Essay about Role of Police Reports In the Law Enforcement Community

A Field Training Officer (FTO), Rutledge (Author), is on patrol with a patrol officer. He has to type his first police report and is not doing a good job. His officer was disappointed at what he had read in his report; he’s going to show the rookie how it’s done. The officer’s report was not only 50% longer, but full of jargon. The rookie cop stated, “Why do we write like that?” “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” replied the officer. After years of being a cop and writing real police reports, Rutledge became a prosecutor. After numerous trails, Rutledge was still boggled at the way police reports were written. So he decided to ask

The National Incident Based Reporting System is currently being tested to replace the Uniform Crime Report. This new system will expand from the eight major crimes currently being used in the Uniform Crime Report and it will also include demographic data on victim, perpetrator and crime. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, “The NIBRS is an incident-based reporting system in which agencies collect data on each single crime occurrence. NIBRS data come from local, state, and federal automated records’ systems. An agency can build a system to suit its own needs, including

It is also very important that the police departments communicate with other agencies to share information about specific crimes, modes operandi, or any other important information that may be crucial in developing leads to solve a case or even find missing persons.

The UCR is able to provide the number of crimes that have been reported to law enforcement agencies.

The Uniform Crime Reports can also be described as a summary reporting system (Criminal Justice Information Services Division, 2000. pg. 5). The National Incident-Based Reporting System is much more detailed in nature. When it comes to the offense recording, the hierarchy rule is used only in the UCR which only records one offense no matter if there were several crimes that occurred. However, the NIBRS records each crime even if they are part of one incident, therefore the hierarchy is not applied (Criminal Justice Information Services Division, 2000, pg. 13). UCR does not distinguish between completed and attempted crimes whereas the NIBRS does. When it comes to rapes, the UCR only classifies rapes against women where the NIBRS classifies rapes against men also (Rantala & Edwards, 2000, pg. 1). In collecting information on weapons, the UCR only collects it for murder, robbery, and aggravated assaults. The NIBRS collects weapon information on all crimes. Even though, both the UCR and NIBRS collects information on the 8 index crimes, the UCR only has another 21 offenses in contrast with NIBRS’s 49 offenses to collect information on. Under the hotel rule, the UCR only reports a theft at the hotel, whereas the NICRS also includes the detailed rooms at the hotel and also classifies storage facilities as part of this rule as well (Rantala & Edwards, 2000, pg. 5).

Police databases and offense reports have been improved by technology and have enhanced law enforcement organizations’ ability to function. One type of police database is a fingerprint databases that

This includes the announcements from police bulletins as well as information coming from the informants.

The only crimes that can be reported into the Uniform Crime Report are ones that are known by police. In some instances,

The annual National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) has been the primary method for gathering data and providing these staggering statistics. The NCVS provides information gathered from the victim, which includes information on crimes that went unreported to the police. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is also a valid reference for gathering crime information within the United States. The UCR only has information regarding crimes that were reported to the police, as well as arrests. Both forums are used by the FBI. In addition, researchers use this information for their research. Even Taylor and

Today most all states participate in crime statistics. Years ago, not every state would turn in their crime reports, which effected the total percentage of crimes in the nation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Bureau of Justice Statistics report crime statistics. Police stations from all over the U.S. send their reports of crimes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. For example, a police station will report to the FBI that they had twenty-one reports of robberies for the current year. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is a report that is used for the more serious crimes, such as forcible rape, murder, arson, etc. The UCR is calculated three different ways. The Federal Bureau of Investigation are specific about the number of how many incidences were reported for a certain crime. Also, when the FBI calculates the percentages of the crime reports for a crime and compares the crime rates and an examination is completed to tell if the crime rate has increased or decreased for the current year. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) also calculates the number of crimes out of one hundred thousand people. Another report the FBI creates is the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), this report is an elaborated version of the UCR. It takes all the serious crimes from the Uniform Crime Reports and breaks them down into certain categories that creates more vivid reports. These reports are very well detailed and give more information about the crimes, like how many people were arrested. The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is collected from police stations around the United States. The NIBRS is a report of basically incident reports. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) reports are the most used reports to view crime statistics in the United

After reading the information found on the FBI website about the National Incident Based Reporting System, I found that UCR, NIBRS, and NCVS all have their own strengths and differences but were similar in some ways. When it comes to the uniform crime report ( UCR ), people are able to compare crime rates between different places of their choosing which is strength. Within a year, the data gathered would be ready for the public which is a benefit for us. Every strength has a weakness however, and UCR’s is that it only covers crimes discovered by the police and it can be sometimes lacking in details.

651). This can lead to negative results on the reports and force change amongst the department and force out the police chief. These reports can be used intentionally and with the purpose to rid an unsuccessful chief.

Law enforcement, in some form, has existed for centuries and since its creation there has been numerous improvements. Improvements have come about because of community changes and the need for more effective ways of policing the people. As crimes became more fierce and complex so did the need for the investigation and solving of these crimes. Criminal investigative techniques were not just born from thin air, some thought and planning had to go into figuring out the proper ways to go about doing things. Pioneers of the criminal justice and criminal investigation field such as August Vollmer, Alphonse Bertillon, Edward Henry, and Edmond Locard have made superior contributions to the development of criminal investigative techniques. These techniques have impacted the way police operate today and set a substantial base for law enforcement to build on.

locations of crimes and arrests as well as suspects, victims, days and times of criminal activity,

Patrol accounts for the biggest portion of police work in most police agencies. The terms “patrolling” and ”on patrol” generally refer to what officers do while not handling calls for service—officers do this mostly in patrol cars, but sometimes on foot, on bicycles, on horseback, or the like. While on patrol, officers may look for traffic violations, suspicious behavior, disorder, and unsafe conditions. They may also look for opportunities to interact with the public in casual or more formal situations. This is all considered patrolling.