Sample Police Report
The text below is an example of a police report. Notice the following points about it:
- It is written in clear, simple English.
- Dates, times, and other details are recorded as precisely as possible. (Find some examples of these. )
- The “register” (i. e. the level of language) is formal. For example, there are no short forms such as “didn’t” and no colloquial words such as “nicked”. Similarly, the formal word “purchased” is used instead of “bought”. What other examples can you find?
- The report is impersonal.
The writer focusses on the events and the evidence, not on his own thoughts or feelings.
Case Number: VT 05/04/01/3462
Incident: Vehicle Theft Reporting
Officer: Constable Ranjit Singh
Date of Report: 05 April 2001
At about 10:40 hours on 5th April 2001, I met with Ms. Vanessa Price at 61 South Chorley Drive regarding a vehicle theft. Ms. Price said she parked her car by a parking meter outside Chorley Leisure Centre at about 09:45 hours and went into a nearby shop to return a faulty torch she had purchased the previous day.
She said that when she returned to the leisure center at about 1000 hours, she discovered her car was missing. Ms. Price described her car as a maroon, 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse with a black convertible roof. The car registration number is GTL-682-P. She estimated the value of the car at £8,500 and said there were no distinguishing marks or items.
Ms. Price told me she locked the car, but she does not have the keys. She now believes she may have left the keys in the boot lock after removing the faulty torch from the boot. Ms. Price said she gave no one permission to take her car, and she is up to date with her loan repayments. I conducted a survey of the crime scene but found no items of evidence. I saw no broken glass in the area, and there were no items to retrieve or photograph. I obtained a sworn statement from Ms. Price and provided her with the case number and Information Leaflet 99/07 (“What to do when your car is stolen”). I entered the vehicle into the station database as a stolen vehicle. I also searched the area but was unable to find the vehicle.
