MODULE 2

WHO WILL READ YOUR REPORT?

Your organization does not operate in a vacuum or in
Learning Outcomes
solitary confinement. Actions and decisions that make it
makes will certainly affect others, just as the actions and 1.To find out the
decisions that others make will have an impact on your readers of the report
organization. Someone has once said: “No man is an
2.determine the route
island”.
of the report
Writing reports is a typical example of this
relationship. Your written police report affects the tasks of
both private and public organizations such as insurance companies and the National
Prosecution Service.

Figure 1 shows where your report goes and who its possible readers are. The
usual route and possible route of your reportage identified.

1. OFFICER ON PATROL
As illustrated in Figure No. 1, the report starts from the officer patrolling or
responding to an incident.. He or she
normally takes down the details of the event
or occurrence at the time of his or her
response to the incident. The responding
officer jots down the important facts and
identifies the persons involved and
witnesses (who), the type of incident that
occurred (what), the date and time the
incident occurred (when), the location of the incident (where), and the conditions or
circumstances that precipitated or triggered the incident to happen (why and how).

2. REPORT WRITER
Normally, the responding or patrolling officer who takes down notes on a
particular incident is the same person who writes the corresponding report of the same
incident. However, this is not usually the case in the
Philippines. The patrolling or responding officer hands
over the information he gathered to another public
safety officer who takes charge in writing the report.
The person takes the place of an investigator or the case officer-in-charge.

Oftentimes, incomplete and inaccurate reporting occurs when the information is

not totally captured and relayed by the responding officer or the case officer-in-charge
becomes tired or lazy to do the pre-writing process, the probability of committing errors
or blunders in writing the report is high. It is therefore important to follow carefully the
pre-writing process by using the recommended templates, keeping the templates safe
and secure, and re-visiting them during the time of drafting or writing the report to
ensure its accuracy and completeness.

3. IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR
After writing the draft report, the Section or Division Chief reviews it before it
goes to the station‟s Chief of Police for his review and signature. In some cases, the
Chief of Police, owing to hectic schedules signs the
written report in haste without verifying or
ascertaining the contents of the report. The trust,
therefore, reposed by the Chief of Police to his
supervisor who writes reports with his name and
signature on it, is something that any subordinate
should not break. As in the organizations, a
supervisor expects that the report submitted by his
subordinates is error-free and can stand microscopic
scrutiny.

4. STATION CHIEF
The Chief of Police is where the buck stops. The
moment a subordinate submits his or her report to the
Chief of Police or any superior for that matter, the
reports belongs to the Chief of Police and no longer
belongs to the subordinate who wrote it. The Chief of
Police assumes all the responsibilities from the time he
or she scribbles his/her signature in the final report
 5. DEPARTMENT LEVEL
In cases where the incident is of national interest or when cases are viewed as
sensational, scandalous, appalling or shocking to the general public‟s sensitivities, it is
possible that the Chief of Police‟s report goes immediately to the immediate superior
officer such as the Provincial Director up to the regional Director and to the Secretary of
the Department of Interior and Local Government. Similarly, when incidents of national
magnitude catch the attention of the Chief Executive, who is the President, your report
becomes the basis for such information required by the Office of the President.

6. CONGRESS
When a sensational crime hooks the attention of
the general public and such atrocity or outrage is judged
by influential groups such as religious and business
associations, the police report is summoned by Oversight
Committees of both houses of Congress. The police
report even reaches the plenary sessions of the
Philippine Congress. Examples of these crime incidents
that happened were the celebrated kuratong Baleleng
multiple murder cases in May 1995andthe most recent
Luneta Hostage-Taking Crisis in August 2010.

It is elementary for superior officer to ensure that he/she has the best writers in
the organization to make his work easier. On the contrary, the worst work environment
that can weigh down a superior is when he employs people in his team who cannot
express themselves either in writing or speaking. This is at all times true to the police
force because for every police action, there is always a corresponding report writing
reaction.

7. NATIONAL PROSECUTION SERVICE

In the diagram, the next usual route of the
written police report is the National Prosecution
Service of the Department of Justice .In criminal
cases for example, the Prosecutor or sometimes
referred to as Fiscal, evaluates the written police
report submitted to him for inquest and
preliminary investigation. On the basis of the
report, the Prosecutor decides whether or not
there is probable cause that engenders the filling of a criminal information against the
respondents or accused. If the police report is flawed, disorganized or does not have
sufficient evidence to support its allegations that would establish a probable cause, the
possibility that the prosecutor elevates the case becomes nil. The most that
he(prosecutor) can do is to disregard the report and call or request for further
investigation of the instant case.

