The Best Police Report Writing Book With Samples: Written For Police By Police, This Is Not An English Lesson [Paperback]

A. S. Michael (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

A great police report writing book.  With lots of samples.  This book is current, relevant and packed with tips.  Written by a police officer who actually taught report writing.Easy to read, entertaining, with easy to follow samples throughout.This book will teach you how to write a police report, segment by segment.  Why you are writing it, what to include, what not to include.  Then, stories with samples to show you how it should look when you are done.  Generic enough for any agency, specific enough for all crimes.  Simply the easiest instruction out there, that you can actually learn from and use.Includes some humor just to keep you awake!!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A.S.  Michael is a seasoned, veteran police officer and an established, published author. A.S. Michael has been a CJSTC certified instructor of police topics since 1990.Topics taught include, high liability Defensive Tactics and numerous, extremely dull administrative topics.   Administrative topics include Report writing, use of force report writing, pursuit radio procedures, map reading and orientation.The students have ranged from college level, academy students, to civilian personnel.  Also, a field training officer, taking new police officers from the academy and training them to become fully functioning police officers on the street.  Forums include in-class instructions for several years, and on-line degree courses.Previous publications and instructional videos sell on a worldwide market, thanks to the advance of the internet.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace; 1st edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441415033
• ISBN-13: 978-1441415035
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, unprofessional mess, November 7, 2009

By 

SafeCop "Joe P." (NJ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best Police Report Writing Book With Samples: Written For Police By Police, This Is Not An English Lesson (Paperback)

I originally saw this book mentioned in my ILEETA newsletter. I logged on Amazon to buy it. I guess I should have known when I noticed the author wrote a glowing review of his own book.

This is one of the most poorly written books I have ever encountered. The mistakes in this book are too numerous to list in this small space but they include:
Multiple instances of improper use of possessive (`s)
Multiple instances of awkward and/or incomplete sentence.
Multiple examples that this book was not proofread or inadequately proofread.
Multiple examples of misplaced commas.
Multiple examples of improper use of punctuation marks.
The author does not seem to know when to put information related to the sentence in parenthesis and when to start a new sentence.

The author by his own admission is not an English teacher. He then goes on to write an incomplete chapter about grammar. Included in the chapter is a section on adjectives but no mention of adverbs; the author addresses only 4 parts of speech when there are at least 8. It would seem that grammar would be an essential part of any report writing book. (Well, either have a chapter about grammar or don't).

Any book on report writing is better than this one (Holtz, Wallace/Roberson, Frazee). This book contains a lengthy chapter on Use of Force reporting. The absolute indispensible work on Use of Force reporting was authored by George T. Williams.

As an author of two law enforcement books and over fifty professional articles I know how hard it is to put your work out there to be scrutinized by a critical profession. But to author a book about report writing and have this many grammatical mistakes is indefensible. This is certainly not the Best Police Report Writing Book- in fact it is one of the worst. If this book was a police report it would be returned to the officer's box with the words- Re-Write and Re-Submit written in red.


12-18-09
Sir-
Thank you for your response. Leaving grammar aside and concentrating on the body of the report narrative, I believe you may want to review a few crucial areas of information:
1- I believe you propose to address the subjects of the report by roles (p. 78), rather than name (i.e. Suspect told victim "Stick 'em up.") I have found it is current in the profession to use the names in the narrative(i.e "Jones told Smith "Stick 'em up.").

2- I also believe you propose using military time vs. AM/PM (p. 55). Considering the audience of a report goes beyond law enforcement personnel, most in the profession recommend AM/PM. Law enforcement is moving toward plain language.

3- On p. 49, you suggest to list in your notebook, in order, from your department's report, the information needed to fill in a report. Why not just carry a blank report and fill it in as you go along?

4- It seems on p. 49 you advocate putting the information in the 'fill in' section of the police report then not mentioning it again in the narrative section. If I read this correctly, it means you have a lot of "on the above date and time at the above location the above listed victim operated the above listed auto..." I believe this to be very out of step with what is current in our profession. The narrative should stand alone without forcing the reader to refer back to other parts of the report.

5- It seems on p. 55 there is confusion between the term 'complainant' and 'victim.' The text states that if you are investigating an armed robbery at a convenience store and no one is hurt, "the first complainant is the business." A complainant is generally defined as "A party that makes a complaint or files a formal charge, as in a court of law; a plaintiff." It would be clearer if the report just listed victims of the crime.

6- On p. 99 you state you never used a question mark in a police report. A drug suspect never answered a question with a question? In drug interdiction circles, this is a major indicator and must be clearly listed.

I know things are done differently throughout the country, but in my travels and teachings, in my humble opinion, what this book teaches is not consistent with the rest of the profession.

From your samples in the back, I can tell you are a good cop with a lot of experience. It is a shame all this excellent experience and knowledge is clouded by the sentence structure, grammar and punctuation of this text.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Police Report Writing Book, December 11, 2009

By 

A.S. Michael - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Police Report Writing Book With Samples: Written For Police By Police, This Is Not An English Lesson (Paperback)

It has been recently been brought to my attention that several people may have authored a review of this book with the intent to harm sales and re-direct traffic to another book.

While this is unfortunate, I was alerted to this and the links to the other book which were [expired?] were removed by Amazon.

Customer reviews are of the upmost importance. This book would have never been written without the feedback of my students. But those reviews do need to be legitimate.

I have cooperated with all Amazon requirements to make this book as open as possible for anyone who may wish to look before buying. The ability to preview several pages of this book is available for anyone who may wish to compare reviews with the actual product. Even taking a few minutes to preview a few pages may pleasantly suprise you. You will be in an informed position to decide for yourself if this is a product you may benefit from or not.

Any reviews are welcomed and always be safe!!

A.S. Michael

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Basic entry level report writing guideline., November 24, 2010

By 

happyshopper - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best Police Report Writing Book With Samples: Written For Police By Police, This Is Not An English Lesson (Paperback)

I ordered this book on Nov 2010. I thought its going to be a "the best police report writing book", but I was wrong. I expected the book focus just on the advance report writing techniques but it turn-out to be a very basic report writing guidelines which i already learned in the police academy.