Report Writing Fundamentals for Police and Correctional Officers, 1st edition

1. Introduction.
2. Writing in the Active Voice.

Examples of Active and Passive Voice. Definitions of Active and Passive Voice. Identifying Passive Voice. Reasons for Using Active Voice. Techniques. Limited, Permissible Use of the Passive Voice. Review.

3. Report Writing Mechanics, Style, and Editing.

Probable Cause to Stop, Detain, Arrest & Search. Use of the First Person. Jargon, Repetitious and Stilted Words. Report Writing Mechanics. Editing. Exercises.

4. Writing Sample Police Reports.

Writing Descriptions in Your Reports.

5. Writing Sample Correctional Reports.

Common Correctional Terms, Slang & Acronyms.

6. Testifying to Your Report in Court.
7. Verb Forms and Tenses.

Principal Parts of Verb. Regular Verbs. Irregular Verbs. Problem Verbs. Simple and Perfect Tenses.

8. Agreement of Subject and Verb.

Subjects. Identifying Subjects. Identification of Verbs Verb Tenses Singular and Plural Verbs Singular and Plural Subjects Summary. Report Writing Fundamentals for Police and Correctional Officers.

9. Capitalization.

General Rule. I, Acronyms, Brevity Codes. Specific Names or People. Specific Places. Organizations, Historical Events & Documents. Days of Week, Months, Holidays. Religious Terms. Titles of Books, Plays, Etc. Common Nouns with a Specific Name. School Subjects.

10. Punctuation.

Period. Ellipsis. Quotation Mark. Exclamation Mark. Apostrophe. Hyphen. Dash. Quotation Mark. Comma. Colon. Italics.

11. Internal Punctuation.

Clauses. Independent and Dependent Clauses. Main or Independent Clauses. Dependent Clauses. Phrases. Punctuation of Phrases. Punctuation of Clauses. Connecting Independent Clauses. Semicolon and Conjunctive Adverbs. Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses. Parenthetical Expressions.

12. Adjectives and Adverbs.

Adjectives. Adverbs. Modifiers. Predicate Adjectives. Degrees of Comparison. Review.

13. Pronouns.

Definition. Identifying Antecedents. Common Pronouns. Singular and Plural Pronouns. Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement.

14. Topic Sentences.
15. Case of Pronouns.

Nominative, Objective, Possessive. Direct Objects and Case. Objects of Prepositions. Indirect Objects and Case. Appositives. Possessive Case.

16. Selling.

Rule Number l (I before e). Rule Number 2 (prefixes and suffixes). Rule Number 3 (words ending in y). Rule Number 4 (one syllable words ...). Rule Number 5 (nouns ending in y...). Rule Number 6 (words ending in y receded by single verb). Rule Number 7 (there are exceptions). Homophones.

Appendix A. Answers to End of Chapter Quizzes.
Appendix B. Sample Reports for Chapters 4 & 5.