Field Investigations and Reports: Why Field Notes are Important
For more than a decade, a voluntary program gas been moving law-enforcement agencies away from the basic incident-report format and toward a detailed format that documents much more data about an offense. This program, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), was created as part of the Uniform Crime Reports and is administered by the FBI. It is in use in over 4,000 small and medium-size local law-enforcement agencies throughout the country, as well as a growing number of jurisdictions with populations in excess of 250,000.
Please answer the following questions:
Identify and briefly discuss four reasons why field notes are important.
What are the six interrogatory investigative questions? Explain each.
Briefly discuss the operational and administrative uses of incident reports.
How would you characterize the difference between basic incident reports and those that are NIBRS compliant? (Check the Internet for additional information on how these reports differ).
Make sure to:
Write a short essay or paragraph of at least 300 words.
Use concrete examples/details and avoid generalities.
Address all questions.
Use proper grammar and punctuation.
Must research your topic and remember to cite your source(s).
Field Investigations and Reports
Name
Institution
Course Code and Title
Instructor
Date
Reasons Why Field Notes Are Important
The field notes are included in a formal report that is used to coordinate and follow up with the investigation. Hence the notes are important in ensuring the account details on observations, events, and interactions are accurate. The notes contain specific information that is pivotal to the investigations and legal processes. The notes can be referred to by law enforcement officers even after a long period (Petherick et al., 2009). Also, they facilitate communication among the officers thus promoting a collaborative approach that can act as a source of evidence.
Interrogatory Investigative Questions
The questions are commonly referred to as the W’s and are;
Who - Points out the persons