# P1 Exclusive: Putting terms in your terminology



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

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

_*Ed. Note:* John Bowden retired from the Orlando Police Department in 1994 and presently is the founder and director of Applied Police Training and Certification (APTAC). Contact John via email by clicking here or visiting the APTAC website._

The purpose of a use of force report is to clearly document the events that led up to the use of force, the force that was used, and all of the circumstances surrounding the incident. It's easy to state that this is so, but actually doing it is not always easy. For instance, what is wrong with the following report?
"The suspect, Tom Edwards, was standing next to the window removing the glass. I pointed my weapon at him and said "Freeze, Police!" Edwards did not move. I directed him to the ground, into a kneeling position. He complied. I holstered my weapon and took out my handcuffs. I told Edwards to put his hands behind his back. I put a cuff on Edwards' right hand. Edwards resisted my efforts to handcuff him. I executed an Iron Wrist Takedown, pulling Edwards to the ground. I attached the other cuff to his left wrist."
This report accurately reflects what happened and to the average officer this report looks pretty good. However, it assumes a certain level of understanding of defensive tactics terminology and police experience on the part of the reader. Unfortunately, our audience is not always someone in law enforcement or someone with defensive tactics experience. In fact, the person we need about whom we should be concerned (and to whom we should be writing) is our future legal adversary, the suspect's attorney. He will be looking for an alternative meaning to what we wrote.
The first problem in the above paragraph occurs in this sentence: "I directed him to the ground, into a kneeling position."
A person with police experience understands this to mean that we told the suspect to kneel down on the ground, cross his ankles and put his hands on top of his head. Unfortunately, this sentence offers Edwards' attorney an alternative interpretation: "The officer grabbed my innocent client and slammed him to his knees on the ground."
We know this didn't happen, but the statement in our report left such an interpretation to the reader / attorney. When this is brought up in court, we will have to refute the attorney's interpretation with what really happened. When we try to do this, the attorney will have us where he wants us, between the rock and the hard place. For example:

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/police-pro...-Exclusive-Putting-terms-in-your-terminology/


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