It sucks being a good report writer.
I know some officers who can barely write a proper report. Their reports are gone over with a fine toothed comb. Every little error is checked, marked and kicked back for correction. By the third or fourth time they turn their report in, it's damned near perfect.
I turn out a pretty good report. As a result, the report reviewers know there are not likely to be any egregious errors in my writing. I don't generally omit details, or misspell words, or use faulty punctuation.
Why does this suck?
Because my reports receive much less scrutiny in review, and what errors do occur generally make it all the way to the district attorney's office. It's a pain in the ass to get to court and realize I typed form instead of from, or nad instead of and.
It's even worse when I mistype a time, like 3100 hours, because my fat fingers hit the three instead of the two.
I had a defense attorney on a DUI case one time ask me why I didn't check a certain box on the DMV form. I guess I forgot. If my report received the same careful review some others do this would have been noticed and corrected. Instead, I got my hair blown back by a defense attorney asking what else I omitted from my report. That's embarrassing in court. Having your credibility attacked because you forgot to check a box.
Don't get me wrong. I like writing good reports. It has earned me more positive attention than negative.
I'm just sayin'...
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4 comments:
I just started doing the FTO thing this year. Most of the recruits write okay reports, just a few mistakes about what info needs to be included (the kind of thing that clears up with experience). Every so often, one comes along who writes at about a 5th grade level.
I hate the feeling of looking at one of those reports and thinking "How in hell do I fix this?!" Especially because fall into your category. The sergeants almost never kick back my reports, and when they do it's for a typo. I try not to expect that from people whose strengths lie elsewhere, but at the same time....
see, now there's just such a typo. Should read "Especially because I fall into your category."
Trying to remove my foot from my mouth....
That would stink to have your error pointed out in court- only to turn it into a big circus tearing down who you are because you made a typo.
If I re-read a post from months back and find a typo- I have to go back and correct it even though I know every one has read it and probably wont read it agian.
Just an anal thing I guess
If I'm reading one of my previous blog entries and I notice a typo, I do the same thing. It's a sickness I tell you.
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