Q&A Hero

Q: When writing a report, you should start a new paragraph when you change speakers, locations, time or ideas.

Q: An excellent report is more likely to cause the defendant to go to trial.

Q: If an officer did not see who signed a check, the statement "the check was signed, John Doe" is more objective than "the check was signed by John Doe."

Q: Being objective means eliminating those facts from the report that may appear damaging to your case.

Q: An inference is not really true or false; it is sound or unsound.

Q: Good report writing is a learned skill.

Q: Reporters are never permitted to read police reports.

Q: Reports are permanent written records of important facts in a case to be used in the future.

Q: Officers should review their reports to make certain they are well organized.

Q: An effective report needs to be subjective for effective prosecution.

Q: Once a report is written, the writer should: a. File it and forget it. b. Proofread it. c. Immediately present it to the prosecution. d. Prepare for the appeal.

Q: Which of the following statements is not true? a. Being brief is the same as being concise. b. The way a report is written can have major consequences for the disposition of a case. c. Inferences can prove valuable in a report, provided they are based on sufficient evidence. d. Almost everything that a police officer does must be reduced to writing.

Q: One benefit of a well-written report is that it can a. reduce legal liability for the officer and the department. b. enhance an officer's career. c. make a positive impact on a prosecutor's case. d. all of these choices.

Q: Which of the following statements is most accurate? a. The car was traveling in excess of 90 mph. b. The suspect was taller than the bank guard. c. The witness refused to give a statement. d. The victim heard what happened.

Q: The words apparently or appeared can be used to a. justify expressing an opinion. b. make an inference stand out clearly as an inference. c. turn an inference into an objective statement. d. describe a fact.

Q: Approximately what percentage of an officer's time is spent writing reports? a. 10 percent b. 20 percent c. 25 percent d. 5 percent

Q: Presynct_DictaTrans field-based reporting system a. is paperless. b. combines voice and text in one application. c. requires minimal training. d. all of these choices.

Q: Slanting, that is, including only one side of a story or only facts that tend to prove or support the officer's theory, can make a report a. objective. b. exclusionary. c. subjective. d. exculpatory.

Q: Words that have an emotional effect, such as wept or blubbered, are called a. denotative. b. connotative. c. exculpatory. d. exclusionary.

Q: Words that have little emotional effect, for example, cried, are called a. emotive. b. psychological. c. denotative. d. corroborating.

Q: Which of the following statements is in the first person? a. "This officer made the arrest." b. "The arrest was made by this officer." c. "Previously this officer made this arrest." d. "I made the arrest."

Q: The most important step in report writing is to a. write with caution to avoid lawsuits. b. gather the facts. c. determine the motive. d. determine the modus operandi.

Q: Which of the following is true of writing completed in the active voice? a. The subject does not take any action. b. The subject of the sentence performs the actions. c. The sentences are active in terms of the reader. d. Exact quotations are always used.

Q: When organizing notes for a police report, officers should not a. use a table of contents. b. place the notes in chronological order. c. use headings to guide the reader. d. prepare an outline.

Q: In a police report, the majority of statements should be a. facts. b. inferences. c. opinions. d. conclusionary.

Q: The disposition of the case is stated in the ____________ paragraph of a report narrative. a. opening b. final c. narrative d. summary

Q: Investigative reports are read by many people and used for many purposes. Which of the following is not an example of how a report would typically be used? a. Plan for future law enforcement services. b. Compile statistics on crime in a given jurisdiction. c. Provide information to insurance investigators. d. Convey information to the victim or the victim's family.

Q: Which is not associated with some of the common problems with police reports? a. confusing or unclear sentences b. conclusions, assumptions and opinions in the report c. missing or incomplete information d. misspelled words e. inability to type

Q: Due process disclosure of what type of evidence must be determined and made by the prosecutor? a. informal statements b. informal attitudes c. exculpatory information d. hearsay

Q: Officers should not write reports in the a. past tense. b. passive voice. c. active voice. d. first person.

Q: Citizen Online Report Writing is appropriate for a. discovery crimes. b. involvement crimes. c. both discovery crimes and involvement crimes. d. neither discovery crimes nor involvement crimes.

Q: Which of the following is not a benefit of a well-written report? a. It helps the criminal justice system operate more efficiently and effectively. b. It reduces liability for the department and officer. c. It reflects positively on the investigator who wrote it. d. It is geared subjectively to enhance prosecution.

