The Importance of Writing Police Reports
• Evaluate your own personal experience, compare what you have learned in class, and as a
supervisor what critical elements would you change?
• Research an agency, department, or governmental organization and evaluate the report writing
elements to that of what was learned in the semester
POLICE REPORT WRITING 2
The Importance of Writing Police Reports
Police report writing has two types of reports to be presented, which include a first and
normal report, and a supplementary report. A normal and first police report refers to the physical
record of instances believed to be illegal or possibly illegal. A supplementary report is written
after the first report and is used in special situations where a witness comes forward with
additional new information (Vredeveldt, Kesteloo, & van Koppen, 2018). A police report is
prepared by a representative of a police unit and is filed in accordance to the specific
department’s dealings. A police report should include well detailed, accurate and informative
information concerning a crime incident. Report writing in the police sector is very crucial
because of the massive number of criminal cases that police officers have to attend to on a day to
day basis. This paper discusses the importance of police report writing.
Police reports contain the details of a crime that has occurred according to the report given
to the police by a witness or the victim of that crime. Writing a police report is important as it
sets the starting point of an investigation (Hess, Orthmann, & Cho, 2016). Police are responsible
for initiating some form of records either a short statement entry or a detailed document
describing a crime scene. Police are entitled to documenting statements given by either a witness
or a victim of some crime incident which is given in the form of the police report. It guides the
investigations of crimes as a starting point and by giving proper direction to the officers in
charge.
In every crime scene, it is very important to have a shred of evidence that would prove
and support the occurrence of the crime. A police report serves as evidence for a crime as it
documents everything that happens in a crime scene (Birzer, & Roberson, 2018). A police report,
POLICE REPORT WRITING 3
as a piece of evidence to a crime, helps in tracking down and prosecuting the crime suspects.
Additionally, a police report is useful in providing legal documentation to crime victims to be
used as evidence for court hearings and to process insurance claims. It acts as a confirmation of
the crime to the insurance company. The information contained in a police report is not meant
for the police only since it is also important to the community at large.
Police reports are useful to the community as they assist the communities to deter criminal
activities. The police reports pass information to communities concerning their security as they
are used to track different criminal activities within the communities (Hess, Orthmann, & Cho,
2016). If the police have documented a big number of robbery cases in an area, the police will
warn the residents of the area and advise them to uphold security measures. A police report
assists the lawmakers in deciding upon security policies and initiatives to introduce in the
affected areas.
Similar to the business world and organizations, report writing is equally important
among the police and the criminal investigations sector. A police report can be a normal or first
report or supplementary and is crucial in documenting crime incidents. A police report is
prepared by a representative of a police unit and is filed according to the specific department’s
dealings. Police report writing is important as the report sets the starting point of an
investigation, and act as evidence in a court hearing. A police report is also useful when making
insurance claims after a criminal incident. Additionally, a police report informs a particular
community about its security status and advice on what inventions to be considered. Therefore it
is critical to have a police report and it should be very clear and well presented
POLICE REPORT WRITING 4
References
Birzer, M., & Roberson, C. (2018). Introduction to criminal investigation. CRC Press.
Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. H., & Cho, H. L. (2016). Criminal investigation. Cengage learning.
Vredeveldt, A., Kesteloo, L., & van Koppen, P. J. (2018). Writing Alone or Together: Police
Officers’ Collaborative Reports of an Incident. Criminal justice and behavior, 45(7),
1071-1092.
