Search Result: Writing Reports

You might tempted to call it a "clicky pen" because its ink tip is retractable, but unlike other such writing implements it's so smooth there is no telltale "click." It's also much more durable than the kind you'll find at most offices, yet more cost-effective than others intended to double as kubatons. It's Tuff-Writer’s Precision Press Pen.

With the tax base shrinking in many of our jurisdictions and that depleting our budgets, all of us have been told to do more with less. The trick is to know what corners to cut and what corners might cut you back. Here's a look at five things you absolutely positively don't want to do on the job.

San Bernardino (Calif.) Police Sgt. Dwight Waldo, one of law enforcement's foremost graffiti enforcement investigators, discusses the five types of graffiti, explains how to gather intel to identify messages, and tells patrol officers what they need to include in a vandalism report. Sgt. Waldo's book, "Taggers and the Graffiti Culture," is proprietary training material. To reach Sgt. Waldo, send an e-mail to editor@policemag.com with "graffiti" in the Subject Line.

Whenever anyone talks about report writing, images of my academy class and the boring report writing segment always comes to mind. What I didn't know then, but know now, is just how important report writing really is.

Years ago when I was attending my police academy recruit training, one of the many questions my fellow recruits and I pondered was: Will I get sued? In my case, the answer turned out to be, "Yes." And several times at that!

One of the most ignored aspects of our work is report writing. But it shouldn’t be. Whether we are patrol officers or investigators, we write reports each and every day. And these reports stay with us from the day we write them all the way through the court process and beyond.