Written and Verbal Communications
Terms
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- Brief notations concerning specific events and circumstances that are recorded while fresh in the officer's mind and used to prepare a report.
- Field Note
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*Provides basis for report
*Reduces need to re-contact parties involved
*Provides greater accuracy relative to time, statements, and events than memory alone - Report Writing
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*Notes used in court are subject to scrutiny of the court
*If placed in evidence, may not be available until released by court
*May produce impeacheable inconsistencies betwen notes and reports
*Notes used in court kept for future use
- Court
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*People involved
*Describe from head to toe
*Vehicles
*Other Property
*Date(s) and Time(s)
*Exact Location of Occurence
*Person(s) Involved - Type of information that should be entered into officer's field notebook.
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*Suspect(s)
*Victim (s)
*Witness(s) - Persons
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*Race, sex (gender), age, body structure, height
*Hair - color, style, curly, straight, etc.
*Hat - color, style
*Face - complexion
*Eyes - color, shape
*Nose
*Shirt
*Pants
*Shoes
*Other Distinguishing marks - Describe from head to toe
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* Describe from top to bottom
*Color - top to bottom - Year/Model
*Manufacturer
*License Plate; Year of expiration,state registered
*Value
*Distinguishing Mark/Damage
*Insured
*Financed - Vehicles
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*Manufacturer
*Model name/number
*Serial Number
*Cost/Value
*Size
*Color
*Style
*Use (if not obvious) - Other property - description will differ by the type of property, but should include:
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*Case number
*Assisting Officer Activity
*Location and Chain of Evidence/ Custody
*Type of Incident - Other Important Information
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Who
What
Where
When
Why
How - Questions to be answered in field notes to complete a report.
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Who?
(Persons involved should be identified by role as a suspect, victim, or witness) -
*Complete name, address, telephone number, work address, and work telephone numbers
*Correct Spelling
*Any aliases used
*Gender(Sex) and Age
*Occupation (if employed)
*Student/School
*Age and date of birth - What?
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*Type of offense committed
*Type of property involved
*Means of transportation used, if any, or by foot
*Statements made
*Speech Impediments
*Unusual Words or Phrases - When? (Date and Time)
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*Offense occurred
*Reported
*Discovered
*Evidence Located
*Witness(es) and Victim(s) contacted
*Arrest(s) made - Where? (Exact Location that Offense occured)
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*Reference points map used
*Type area-residential, business, open field
*Location of victims, witnesses or suspects in relation to crime. - Why? (Motive or Cause)
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*Revenge
*Drug Addiction
*Monetary Gain
*Accidental - How? (Occurred)
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*Property Obtained
*Suspect Approached
*Suspect gained access/entry
*Exit/ leave scene - What are the two systems and mechanics of field note-taking?
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*Permanent Field Notes Recorded in Notebook
*Temporary Field Notes - Permanent Field Notes Recorded in Notebook?
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*Record officer name and badge number (or ID number on notebook
*Be neat when recording
*Keep pages intact and in proper sequence
*Record day/date in sequence
*Record daily call(s) in sequence
*Record note at scene follow-up in sequence
*Keep permanently - Temporary Field Notes
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*Discard Following The Completion of Report
*Be neat
*Record notes in order of events (field vs. follow up) - Advantages of Proper Field Notes
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Provides for recall at a later time.
*Enables officer to separate details of the offense
*Not totally dependent on memory
*Provides detail when preparing report and testifying in court. - Rules for completing note-taking
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Restrict only to important facts and information.
*Witness, Suspect,Victim
*Property
*Vehicles Used
*Details of how offense occured - Basic models and principles of communications
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*A failure to communicate could result in dire consequences
*Communication is the transfer of meaning
*For communciation to be successful, the meaning must not only be sent, but also comprehended. - Models of Communication
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*Linear Communication
*Interactive Communication
*Environmental Communication
*Transactional Communication - Linear Communication
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*Sender
*Encoding
*Message
*Decoding
*Receiver - Sender
- Mental Images - Nonverbal feelings, intentions, or mental pictures
- Encoding
- Method of communication (nonverbal, verbal, or written)
- Message
- The actual transmission
- Decoding
- Action process of changing the message back into feelings, intentions or mental pictures
- Receiver
- Recipient of Message
- Linear communication ______ a complete representation of the type of communication we want, which is the ______ variety.
