Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

POLICE REPORT WRITING

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this block the learners will be able to:

L.O 1. Define the basic terms used in police report

writing;
L.O 2. Enumerate at least six (6) responsible readers in
the report reader’s flowchart;
L.O 3. List six (6) steps in report writing;

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this block the learners will be able to:

L.O 4. Explain the importance of principles of effective

report writing;
L.O 5. Identify the five (5) report writing techniques;
L.O 6. Name at three (3) format types of police reports;
and
L.O 7. Write at least one (1) narrative report base on
template

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

REPORT WRITING IS A BASIC DUTY

OF A POLICE OFFICER

“A successful investigation depends upon the finish

product of concerned police officer who considers
the timeliness and quality as far as report writing
is concerned.”

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

POLICE REPORT

Done by the police, facilitating compliance to

instructions which is commonly based on the
different issuances

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

is an objective statement of the investigator’s

findings, it is an official record of information
relevant to the investigation which the
investigator submits to his/her superior.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

COMMUNICATION

the use of language, spoken or written to exchange ideas or

transfer information.

REPORT

is a detailed account of an event, situation, etc., usually based on

observation or inquiry.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

FACT
is anything which either through careful observation or
investigation, has been proven to exist as to have happened.

NOTE TAKING

is defined as a brief notation concerning specific events that

are recorded while fresh in your mind and used to prepare a
report.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

is the arrangement of events and/or actions in order by the

time of their occurrence.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

A REPORT IS IMPORTANT
BECAUSE…

It serves as a proof

It serves as a very important documentation of facts
surrounding a certain event.

Remember:
“ Undocumented action is tantamount to inaction”

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

USES OF A REPORT
The following are some of the specific uses of a police
report:

Serves as basis for prosecution

Serves as a source of statistical information
Serves as reference for development of operational
strategies,
policy changes and training program formulation
Source of stories by tri-media
Basis for performance evaluation

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

WHO WILL READ YOUR REPORT?

CHIEF OF
POLICE/CITY/MU
NICIPAL/DISTRIC
T

CHIEF, SECTION
AND OR
DIVISION

CASE OFFICER/
INVESTIGATOR
You are
here !

PATROLLING OR
RESPONDING
OFFICER

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

OFFICE OF THE
PRESIDENT SENATE & HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES

DILG
SEC/NAPOLCOM

CONGRESSIONAL/
CHIEF, PNP
SENATE COMMITTEE
NATIONAL HQS
ON PEACE AND
ORDER
REGIONAL
DIRECTOR

PROVINCIAL
DIRECTOR

CHIEF OF
POLICE/CITY/MUN
ICIPAL/DISTRICT
Public Safety Basic Recruit Course
 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PROSECUTION DEFENSE SUPREME COURT

COUNSEL COUNSEL

COMPLAINANT/ ACCUSED/
COURT OF APPEALS
PLAINTIFF/ VICTIM RESPONDENT/
SUSPECT

COURT (MTCC/MTC OR
RTC JUDGE
CHIEF OF
POLICE/CITY/MUN
DEPARTMENT OF
ICIPAL/DISTRICT
JUSTICE

CITY/REG’L PROS (for use

in preparing cases for trial
OTHER GOV’T/INT’L PRIVATE
AGENCIES COMPANIES/I NEWSMAN/REPORTER
*DSWD NDIVIDUALS
*DOTC *INSURANCE
*DOJ *BONDING NEWSPAPER COMPANY
*SSS *OTHERS
*EMBASSY, ETC

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

GENERAL PUBLIC
 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

EXERCISES 1
Column 1 Column 2
1. Where report originates. a. National Prosecution
2. Where police report serves as a vital evidence. Service
3. Evaluates the report for inquest and b. Station Chief or COP
preliminary investigation.
c. Media
4. Use police report as basis for news.
5. Assumes the responsibilities once he signs the
d. Congress
report. e. Public Agencies
6. Initiates inquiries or investigations of national f. Courts of Justice
interest. g. Insurance
7. Requires police reports on vehicular accidents. Companies
8. Secures police reports in filling complaints h. DSWD
involving children and women. i. Defense Counsel
9. Always on the lookout for technical errors in j. Section or Division
the police report.
Chief
10. Reviews the draft before submission to the
Chief of Police.
k. Responding Officer

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

STEPS IN REPORT WRITING

G - GATHERING
PRE-WRITING R – RECORDING
O – ORGANIZING OF FACTS

WRITING WRITE THE DRAFT Memo

EVALUATE THE REPORT

Note:
EVALUATING After self editing, have a peer
edit your work before
submitting it to your superior

RE-WRITE AND FINALIZE THE

SUBMITTING REPORT

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PRE-WRITING
refers to any activity that a writer engages in prior to
the actual writing of the draft.

During this stage, you must remember the

acronym… G-R-O.

G – GATHERING
R – RECORDING
O – ORGANIZING OF FACTS

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PRE-WRITING

GATHERING THE FACTS – refers to details of the incident

or account it as they happened and not as they are told by
one who has been not present at the scene of the incident.

Hearsays and rumors are not facts, and neither opinions.

