# P1 Exclusive: Proof is in the review



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*On Language, Communication, and Leadership*
with John Bowden

We go to great lengths to train ourselves how to respond under stress, how to protect ourselves when attacked by suspects and how to protect them from harm when we take them into custody. When it is all over, we write it up. Our task is to accurately and clearly document what happened. Sound simple? To those of you that have been involved in a use of force case, you know it is not so simple. 
First, there's the call to deal with the subject and your efforts to calmly defuse the situation. When that does not work, we find ourselves in the middle of a use of force situation. There is the struggle, the force, and finally the arrest and transport. When we are done, we are excited from the Adrenaline, drained from the struggle and dreading the paperwork. 
Officer Murphy states: "Any incident that requires hours of paperwork will occur at the end of the shift." We are often in a hurry to finish up and get off duty or on to the next call; no rest for the weary. This is where we can ruin the job we have worked so hard to do thus far. There is a tendency for us to write our report and file it with only a cursory review or no review at all. We often feel we are good report writers and if we are careful we will get it right the first time. Remember, when these reports are written we're often tired and not at our best. 
So, we knock it out, give it a quick once over and move on. Unfortunately, we have to explain our mistakes later, in court. For example, the officer that wrote in his report, _"I saw a bulge in the suspect's pants that looked like a concealed iron."_ 
Actually the officer intended to say "tire iron." Instead of "tire iron" the officer wrote "iron." Imagine the officer trying to explain in court why he thought the suspect had a concealed "iron" in his pants and, by the way, where is that "iron" anyway? This problem could have been avoided with a proper review of the report.
Before I share a few techniques for checking your report, I would like to test your ability to proof your work. The following is an exercise to see how well you see the material you are reading. Follow the instructions and see how well you perform.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/police-tec.../1769178-P1-Exclusive-Proof-is-in-the-review/


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