- is not, interpersonal
- In order for the _______ to know if the message was received, the ______ must obtain ______.
- sender, sender, feedback
- Interactive Communication
- The receiver using the same methods previously used by the sender achieves feedback.
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_______ Communication
This model suggests that after a period of time the mental images of both sender and receiver ought to match. If this happens then _________ communcation has occured. - Interactive, successful
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________ Communication
A person's _________ influences how that person decodes the message that was sent. The term _______ means a person's history or background. - Environmental, Environment, environment
- Types of Environments
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Rich/Poor
Sick/Health
Old/Young
Concern/Indifference -
External Physiological and Psychological Noise:
* Noise can be ____________, _________, _____________ - External, Physiological, psychological
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_________ Noise
Physical noises in the environment, e.g., heavy equipment, sirens, people, talking, etc. - External
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________ Noise
Involves biological factors such as hearing loss, illness ans so on. - Physiological
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_________ Noise
refers to forces within a communicator that interfere with the ability to express or understand a message accurately. - Psychological
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________ Communication
_______ individuals sending and receiving information at the same time. One person may be talking, i.e., sending communication, while receiving communications from another party that may be nonverbal. - Transactional, Both
- Communication can be both _______ and un__________.
- Intentional and Unintentional
- It is _________ not to communicate through body language, dress, distance, etc.
- impossible
- Communication is based on: (%)
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7-10% Content
33-40% Tone
60%+ Nonverbal - Barriers to effective communication
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Filtering
Selective Perception
Emotions
Words
Information Overload
Nonverbal signs
Time pressures - Filtering
- Intentionally manipulating information.
- Selective Perception
- Selectively seeing and hearing based on one's needs, motivation, xperience, background, and other personal characteristics.
- Emotions
- How the receiver feels at the time
- Words
- Words mean different things to different people (age, education, and cultural background)
- Nonverbal signs
- When nonverbal cues are inconsistent with the oral message, i.e., conflicting signals
- Time pressures
- Trying to communciate in a short amount of time which results in messages tha are abbreviated and the meaning of the message is not fully sent.
- Helping Techniques
- Verbal and Non-Verbal Techniques
- Verbal Techniques
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Active Listening
Clarification
Summarization
Allowing Silence
Stating the Obvious
Personalized Statements
"Mind-Reading" (ie. insight)
Sharing Feelings - Non-Verbal Techniques
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Eye Contact
Body Posture
Distance
Touching
Vocalization - Peace Officers as Crisis Interveners
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Positioning
Posturing
Observing
Listening
Responding
Responding to Feeling
Responding to Feeling and Meaning - Positioning
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*Distancing far enough to be safe, close enough to see and hear
*Facing squarely the person, persons, or situation.
*Looking directly at tpersons and situation: making eye contact - Posturing
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*Standing erect to show strength and confidence
*Eliminating distracting behaviors, e.g. biting nails, foot tapping, looking at watch, etc.
*Inclining forward to show that you are focused, interested, and concerned - Observing
- Through sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
- Listening
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*Suspend judgement temporarily so you can hear what's being said.
*Pick out key words and phrases.
*Determine the intensity considering both volume and emotion. High intensity with an offender is a sign of danger.
Reflect on the mood as positive, negative, or neutral, and whether this mood is normal or abnormal. - Responding
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*Responding to Content
*Reflecting on what was seen and heard
*Use respond format: "You're saying_____." - Responding to Feeling
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*Reflect on feeling and intensity
*Respond to feeling: "You feel_____." - Responding to Feeling and Meaning
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*Reflect on feeling and reson
*Respond to feeling and meaning: "You feel_____ because____." - Asking Questions
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*Using the "5W-H" method (where, who, what, when, why, how)
*Thinking about what was said or not said in answering your question
*Responding to the answer by reflecting back content, feeling, and meaning. - PACE
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Problem
Audience
Constraints
Ethical Presence - Problem
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*Analyze and identify the problem
*Enables the officer to plan an approach
*Problems often change as confrontation progresses - Audience
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*Everyone encountered is part o the audience
*How is the audience reacting?