Various ways to gather facts include field/on-site interview,
background investigation of suspects and surveillance
operation.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PRE-WRITING

RECORDING OF FACTS AND ORGANIZING –

Parallel to facts gathering is data recording. This is thru

Recording of statements with the use of video/camera for
documentation

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE POLICE REPORT

WRITING
ACCURACY
- The report must conform to established rules of syntax,
format and grammar. Use the word that serves your purpose. What
exactly do you mean.

•Know your weaknesses and limitations: Be aware of the following

distinctions between:
 Facts and hearsay
Facts and opinions
Facts and conclusions
Words use

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Principles of Effective Police Report Writing

Completeness
- narrating all the facts discovered during the course of
investigation. The 5Ws and 1H should be the basis guide in writing
a report.
Brevity
- keeping out the report unnecessary detail

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Difference Between
Completeness- inclusion of all relevant, pertinent,
essential information

Brevity - exclusion all unrelated, extraneous,

unnecessary detail such as incidental and non essential
information

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Brevity
• To Gain Brevity Considers the Following:
 Knowledge of sentence and paragraph structure
 Avoidance of unnecessary adjectives
 Use of redundant words
 There must be coherence-continuity and understandability
 There must be unity or singleness of the ideas presented
 There must be emphasis – gives weight and easy visibility
 Impartiality – report all the facts without addition or subtraction.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Techniques in Report Writing

• Sentence Construction- considering primarily what you have learnt about

grammar and composition. (The usual subject and predicate order or pattern)

•Example: The Police Officer Arrests The Suspect.

The Victim States The Truth.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Techniques in Report Writing

• Opening Sentences – can be in various ways, such as when use
adverbs, prepositional phrase, use of past participle or participial
phrase, perfect participle of perfect participial phrase, use of
subordinate or dependent clause, inverted order, start with infinitive
phrase.

• Examples of Adverbs used in Opening a Sentence

•Quickly, the victim attempted to flee but was held back by suspect.
•Generally, fire-fighters are trained in searches and rescue operations

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Techniques in Report Writing

• Examples of Prepositional Phrases Used in Opening a Sentence
• Inside the bedroom, the investigator recovered a pair of blood-stained
rubber slippers.
• Across the street, two men talked to each other while waiting for a
jeepney ride.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Techniques in Report Writing

• Examples of Present Participial Phrase Use in Opening Sentence

Speaking in low voice, the victim encourages to voluntary execute an
• affidavit.
• Working hard, PO1 Vega motivates to graduate soon.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

TECHNIQUES IN REPORT WRITING

•Expanding Sentence – is use in narrative reports provide clarity of the
idea that the writer wants to convey in the most logical way.

•Using Transitional Words or phrases – provide linkages between

sentence ushering in unified or unbroken flow of ideas

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Techniques in Report Writing

• PARAGRAPH BUILDING– compose of sentences
• HOW TO BUILD PARAGRAPHS:
 Start to write a short paragraph
 Give complete idea in each paragraph
 Connect the paragraph
 Be considerate in verb tense, person and number

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Common Types of Report

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Common Types of Report

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

Common Types of Report

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

COMMON TYPES OF REPORT

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

1. B
2. F
3. A
4. E
5. D

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

NARRATIVE REPORT FORMATS

NARRATIVE REPORT - is telling a story that actually occurred
(as opposed to narrative fiction writing which is a product of
the writer’s imagination).

The report writer follows a standard format and presents the

facts in an impersonal way. Like other forms of
communication, it has to be done in a way that the reader
clearly understands the entire picture of an incident or
occurrence as intended by the writer

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

FORMAT AND TYPES OF NARRATIVE REPORT

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
Reports which are written for intra-agency use and as
basis for administrative decisions. This report can also be
used in inter-agency conferences or activities aimed at a
common purpose. It can also be used to answer public
queries or to obtain cooperation and support in agency
programs and policies.
Examples:
accomplishment reports
After-seminar/training reports

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

FORMAT AND TYPES OF NARRATIVE REPORT

OPERATIONAL REPORTS
• reports which are done in the course of performing duties
involving public safety and maintenance OF PEACE AND
ORDER.
• written in narrative form and are important documents in
the administration of justice as they are used in the
prosecution of cases before the court of justice.
• includes incident report, spot reports, initial investigation
reports, progress and final reports and after-operation
reports.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

QUESTIONS?

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

Participants will write samples of the common format types

of reports based on video presentation as basis of writing a
report.

SMS, Spot Report, Progress and Final Report

8-hour Practical Exercise

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

VIDEO CLIP PRESENTATIO
N
 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

SUMMARY

After the discussion the participants were able

to:

Define the basic terms used in police report

writing;
Enumerate at least six (6) responsible readers in
the report reader’s flowchart;
List six (6) steps in report writing;

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

SUMMARY

After the discussion the participants were able to:

Explain the importance of principles of effective

report writing;
Identify the five (5) report writing techniques;
Write at three (3) format types of police reports; and
Write at least one (1) narrative report base on
template.

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course

 Module 3 – Effective Communication (Police Report Writing)

THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS

Public Safety Basic Recruit Course