Report Writing for Jail Guards

Intro

The U.S. Department of Justice recently issued a report alleging the King County Correctional Facility falls short of legal standards for medical treatment, suicide prevention and safeguards against physical and sexual abuse of prisoners. They pretty much make us out to be unprofessional thugs. The worst part, aside from the few rogue Officers we shit canned,is the fact that gave them the ability to make something out of nothing. They read some very poorly written reports and used them to make us look like we abuse the citizens we are duty bound to keep safe and secure. Once again, we shoot ourselves in the foot. I've waited long enough for the department to address this fairly simple issue and as usual they have failed. So please allow me to help you produce professional, factually accurate reports.

How To:

Summary:

Who is your audience? Who else may be reading your reports?
Your primary audience will always be the department. It could be anyone up and down the Chain of Command, Classification or IIU.
But it could also be a Prosecutor, defense attorney, investigating law enforcement agency, the public or the media.

What happened: Make it as clear as possible what you actually observed. If you didn't observe or experience it, don't write it.

Who was involved: People wearing a department uniform should always be addressed as their rank and name. Officer/Sergeant/Captain/Major Smith. An Officer or Sergeant or Captain or Major is always an Officer, Sergeant, Captain or Major.
Inmates should be addressed as Inmate and their last name the first time you write their name and then Mr./Ms. and their last name from then on. Here you are establishing that they are indeed an inmate but then you are trying to impress upon anyone who reads your report that you also identify them as a human being under your care and supervision. Not just a "prisoner".

Where and when did it occur:

Why: Actually no one that matters cares why something happened and most of the time there is no definitive way to prove why something happened so do everyone a favor and skip WHY.

Some more stuff to keep in mind:

Spelling

Paragraphs

Punctuation

Parentheses

Abbreviations

Capitalization

Jargon, Slang, Legalese or old smelly historical names: Never, ever, PERIOD!!!

Superfluous words, keep it short

Tense

Accurate and Factual

Conciseness

Avoid repitition and meaningless material

Dealing with names

Hearsay

Documenting injuries

Use of Force
State the threat
State ALL requests, direction and orders
State ALL levels of use of force starting with the lowest, working your way to highest level used.

Proof reading and revisions