The 10 Best Tips for Better Police

Reports

by Jean Reynolds, Ph.D.

Writing plays a major role in your law-enforcement career.

Here are 10 writing tips that many officers have found useful.

1. Today’s technology can help you avoid many writing problems.

Use your computer’s spelling and grammar features to check everything you write.

If your laptop software doesn’t check grammar and spelling, write your reports in Word, and paste them into your laptop.

2. Start most sentences with a person, place, or thing. Simple, consistent sentences help you avoid usage errors and syntax problems.

Avoid empty “fillers” like “upon hearing this” or “in response to my question….”

Compare these sentence pairs:

3. For clarity and efficiency, use plain English words. Avoid jargon and outdated language.

Compare the sentences below. Simpler is better!

4. Know how to identify and fix the most common usage errors.

5. Keep a small notebook handy to take notes in an emergency.

Save a few pages in the back for place names and words that you find difficult to spell.

6. Use apostrophes for contractions (can’t, don’t) and possessives (Mary’s car).

Notice the apostrophe: a woman’s problem

Apostrophes DO NOT mean “more than one.”

These are keys: No apostrophe.

7. Use active voice. Passive voice can lead to sentence errors: “When Fowler was question about the missing money, he refused to say anything.”

Passive voice doesn’t tell who did what (“Fowler was arrested” – which officer made the arrest? That might be important in court in six months.)

8. Most sentences require only three comma rules.

9. A semicolon is like a period. (Semicolons are always optional.) Lower-case the next letter after a semicolon unless it’s “I” or a name.

I questioned Parker; my partner called for a backup.

Fido started barking; Joe ran to the window.

I asked her to attend the meeting.I asked Clayton and her to attend the

meeting.

Carter told me about the new laptops.Carter told Sheldon and me about the

new laptops.

I don’t have to work this Sunday.Gephardt and I don’t have to work this

Sunday.

10. Shorten a sentence to choose the correct pronoun. This trick works 100% of the time!

You can learn more report-writing tips at www.YourPoliceWrite.com.

All the resources there are FREE: www.YourPoliceWrite.com.

Criminal Justice Report Writing is available at www.Amazon.com for $17.95. View a free sample online.

“A valuable reference” – Mark Gallo, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (retired)

An e-book edition is available from www.Smashwords.com for $11.99.

A free Instructor’s Manual is available to instructors and administrators.

Send an e-mail to jreynoldswrite at aol.com.