St.

Louis College of Bulanao

Purok 6, Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga 3800

TITLE/TOPIC
TECHNICAL ENGLISH I
LESSON V
POLICE BLOTTER AND POLICE REPORT WRITING

I. INTRODUCTION

Writing is one of the most indispensable skills that a learner should develop to be able to express his or
her ideas effectively. It is a Skill that every student should master for efficient expression of ideas
Similarly, this skill is needed in all types of professions and jobs especially because communication is a
vital component of any endeavour.

Proficiency in writing is required not only of civilians but also of uniformed personnel such as police
officers who are considered the premier law enforcers in the country. They write police reports during
their day-to-day activity. it is imperative then that they master writing to come up with an effective
police report considered the life blood of police work.

Police report writing is a regular part of an officer's job. Complete, factual, accurate, and detailed
reports can speed up an investigation while incomplete opinionated, inaccurate, distorted, or misleading
reports can impede it or even get it dismissed in the court on the basis of a technicality, regardless of
the facts. Police reports can make the difference between conviction and acquittal. Just like any other
skill in police work, writing effective police reports is a skill that must be learned and practiced.

During the Test Construction and Development Seminar held at the Institute Training Group. Police
National Training Institute, Camp Gen. Vicente P. Lim, Calamba City on November 7, 2013, the Vice
President for Academics, PSUPT AMADOR B. NAVARROZA (Ret), MAED of the Philippine Public Safety
College revealed that police report writing in the PNP is problematic. Police officers write
ungrammatical, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, and distorted police reports. To be able to address
this concern in the PNP and other public safety agencies and to become instrumental in improving the
writing proficiency of police officers and public safety officers in the country, a study was conducted by
the author in March 2015 at the Institute Training Group entitled "Process Writing and Writing
Performance of Police Trainees in a Large Class Setting" Hence, this Police Report Writing (A Handbook
for Police Officers, Trainees, and Public Safety Students) was conceptualized based on the results of the
said study.

Since not all police officers and trainees who are accepted in the PNP are criminology graduates and
because even criminology graduates lack writing proficiency it is imperative that they are provided
training on how to write effective police reports. Language professors of the Philippine Public Safety
College (PPSC) including higher education institutions (HEls) should take this as a challenge. However,
for them to be successful in helping police officers and trainees become effective police report writers,
these language teachers should cho0se an effective writing strategy that will cover the major steps in
writing and provide learners with ample opportunities to write the various types of police reports. It is
also important to enrich their writing repertoire by providing them comprehensive lectures on what
police report writing is, its different types, elements, characteristics, and uses, among others and
provide them with different types of actual police report writing activities to harness their writing skills
to the fullest

EZRA RIZLE L. GRAMAJE

II. LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

 Explain what is Police blotter and its contents
 Explain the content of the police blotter involving children and women
III. COURSE CONTENT
LESSON 5.1
THE 5 W’S AND 1 H OF POLICE REPORT
WHO
These questions include the complete and correct name of all those who were involved in the incident
such as the victim/s, suspect/s, witness/es and whosoever may be listed as present during the incident,
or may not be present, but have Knowledge about the said incident. The wrong name results in failure
to locate a witness or apprehend a suspect. The spelling should be correct including the middle name,
exact home address/es whether residence or hotel, telephone number, cellular phone number, and
other contact details (Soriano,2005).

1. Who was the victim?

2. Who was the complainant?
3. Who discovered the crime?
4. Who saw or heard anything of importance?
5. Who had a motive for committing the crime?
6. Who committed the crime?
7. Who helped in the commission of the crime?
8. Who had access to the means for committing the crime?
9. Who worked on the case?
10.who had access to the crime scene?
11.Who searched for, identified, and gathered the evidence?
12.To whom did they turn over the evidence?
13.With whom did the victim associate?
14. With whom did the suspect associate?
15.With whom was the victim last seen?
16. With whom the witness/es associate 7
17.With whom did the suspect commit the crime?

WHAT
These questions are directed to the crime being committed. Police reports sometime indicate the crime
committed based on the Revised Penal Code (RPC) like Murder, Homicide, or Rape, among others. In
initial reports such as Spot Report, which does not require a thorough investigation yet, this is not
essential.

A report of a "Shooting Incident may be sufficient. It is the duty of the Investigator-on-Case to determine
what crime was committed. What is more important is to present the detailed facts and circumstances
of what happened (PNP SOP No. 2012-001; Soriano, 2005).

1. What type of property was attacked, e,g. building, residence, car, etc?
2. What type of property was stolen, lost, or found? What items related to the crime were found at the
crime Scene? An accurate description of all such property should be entered in the report.
3. What felony/offense/infraction was committed, e.g. murder, homicide, rape physical injuries,
robbery, theft, or violation of special laws such as RA 7610, RA 9262, etc.?
4, What type of evidence was found or recovered?
5. What was the crime committed?
6. what are the elements or the crime?
7.What actions were performed by the suspect/s before and after the crime?
8. What actually happened?

EZRA RIZLE L. GRAMAJE

9. What do the witness/es say and Know?
10. What evidence was obtained?
11.what was done with the evidence?
12.What tools/weapons were used in the commission of the crime?
13. What did the officers take?
14.What further action should be taken?
15.What knowledge, skill, or strength was needed to commit the crime?
16.What other agencies were or need to be notified?
17.What type of transportation was used
18.What was the motive or suspected motive for the crime?
19. What other crime/s could be associated with this one?

