Imagine you are an officer, and you and your partner responded to a possible burglary and took down information. Now you need to write a report.

• Ch. 6 of Effective Communication in Criminal Justice
• A Criminal Justice Report Writing Checklist

Imagine you are an officer, and you and your partner responded to a possible burglary and took down information. Now you need to write a report.

Review your Incident Facts:

• October 6, 2017, at 0745am
• Burglary
• 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
• Mr. Phil Collins – left to work at 7:00am
• Alarm was set, door locked
• Call from alarm company at 8:15am, police called
• Homeowner arrived home at 9:00am, greeted by Officer R.E. Grubb and myself
• Scene cleared for intruders, homeowner asked to determine if anything taken
• Dell laptop and $40 cash
• Searched for point of entry, aided by evidence technician (ET)
• Footprinton backdoor, fingerprint on countertop, secured by ET
• Incident number 15355 provided to Mr. Collins
• Scene cleared 9:45am

Using the information from the Incident Facts, write a 260-word report that includes the following:

• Who (identification of the person[s] involved)
• What (violation or offense)
• When (time and date)
• Where (location of incident) Why (motive)
• How (method of operation)
• Action taken (end result, outcome, or response)

Consider the following points as you write your report:

• Is the description of the incident accurate?
• Does it give specific details that are both factual and correct?
• Are all elements of the incident properly identified and explained? Did you provide explicit and concise information?
• Did you include all essential information? Is your report well organized? Did you organize the information chronologically?
• Did you include all necessary information to answer the questions who, what, when, where, why, how, and what action was taken?
• Are your conclusions supported? Did you include a full description of the actions on which you based your conclusion?
• Is your report free of errors?
• Did you use the proper format?