HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-12-1999 ICPD Reports/Memos I I
IOWA CiTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Report Writing Basics Non-verbal Communication
Complete and concise it's not necessarily what you are saying but ....
Adapted from Alert training vk'~o RePort Writincl I: The Basics Lt, Johnson
Adapted from Verbal Judo by Dr. George Thompson
An officer must have coined the adage "the jobs' no1
done until the paperwork is complete". With this in Nonverbal Communication.
mind department members should consider the
following when writing their reports. Nonverbal communication is made up of several
elements, including, body language, spatial
Department members must remember that reports are relations, and proxemics, The combination of
a permanent record, and must assume that the report these elements makes up between 50 and 60
will eventually become a public record. Reports may percent of the "message" projected and received in
be read, reviewed and challenged by; supervisors, communication. The rest ofconununicationcan be
prosecutors, the defense, victim(s), judges, probation broken down into "voice" which makes up
and parole, juries, insurence companies, the media, between 33 and 40 percent and "content" which
and other parties, makes up between 7 and 10 percent of the
If the report deals with a criminal offense the report message. Given the strength of each of these
needs to address each element of the crime, lhese aspects ofcornmunication, it is easy to see why the
reports should be written in chronological order and three must be in sync for the speaker to project
include all important details. In addition they should effectively. Any contradiction in these three parts
also include the giving of any rights and spontaneous of communication, will result in the receiver
utterances. Reports should be objective. They need to believing the strongest of the three, nonverbal
record the facts, communication.
Reports should; be concise, avoid jargon, avoid the use As we know, the body can not lie, but 90-99
percent of it can. What this suggests for the
' officer, is, if they see conflict in body language in
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E a subject, be prepared for the worst. For example,
a subject is displaying some tendency toward
'1 Report Wdting Basics flight, yet there are minute indicators of fight. The
'l Non-Verbal Communications streetwise officer will be prepared to believe the
fight indicators and prepare accordingly. What are
3 CALEA Update these indicators? Here are some of the more
common kinds of body language you may
4 September Training encounter.
continued on page 3
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continued from page I
It is important that officers include statements or
of 10 codes, avoid redundant and repetitive phrases,
avoid formal medical terminology, avoid cluttering with comments made by beth the victim(s) and
suspect(s). Reports should also contain facts or
excessive adjectives and adverbs, and avoid
information, which is exculpatory in nature, Failure
abbreviations~ to do so could lead to a question of your credibility.
Officers should consider the use of active verbs. This Officers should completely identity all witnesses
will allow the reader to "see" what happened. When and potential witnesses in their reports. As the
practical, instead of writing down just a conclusion, County Attorney mgulady reminds us at MATS, "if it
officers should consider including the is not in the report, it didn't happen."
actions/behaviors, which lead to the conclusion. I.e.
Other factors, which can affect the credibility of a
Instead of Smith was intoxicated, the officer may be
report are; grammar, punctuation, and spelling. (Is
better served by writing something like: Smith smelled
the officer sloppy and/or lazy?) These errors can be
strongly of alcohol. He was swaying from side to side
until he leaned back against the wall. His eyes were minimized if officers coml~ete their reports using
the word processing programs on the in-house
watery and bloodshot. When asked for his ID he
computer system. For hand written reports
thumbed through his wallet 2 times before finding his including charges, if in doubt about the spelling,
ID. His ID was clearly visible to me when he first
opened his wallet, look it up.
Members of the department must remember that it
After a person is completely identified in a report, they is not unusual for cases to extend over several
may be referred to by last name only. (In instances
years. This is particularly true when an incident
where there is another person with the same last
involves civil litigation. You may be called to testity
name, include a first initial.) Addresses and/or
on behalf of the City or an outside party regarding
locations should be listed as specifically as possible.
your observations of a particular incident several
When writing ab·ut an item or object officers must he years in the past. You have an obligation to
as specific as possible. The description of these items provide complete and accurate information.
should include; make, serial number, size, color, type,
The video Report Writing I: The Basics is available
distinguishing marks, other information, which would
for viewing. (30 minutes) · kh
assist in identitying a particular object.
This and That
An inconsistency has been noted in the operation and use of the Carcorders. It was stated in the training
video that when a tape was rewound and then removed and then returned to the unit, that it would fast
forward to the point where the recording had stopped. This is correct when the video is not viewed on an
outside VCR. IF the tape is viewed on a VCR and then reinsarted in the Carcorder, the unit will start
recording where it is inserted. To avoid recording over previously recorded information you must manually
fast forward to the last point of recording on the tape, pdor to continuing operation. Pursuant to General
Order 99-08, In Car Recording Devices, the taping over of previously recorded information is prohibited.
For the newer officers who may not be aware of the policy, the following pertains to attendance at voluntary
schools. Voluntary schools are those, which the officer requests to attend. Per Department Memo 94-02
"Officers will not he paid for travel time." I.e. If you request to attend a school at MTTU IV and the school is
from 08:00 to 16:00 you will not be paid two hours OT for your travel time. In a related issue, if attending a
volunatary school and the day extends in excess of 8 hours, you will not he paid over time for the excess.
THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO BE CLEVER. FIRST, THINK OF A BRIGHT REMARK IN TIME TO SAY IT.