Receptive, Hostile,Critical
*Read audience and adapt tactics approapriately
*If person has a friend in the audience you may try to enlist their help. Ask the friend to help reason with and persuade the person to follow the officer's orders. - Constraints
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*Determine if there are nay obstacles to efective communcation and try to eliminate them if possible.
time of day, weather, location, external noise, officer's own mood, person's values and beliefs. - Ethical Presence
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*An expression of self control
*Use words to state purpose, not to express personal feelings
*Maintain professional attitude
*Anything perceived as hasty, irrational, or unfair, makes an officer seem unethical
*There can be serious long-term consequences for unethical behavior. - Aggresive Behavior
- May become necessary in an arrest situation when use of force becomes necessary.
- Passive Behavior
- May become necessary to retain one's composure when dealing with verbally hostile individuals.
- Assertive Behavior
- Exists in the middle of aggresive and passive behavior.
- Characteristics of a Sentence
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*A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
*A sentence is a group of words that contains a subject, a predicate, and, if required by the predicate's verb, a word o words following the verb that complete its meaning.
*The subject of the sentence is the person, place, thing. or idea about which something is said
*The predicate tells something or asks something aobut the subject of the sentence. he simple predicate of a sentenc is the verb. - Importance of Complete Sentences in Written Communication Of The Peace Officer:
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*Written communication is an integral part of every day for each peace officer.
*Without clear, complet sentences in reports, peace officers thoughts cannot be understood by any number of people who rely upon the report and/or notes.
*An understandable and well-written report can help make a case.
*Clear notes and reports can help jog a peace offficer's memory when needed. - Two serious errors in written communication
- Sentence Fragments and Run-On Sentences
- Sentence Fragment
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*Pieces of important information are left out.
*Reader is left to figure out who did what, when and where? - Run-On Sentences
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*When a period or other end mark is not placed at the end of a sentence.
*Two or more sentences written as one.
*Second sentence begins with a personal pronoun referring to a noun in the first sentence. - Clarity Problems
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*Modifiers
*Double Negatives
*Passive Voice
*Quotation Marks
*Slang/Jargon
*Non-Standard Abbreviations - Modifiers
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Attach themselves to the wrong word in a sentence.
Reader has to try and figure out the meaning
(Ex. We saw many swimming pools flying over California) - Double Negatives
- *When two negative words are used in the same clause.
- Passive Voice
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Subject receives the action.
Ex. The bystander was hit by a stray bullet. - Active Voice
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Subject performs the action.
Ex. A stray bullet hit a bystander. - Quotation Marks
- Help the reader by setting off the words of the speaker.
- Slang/Jargon and Non-Standard Abbreviations
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Meaning can be misunderstood.
Slang: "As I got out of my patrol car, Jones split nothbound on King Street."
Jargon: "Deputy Brown arrested for deuce." - Describing
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Being able to describe things, places, and people using vivid language.
Looking for distinguishing marks, colors, size, shape, texture, location and type.
Places - top to bottom, left to right(painting a picture of the place with words)
People - top to bottom, manner of walking, speaking. - Significant Uses of Police Report
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Permanent record of facts
Coordination of follow-up
Basis for prosecution and defense
Performance evaluations of officer
Statistical Data
Reference Material - Eight Essential Characteristics of a Police Report
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Accuracy
Conciseness
Completeness
Clarity
Legibility
Objectivity
Grammatically Correct
Correct Spelling - Four Common Types of Police Reports
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Arrest reports
Incident reports
Offense reports
Supplemental reports - Chronological
- Arrangement of information in order of occurence
- Categorical
- Arrangement of information by category, i.e. witnesses, suspects, crime elements, etc...
- Three Basic Elements Necessary In Police Reports
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Verification
Identification
Communication - Verification
- That an offense or incident has actually occurred, identification of the victim, suspects, witnesses, the place of the crime or incident, and when the crime occured.
- Identification
- of solvability factors or leads
- Communication
- of the circumstances of the crime or incident, identification of completed investigative tasks and those tasks yet to be done
- Pseudonym for which victims?
- Juveniles and Sex offense victims.
- Arrest Report
- P.C. Affidavit (Facts)
- Incident Report
- Non-Criminal
- Offense Report
- Non-Arrest
- Supplemental Report
- Additional report to any of the other three reports (Arrest, Incident, Offense Reports)