8. COURTS OF JUSTICE
If however a case is filed in any court of law, the
police written report is attached as a vital document
supporting the allegations submitted before the
Department of Justice and the courts for trial. The police
written reports are important documents attached to any
compliant, pleading or proceeding in any court of
competent jurisdiction. The police report vividly narrates the
incidents and persons involved, explains the evidence gathered during the
investigation, and sufficiently contains the circumstances and conclusions following
deductive and inductive reasoning during the conduct of police surveillance and
investigations. The same report goes all appellate courts such as the court of
Appeals, and the Supreme court, where cases are filled on appeal.

9. PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE COUNSELS

The same police written reports are also given to counsels for the prosecution
and defense, when both the complainant and
the respondent engage the services of
counsels at the time the complaint is lodged
before any judicial body.

10.MEDIA
In the Philippines, you can observe
media personnel, journalists or TV
reporters frequent police stations
purposely to get stories worthy of tomorrow‟s headlines. Philippine realties indicate that
the more sensational the news is, the greater the appetite for media persons to cover it.
You might even be surprised that before your report reaches the Regional Director, the
report is already in the hands of newsmen, and tomorrow‟s news coverage includes the
incident report you have filed.

In a republican form of government, media and TV personalities are not barred

from reporting any news worth its alt, whether or not it benefits the source. The
Philippine Constitution guarantees citizen‟s freedom of expression, which includes the
inherent right to gather information and publish that information in any form unless of
course curtailed by competent government authorities for reasons of national interest or
for violation of other existing laws. No matter how morbid the story is, the reporter writes
his piece, which is usually based on the written reports submitted by police officers
assigned in the field.

11.PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AGENCIES

The public safety officer‟s report goes to individuals and private companies for
legal purpose such as insurance claims (for vehicular accidents), filling of personal
claims (SSS/GSIS), crime incidents involving foreign or alien residents (Embassy), filing
of complaints involving children and female trafficking (DSWD)and other crime
incidents you can name it.

By and large, good report writing must not be taken lightly nor ignored by any
public safety officer. The police report is a public document, which is very important for
public consumption. Accordingly, false or inaccurate reporting shall have damaging
consequences as the public opinion formed out of the inaccurate information will,
expectedly, yield biased opinion or bigotry,

As a public safety officer, whether assigned in the central government‟s national

police or in the fire bureau or jail bureau, it is your duty to ensure that your written
communication has the qualities and standards of a good report. As a government
representative, you owe it to the people, whom you have sworn to serve to write good
reports.

As an officer the ability to write good reports is a requirement. Taking on

leadership positions without the skill of good report writing is almost pointless because
effective leadership means the ability to lead and articulate the vision and direction for
followers to abide with loyalty, sacrifice, and commitment. Stories of heroism and great
leadership point to ne conclusion, Great leaders are effective communicators. They
speak with authority and write with power.
 Now that you have learned the uses of your report, its implications to the public
and possible repercussions on your career as a public safety officer, your duty is to
strive to learn the skill in writing reports. With the help of your mentor or by self-
directed learning ( through reading books and studying examples of well-written
reports), report writing will be as easy and natural part of your life as a law enforcer.

As in other skills, you cannot acquire good writing skills without learning.
Learning on the other hand, is a product of an attitude more than anything else. Your
willingness to learn has more weight than unused talent, training hours spent, or school
attendance. In other words, acquiring writing kills oftentimes has nothing to do with faith,
talent and training. But it has everything to do with a willing attitude to learn.
Figure No. 1 Who will Read Your Report?

PR„ Legend Usual Route: Possible Route:

Office of the President Senate &House of Supreme Court

(Executive) Representatives (Judiciary)
(Legislative)

DILG Congressional/Senate
Committee on Peace & Court of Appeals
Secretary/ NAPOLCOM
Order

Court
Chief PNP
MTCC OR RTC judge
General Headquarters PROSECUTION DEFENSE
COUNSEL COUNSEL

Complainant Accused/
Department of Justice
Regional Director Plaintiff/ Respondents/
Victim Suspect

City/Regional Prosecutor
National Prosecutor
Provincial Director Chief of Police
Service
City/Municipal/District

FINAL REPORT

newsmen/ Reporter
Chief, Section &/or
Division

Other
government/
Int”L Private
Face Page/Spot Agencies Companies/ Newspaper Company
Case Officer/Investigator DSWD Individuals
DOTC NSURANCE
DOJ BONDING
SSS OTHERS
EMBASSY
Patrolling of Responding OTHERS
General Public
Officer
Summary

The usual route and possible readers of your report are the officer on patrol,
the report writer,, the immediate supervisor, the station chief, the department level,
the congress, the national prosecution service, the courts justice, the prosecution
and defense counsels, and the public and private agencies.