson, the Dorm Supavisor, and since the dorm was skeduled to go to the rec yard that afternoon, we desided to wait until then to conduct a search. At approx. 1:30 p.m., the inmates were excorted too the recreation yard, an it was about that time Corporal Larson and I searched cell D-234, the cell assigned to Dennis Shaw; and his roommate, inmate Schneider, Jonathan. I examined Schneider’s pillow and I find a hole as described by Shaw. Inside the hole I find approx. two handfuls of a green leafy substance. I place the substance in a clear plastic bag and called a dual sworn officer, Corrections Deputy George Abrams, to test it it tested positive for maryjuana. Inmate Schneider was was brought in from the recreation yard and was question by Abrams. Schneider states, “That stupid roommate of mine set me up. He wants me out of their because I won’t have anything to do with his drug business.” Schneider was placed in Admin Confinement pending a investegation. Corporal Larson and I conducted a through search of the rest of the Dorm, however, no additional contruband is found. Below is the narrative report with improved grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. On May 16, 2012, at approximately 1220 hours, I was on a routine patrol inside D Dorm when Inmate Shaw, Dennis, handed me a book and said, “You’ll find that quota- tion we were talking about on page 24.” Since I had not discussed any quotation with Shaw, I decided to take the book to the office and take a look at page 24. When I opened the book, a folded piece of paper fell out. On the paper were the follow- ing words: “My roommate has some marijuana hidden inside a hole in his pillow.” I showed the note to Corporal Larson, the Dorm Supervisor, and since the dorm was scheduled to go to the recreation yard that afternoon, we decided to wait until then to conduct a search. At approximately 1330 hours, the inmates were escorted to the recreation yard, at which time Corporal Larson and I searched cell D-234, the cell assigned to Inmate Shaw and his roommate, Inmate Schneider, Jonathan. I exam- ined Schneider’s pillow and found a hole as described by Shaw. Inside the hole, I found approximately two handfuls of a green leafy substance. I placed the substance in a clear plastic bag and called a dual sworn officer, Corrections Deputy George Abrams, to test it; it tested positive for marijuana. Inmate Schneider was brought in from the recreation yard and was questioned by Abrams. Schneider stated, “That stupid roommate of mine set me up. He wants me out of there, because I won’t have anything to do with his drug business.” I placed Schneider in Administrative 78 / Florida Basic Recruit Training Program (CO): Volume 1  Confinement pending an investigation. Corporal Larson and I conducted a thorough search of the rest of D Dorm; however, we did not find any additional contraband. Finalizing the Report ✅ CO245.2. Finalize a report As part of the evaluating and finalizing process, verify that the report is complete and understand- able by taking the following actions: Ensure that all details, including who, what, where, when, how, why, and action taken, are fully answered. Include rule violations, if any. Ask this question, “If I was not involved or did not witness this incident or event, would I have a clear picture of what happened after reading this report?” If the answer is yes, then you wrote a good report. Ensure that you identified and corrected all errors. Sign, date, and distribute the report according to agency policies and procedures. The more you practice writing and evaluating reports, the more professional your reports will be. Chapter 2 Communications / 79