Recreating the Scene: An Investigation of Police Report Writing

Abstract

Police officers do a significant amount of high-stake writing in police reports, but report writing is given little attention in policy academies, and prevailing guidelines treat the task as a mechanical process of recording facts. As a result, officers are ill-prepared for this essential and inherently complex task. In this study, we interviewed officers to study what makes for a good police report. Our findings reveal that police reports are goal-directed genre actions. This understanding peers through the positivist emphasis on factual details to emphasize the social function of police reports in the criminal justice system.

Mission Impossible? Challenging Police Credibility in Suppression Motions

“…More importantly, these barriers are predicated on the assumption that officers are honest in writing the report; yet, this assumption may be erroneous (Alpert & Noble, 2009;Barker & Carter, 1990;Blanks, 2006;Capers, 2008;Cloud, 1994;Klockars, 1980;Koepke, 2000;Orfield, 1992;Slobogin, 1996). Yu and Monas (2020) acknowledged this point:…”

“…In addition, police officers may be called to testify at suppression hearings, which could be held months after the event (Beehr et al, 2004). Police reports are often utilized during these hearings; they are prepared much closer to the arrest, may contain more accurate information, and are often used to facilitate officers’ memory recall (Beehr et al, 2004; Yu & Monas, 2020). When other courtroom actors consider police reports to be “objective and reliable,” the police report successfully constructs their narrative of events as the facts of the case (Fisher, 1993, p. 4).…”

“…In addition, although it is likely that officers develop expertise in identifying which details are pertinent to the central crime issue, Gregory and colleagues (2011) found that they tend to leave out peripheral information, often subjectively, rather than documenting all details in the interview of a mock witness (see also Fisher, 1993; Kassin et al, 2017). Similarly, Yu and Monas (2020) documented the challenges officers face in writing reports, including time constraints, lack of basic writing skills, “messy” context, and stress (p. 42). They challenged the assumption that police report writing is merely a mechanical, information-transmission process, and argued that police reports are written in a goal-oriented manner, focused on the “most essential audience”—the court (Yu & Monas, 2020, p. 45).…”

“…Similarly, Yu and Monas (2020) documented the challenges officers face in writing reports, including time constraints, lack of basic writing skills, “messy” context, and stress (p. 42). They challenged the assumption that police report writing is merely a mechanical, information-transmission process, and argued that police reports are written in a goal-oriented manner, focused on the “most essential audience”—the court (Yu & Monas, 2020, p. 45). A strict presentation of objective information is thus challenging as officers’ subjective interpretations play a pivotal role in the construction of the narrative in police reports.…”

“…More importantly, these barriers are predicated on the assumption that officers are honest in writing the report; yet, this assumption may be erroneous (Alpert & Noble, 2009; Barker & Carter, 1990; Blanks, 2006; Capers, 2008; Cloud, 1994; Klockars, 1980; Koepke, 2000; Orfield, 1992; Slobogin, 1996). Yu and Monas (2020) acknowledged this point:If officers become so biased in their attempt to get the “bad guys,” among other reasons, that they are willing to bend the truth, they may consciously omit certain details or fabricate others so their reports take on all the necessary genre features and nothing more to fulfill their court function. (p. 49, see also Kassin et al, 2017)…”