SECOND, THINK OF IT iN TIME NOT TO SAY IT. ·
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continued from psge 1
-Frequent focus by the suspect on a particular
U P ¢ o M I N G 'r R A ! N I N G feature of the officer, such as the gun (prepare for
This is a partial listing of upcoming training that MAY bea disarming attempt), or the proximity of the
available. DO NOT considerthisa posting. Any letters officer to the suspect (prepare for an assault
submitted based on this listing WILL NOT be considered a (strike/kick))
request to attend. -Narrowing of eyes by the suspect
-Clenching/unclenching of fists by the suspect
CALENDAR OF EVENTS -Tightening/releasing of the jaw muscles by the
T~INING EVENT suspect
PLACE MTTU ~V -"Rolling" the head/neck by the suspect
DATE 10/28/99
The Law of Search and Seizure (for Iowa Officers) Of equal importance for officers, is for them to be
aware of their own body language. Because other
TKAJmNG EVENT nonverbal language assumes such a strong role in
PLAce c~o~ R,~DS communication, if officers are demonstrating
DATE 10/25-29/99 nonverbal behavior that is not in sync with their
Firearm and crowd control training spoken message, that message will be lost on the
receiver. The receiver may, instead, believe what
TRa, lmNGEVENT the nonverbal language is communicating. An
PLace M-iTU IV officer who is giving directions to someone lost in
DATE 11/15-17).'~ID22,23(CONTINUEDAFrsRW~*FKENO) traffic, while that officer is attempting to direct
Crime scene Technician School traffic around a major accident scene, may be seen
as conveying impatience if not outright hostility.
TRAINING EVENT This is based on the officer's body language, when
PLACE MTTU iV in fact the officers spoken message is addressing
DATE 11/8-12/99 the very request made by the "lost" driver. In this
BASK; FTO SC, HO(N. instance not taking a moment to align your "non-
verbals" with your words may generate a
complaint.
CALEA UPDATE
In a related fashion, take a situation in which
The Vehicle Crashes GlO 99-09 OPS-13 is being officers respond to a domestic. After dealing with
issued. It covers 16 standards and 41 bullets (sub-
standards) relating to traffic and crash investigation, the subjects for 45 minutes a decision is made to
arrest the husband. You tell him he is under arrest.
Of note to officers, if there is a death or sedous
He asks, "are you going to hurt me?" You
injury, or probability of city liability, an Accident respond in a harsh tone, severe stare and
Investigator needs to be called. Also, when a TI or
threatening stance, "no". In this case he will
Reconstmctionist is called to the scene, they will be likely believe the voice (tone) 33-40 percent plus
responsible for the technical report, but the initial
proxemics 50-60 percent instead of the response,
officer is responsible for the State Accident Report "no" 7-10 percent. Relating this to Defensive
form unless otherwise advised. Also of note, officers Tactics and arrest procedures, you may have just
are expected to take appropriate enforcement action turned a yes or maybe person into a NO person.
when responding to vehicle crashes. IF PC exists for Remembering the words of the creator of Verbal
the issuance of a traffic citation, officers are expected Judo, Dr. George Thompson, "If people don't
to file the appropriate charge. If the officer elects tothink we're there to help, they're free to fight!"
not file the charge they may be required to justify The key for officers is to get the role, voice, and
their decision, other non-verbals in sync when they
communicate. *
training 3
VEHICLE OPERATION
September Training
If a person wants a vehicle to perform at its
Members of the Police Department attended the
maximum potential the vehicle can only do one thing
following training dudng the month of September. at a time. I.e. If you brake while turning you are
Member(s) Training Hours doing neither to full efficiency vtr~th this in mind
39/46 ASP Instructor 16 operators of motor vehicles should remember:
53/24 Patrol Interview Tech. 8 1. You should not turn and accelerate or brake at
the same time.
99,95,90,84,82 Verbal Judo 4
2. Officers should do all their braking pdor to
80+ members Cultural Diversity 3 reaching a turn point.
88/99 Internal Affairs 8 3. You can't brake and accelerate at the same time.
26/35 Cdme Scene Photo 24 4. Braking should be done in a straight line. (once
80 Personnel Issues 20 brakes lock you will continue in a straight line
r~3ardless of wheel position)
FATS (0) Sent in for repair
5. Over or understeedng in a turn can be slower
SRT (15) Range 8 than comedng at the limit.
SRT(16) Situational 8 6. Every steering correction causes a weight
Watch Tm WT 00-02, 00-10 transfer
· 7. Smooth steedng is your pdmary goal. ·
Watch Training occasionally call on officers to demonstrate or go over
In Sept. we implemented watch training. While the a particular subject.
format has not been finalized it will generally proceed You can also expect to see topics covered in multiple
along these lines; a topic will be selected and fom3ats, i.e. watch training, training bulletin, video or
covered at watch meeting. Topics will range in MATS training.
subject from legal considerations to arrest To document the training, the supervisor will attach a
techniques. The selected topics will often focus on
copy of their watch roster to the days-training scenario
important tasks that ara not used on a regular basis, and forward it to the Training Sergeant. Supervisors
as well as areas of concern. They will also cover or
may repeat a particular training over the number of
review new and existing General Orders. Officers
days they deem necessary. Over time the scenarios
who have an expertise in a particular will be
may be repeated to ensure that all officers are
consulted for ideas or suggestions pertaining to a
exposed to the material. At this time it is anticipated
particular topic. Anyone with an idea for watch
that watch training will be implemented one or two
training may contact the Training Sergeant or a watch times per week. ·
supervisor with the recommendation. The training will
be from 5-10 minutes in length. Due to the bdef time,
the topic will not be covered in detail, but will often
times focus on a particular aspect of a subject. The
training may be by video, demonstration, review of
matedal or other. The watch supervisors will
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