WHERE
These questions are concerned with the geographical location of the crime Scene, property. or evidence.
Describe in detail where the incident exactly happened, e.g. "In the master's bedroom of a twO-storey
brick house located at 69 Rizal Street, Villa de Calamba, Brgy. Halang. Calamba City, Laguna" (PNP SOP
No. 2012-001; Soriano, 2005).

1. Where was the crime committed?

2. Where was the crime discovered?
3. Where was the entry made?
4. Where was the exit made?
5. Where were the tools that were used in the crime obtained?
6. Where was the Victim found?
7. Where was the suspect seen during the crime?
8. Where was the victim last seen?
9. Where was the suspect last seen?
10.Where were the witnesses during the crime?
11.Where did the suspect live and where does he live now?
12.Where is the suspect now?
13.Where is the suspect likely to go?
14.Where was the evidence marked?
15.Where was the evidence found'?
16.Where was the evidence stored?

WHEN
These questions include the date and time when the felony/offense/infraction was committed, property
found, suspect apprehended, etc. (Soriano, 2005)

1. When was the crime committed?

2. When was it discovered?
3. When did they report the crime?
4. When did the officers and investigators arrive at the crime scene?
5. When was the victim last seen?
6. When was the arrest made?
7. When will a complaint be signed?
8. When did the witness hear anything unusual?
9. When did they contact the witness/es

WHY
These questions provide the object or desire which motivated the commission of the crime. In crimes
against persons, the usual object includes revenge, ransom and sexual pleasure, among others. In crimes
against property, the reason may be to acquire money and property (Soriano, 2005).

EZRA RIZLE L. GRAMAJE

 1. Why was the crime committed?
2. Why were certain tools/weapons used?
3. Why was the crime reported?
4. Why was the crime reported late?
5. Why were the witnesses reluctant to give information?
6. Why is the suspect lying?

7. Why did the perpetrators prefer that time and day to commit the crime?

HOW

These questions pertain to the manner in which the crime was committed. The narrative on how the
incident happened shall be indicated to show the description of the chronology of events that led to the
incident and all the circumstances thereafter. The actions taken during the initial investigation at the
scene shall also be included. This shall include the weather, lighting. sounds, activities in the vicinity of
the incident, a description of the circumstances prevailing before, during, and after the incident and all
other peculiar details that come to the senses of the trained police responder, There is no limit to what
to include in the "How portion of the narrative (PNP SOP No. 2012-001; Soriano, 2005).

1. How was the crime committed?

2. How did the suspects get to the scene?
3. How did the suspect/s leave the scene?
4. How did the perpetrator obtain the information necessary to commit the crime?
5. How was the crime discovered?
6. How were the tools/weapons for the crime obtained?
7. How were the tools/weapons used?
8. How was the crime reported?
9. How much damage was done?
10.How much property or money was taken?
11.How much known information is being withheld?

LESSON 5.2
CRIME INCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM (CIRS)
Each operating unit shall also maintain and utilize the PNP Crime Incident
reporting System (CIRS), an electronic reporting system that facilitates Crime
documentation, modernizes data storage, and provides quick and reliable
information from lower units and NOSUs of the PNP to the National headquarters
at Camp Crame, Quezon City. This is also known as electronic blotter or popularly
known as "e-blotter (PNP Police Operational Proceduro5 2010)
A. ASSESSMENT
(Answer eligibly clearly and concisely on a whole sheet of pad paper pass it on TO BE
ANNOUNCE at the CCJE office or contact me in my messenger account @ EZRA RIZLE
GRAMAJE for any questions.)

 From the given examples of a police blotter identify the 5 W’s and 1 H.
 Make five examples of a police blotter and identify the 5W’s and 1 H.

B. REFERENCES
 ERIC P. PALIGAT “POLICE REPORT WRITING” FPR publishing 2015
 MERCEDES A. FARONDA “Technical English 1” Wiseman’s books trading Inc. 2021

EZRA RIZLE L. GRAMAJE

 St. Louis College of Bulanao
Purok 6, Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga 3800

This module is a requirement of the St. Louis College of Bulanao in response to

the implementation of the Blended Learning way of Instruction.

This Learning Material is a property of the College of Criminal Justice Education –

St. Louis College of Bulanao, Tabuk City. It aims to improve students’ performance
specifically in the Criminology Education.

Date of Development : January, 2021

Resource Location : Bulanao, Tabuk City
Learning Area : CDI 13 (TECHNICAL ENGLISH 1)
Learning Resource Type : Module 5

General Instruction/s:

The module introduces what is criminal investigation, the three tools of criminal
investigation, the four method of investigation, sketching the crime scene and crime
reconstruction. Series of activities will encourage you to explore and learn about the
topic. Through this module, the following instruction/s should be followed.

1. This module is exclusively for SLCB students only.

2. Reproduction and use of this module for any purpose is strictly prohibited, unless
with the written permission from SLCB.
3. You may use this module for any acceptable purposes.

EZRA RIZLE L. GRAMAJE