Q: Being concise means to a. leave out details. b. limit yourself to one paragraph. c. eliminate wordiness. d. be subjective.

Q: The term PC (probable cause) is needed in which report? a. crime report b. arrest report c. forensic report d. rough notes

Q: The statement "the man could not walk a straight line" is an example of a. a fact. b. a conclusionary statement. c. an observation. d. any of these choices.

Q: What are some of the disadvantages of videos?

Q: What are some of the advantages of videos?

Q: When would it be appropriate to use surveillance photography?

Q: How long does evidence, including photographic evidence, need to be kept?

Q: Explain what conditions a photograph needs to satisfy in order to be admitted as evidence in court.

Q: Imagine you are at the scene of a homicide. The victim was murdered on the sidewalk in front of a public building on a busy street. Briefly record the photographs you need to take, and in what order they should be taken.

Q: Briefly outline the six steps in making a sketch of a crime scene.

Q: When creating a scale drawing of a crime scene, what does an officer need to consider in order for the drawing to be admissible in court?

Q: Imagine you are at the scene of a car accident involving two vehicles and a pedestrian. What evidence would you sketch?

Q: What typically determines where and how notes are to be filed?

Q: What are trip cameras, and what are they used for?

Q: What kind of camera is useful for photographing trace evidence such as bloodstains and tool marks?

Q: What is immersive imaging?

Q: What type of items would one photograph in a laboratory?

Q: When should the investigator start taking notes?

Q: Enhanced surveillance capability can be provided by using ____________, thereby collecting critical intelligence without exposing officers.

Q: To overcome defense challenges that a digital image was altered or otherwise tampered with, investigators must rigorously maintain the ______________.

Q: Take ___________ shots first because they are the most subject to alteration by weather and security violations.

Q: The technique in which a scene is photographed clockwise, with the first picture showing an object on the right side of the photograph and the next picture showing the same object on the left side of the photograph, is called ____________.

Q: A crime scene sketch contains, among other things, the scale of the sketch, the direction of north and the name of the person making the sketch. This is referred to as the ___________.

Q: The plotting method restricted to square or rectangular areas is the ____________-coordinate method.

Q: Writing your initials, the date the photo was taken, what the photo depicts and the direction of north on the back of a photograph is a procedure called ___________.

Q: Mug shots can be used in ___________________ lineups to help identify suspects.

Q: A sketch that is drawn or personally witnessed by an investigator, that accurately portrays a crime scene and that is introduced as evidence is referred to as a(n) ______________ sketch.

Q: ___________ is commonly used in outdoor scenes but can also be used indoors. This process of locating evidence or other items uses straight-line measures from two fixed objects.

Q: One of the ways a crime scene sketch can be used to assist an investigation is to ____________ people.

Q: It is important to take crime scene photographs from eye level.

Q: The rough sketch must always be drawn to scale.

Q: Ultraviolet-light photography is used to document bite marks, neck strangulation marks and other impressions left from intentional injuries.

Q: If an item of evidence has inadvertently been moved before being photographed, put it back immediately and then resume taking photos.

Q: Checklists are a critical aspect of the law enforcement function, especially when it comes to crime scene photography.

Q: Note taking should never, under any circumstance, be delayed or postponed.

Q: Digital recorders are rapidly replacing notebooks in law enforcement note taking.

Q: Cameras may be stored wherever they are most readily available for use.

Q: It is best to include every possible detail in a crime scene sketch.

Q: The first rough crime scene sketch is often an extremely important investigative aid.

Q: To be admissible in court, photographs must be material, relevant, competent, accurate, free of distortion and noninflammatory.

Q: Digital cameras have not yet been approved for court use for crime scene photography.

Q: Photographs and videotapes reproduce the crime scene in detail primarily for presentation to the media.

Q: The advantages of videos include accurate representation of a crime scene and evidence, ability to show distance and sound capability to more fully document what is being seen.

Q: A notebook is only a temporary report to record facts and has no real evidentiary value in itself.

Q: The basic purpose of note taking is to convict and punish offenders.

Q: The basic purpose of crime scene photography is to record the entire crime scene permanently.

Q: The first step in sketching a crime scene is to outline the area and the crime.

Q: Microphotography is useful in criminal investigations because it renders bruises and injuries visible long after their actual occurrence.