REPORT WRITING 101

[Hump0311]

Figure that this would be the right place to post this question. But before I ask let me give a quick background of myself. I do armed/unarmed security. I recently had a situation where a LEO was involved at one of the properties I work at.I had to write an incident report which is routine for any security company. However my boss looked over my report and in no uncertain words gave me the feeling a five year old could have written it better and maybe not in such a nice way . So that being said. Besides the 5 W's and an H. What are some good tips on writing a solid report. And before anyone asks no I can't post the report in question because A. case is still open and B. It was horribly written.

Thank you in advance for all your help

[Samuelx]

Usually, simple words, correct spelling/grammar, chronological order, neatly written, accurate/complete content, etal in no particular order. Your report writing requirements may be different than ours (LE).

Did your supervisor explain why he thought your report was poorly written? (he should have pointed out the areas that required attention/changing). As any LEO can tell you, a lot can depend on whatever supervisor is on duty (reading/reviewing reports) - the same report could be given 3 different ratings by 3 different sergeants (e.g. good report, not perfect but ok, go back and change all these things).

IMO, the best thing would be to examine your report and give you constructive criticism (without seeing it, it's kinda like you asking us how to fix a car but not telling us what's wrong with it). You can type it or cut and paste and replace specifics with generics.

I would imagine yours would flow sort of like: what you were doing, what you saw/heard/were told, what you did, what happened next, maybe what you did next, maybe what happened after that, conclusion/what happened at the end, etc...

[Seahawk]

There are many good examples of model security reports on the web. Just Google security report writing. However, Samulex nailed it. "Usually, simple words, correct spelling/grammar, chronological order, neatly written, accurate/complete content, etal in no particular order."

You should sit down with your boss and discuss his expectations regarding your report writing. After all, he's the dude that signs your pay check and he's the one that must be pleased with your work.

[Unit74]

What a few of my supervisors have said is that you should write the report in a story fashion. I was used to the military style of writing which is a "Just the facts, ma'am" style. It ends up choppy and hard to read.

Tell the story using common words, short sentences and as if you are writing it for a 8th grader to read (jury).

[retired]

the same report could be given 3 different ratings by 3 different sergeants

Boy, is that true. I had a certain female sgt., who was only a sgt. because of her looks and who she slept with, tell me I couldn't list a person as a suspect in the body of the report since I hadn't ID'd him as one. He was listed as one on the face page and the w/sgt. had no problem approving it after she left the office. He told me to ignore her comments.

Sometimes you do have to write for the supervisor on duty.

[alex00]

Unfortunately, even with extensive academy training some new LEOs can't write decent reports. We have had several trainees fail the training program because their reports are not up to par. Effective written communication is a skill that if not learned early, is difficult to master for adults. I'm not sure what kind of training you took to become a security guard, but my guess is that it didn't focus as much on report writing as a police academy.

As others have pointed out, structure your thoughts in an organized manner. Most of us write in chronological order. Try not to use pronouns to identify people unless you have already identified them in the sentence, or they are the single actor in the paragraph. Try to keep sentence structure short and concise. Use paragraphs, its harder on the reader to wade through a very large block of text. Limit or eliminate the use of 'jargon' or industry specific terms unless absolutely necessary. Assume your reader has no idea what the technical terms you are using mean. Don't use abbreviations unless you have already identified their meaning. Always use proper capitalization and punctuation. If in doubt, end the sentence with a period, and start anew. Spell check is your best friend.

Without seeing your report, or knowing what the shortcoming were, my only specific suggestion would be to take some college level writing courses. If you plan to make a career out of a profession that involves writing, Security, LE, etc., these courses will help you greatly.

[9mmepiphany]

Try not to use pronouns to identify people unless you have already identified them in the sentence, or they are the single actor in the paragraph. Try to keep sentence structure short and concise. Use paragraphs, its harder on the reader to wade through a very large block of text. Limit or eliminate the use of 'jargon' or industry specific terms unless absolutely necessary. Assume your reader has no idea what the technical terms you are using mean. Don't use abbreviations unless you have already identified their meaning. Always use proper capitalization and punctuation. If in doubt, end the sentence with a period, and start anew. Spell check is your best friend.

Without seeing your report, or knowing what the shortcoming were, my only specific suggestion would be to take some college level writing courses. If you plan to make a career out of a profession that involves writing, Security, LE, etc., these courses will help you greatly.

this pretty much nails it. when i started in LE, everyone wrote in the Third Person and it read very strangely...tense agreement was always the great pitfall. we finally changed over to writing in the First Person and it was better until the advent on IMing and Texting. they used to teach, "write as you speak" which worked until people stopped speaking in complete sentences...now fragments abound and people don't know how to end sentences.

a college writing course will usually help, as will reading more

[oddjob]

Its been pretty much summed up here already. I just wanted to ad that report writing is very crucial. When I first started I thought "big deal" (like most rookies) then it hit me.

Getting ripped on the stand, the DA's office asking questions, other officers asking questions, then I promoted. Writing letters, emails, memos, policy, evals, talking with people who are Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs, city attorneys, Politicos & etc. People judge you on how well you write. Its important enough that I told my son (who wants to be a cop) that English should be his minor in college. As another poster wrote here....take a jr college class. It will at least show you care about yourself and your job.

[strangerdude]

Just take a college writing class, all you need to get down is your grammar, punctuations, and format. You will be surprised how many teachers/bosses think you have an A+ paper just because of transition words.