Notetaking and Components of Case Report in Criminal Justice

Introduction 

Every investigative officer must have topnotch management skills of a crime scenario, including crimes scenes and recording information from involved parties their locations notwithstanding. The significance of this is that any piece of information provides a perspective which could be critical in a court of law. Such information is included in offence or case reports that form critical elements of an investigative process. As such, notetaking is a must-have skill that adds weight to the authenticity of their cases. An officer’s notebook is an essential aspect of their mandate because it is their personal reference for recording details of the investigation ( Tkacukova & Oxburgh, 2020 ). There are essential elements of notetaking by police officers that must be considered. These rudiments augment the arguments of an officer in a court. Thus, elements laya strong foundation to the case they are presenting before a jury. The who, the what, the when, the how, and the why are the critical elements of notetaking. These critical pillars are supported by legibility, objectivity, and principles of handling errors and additions in the notes. Connected to notetaking during an investigation is a case report which has several elements. Investigative reports must contain an accurate and complete account of the observations made, including activities. The significant components of case reports are face sheet, introduction, reporting victim, witness statements, suspect statement, and facts of the case. Case notes lay the foundation for the reports because the above elements of notetaking provide the investigative officers with succinct information to prepare the final document which is the case report. 

Elements of Notetaking 

The Who 

During investigations, several stakeholders must be accessed for the case to have merit. The officers attached to a particular case must have a clear understanding of who these parties are and their role. First, one must understand who the victims, the accused, and the witnesses since these are the backbone of the case. Any information that emanates from these three groups of people must be recorded. Also, there must clear understanding of who is tasked with various aspects of the investigations such as preserving the scene, conducting searches, taking custody of evidence, and any other person present at the scene. Such information is critical and gathered in its original form. The following elements of notetaking during an investigation define the depth the exercise ( Souliere, 2015 ). The involved officers must ensure that each aspect is comprehensively covered and recorded in the case report. Failure to do this will weaken the case, thus negatively affecting the dispensing of justice. 

The What 

“ The what” element opens the stage for collecting information on the series of happenings that underlie the investigations. An officer must know how to capture data about the offence being reported, source of information, and discern the offence that was committed. Additionally, it is essential to know what statements were made by the parties mentioned above and the evidence that supports their testimonials. Last, notetaking requires that an officer records the actions that were taken by each of the mentioned stakeholders ( Souliere, 2015 ). This element gives the notetaking process a supportive structure because an officer begins to understand the fine details of a case. 

The When 

Investigative officers must inject a time perspective into the cases they are assigned so that they have the required level relevance. Time is an essential aspect of notetaking because one must record when an offence was committed and reported, when officers visited the scene, and when the accused and witnesses were engaged among others ( Souliere, 2015 ). “The when” element allows one to correlate chronological order of details with information from “the what” component. 

The Where 

This element concerns the location aspect of the case in question. For example, an investigative officer must record where an offence was committed, reported, the location of victims, accused, and witnesses and their residences, the place where the evidence was obtained, and the place where the interviews were conducted among others ( Souliere, 2015 ). When taking note, an officer must be keen to record the place where each activity happened unambiguously. 

The How 

“ The how” element is directly related with “the who” component because it depends on the information provided by the people involved in the case. Primarily, the victim and the witnesses are the ones that give this crucial piece of information. For example, the victim and witnesses will tell of how the offence was committed, how they got to the hospital and how the incidence was reported ( Souliere, 2015 ). All these give a perspective to the investigation. 

The Why 

Concerning this element, the investigating officer is concerned with the motives behind each action. An officer must make deductions from the information given on why the offence was committed and reported among others ( Souliere, 2015 ). The why element assists an officer to put together information from the rest of the elements and, hence, solidifying their case. 

Legibility, Objectivity, and Error and Additional Information Handling Elements 

In any investigation, the information collected must be as factual be as correct as possible. The notes must be legible, which relates to the readability of the recorded information. Unreadable notes can distort the facts even in watertight cases ( Dettrick-Janes, 2018 ). Officers must try to have the notes transcribed to enhance their legibility. Second, notetaking should be informed by a high level of professionalism and fairness, which are crucial sub-elements of objectivity. A notetaking processes accentuated by objectivity aids in corroborating an officer's credibility, thus making them appear competent. Last, investigating officers must comprehend how to handle errors and any additional information. For instance, errors should have a line drawn through the center to ensure that another person can read the initial entries. Further, any correction or addition must have a current timestamp. The three elements work to reinforce the previously discussed rudiments ( Souliere, 2015 ). Together, all the above elements describe the role of effective and in-depth notetaking. Notetaking gives investigation processes the required factual basis on which jury will derive their decisions. 

Component of a Case Report 

A case report has several crucial components without which its relevance could be affected. First, a case report must have a cover sheet which gives details about the case. The coversheet has the metadata of the entire case including a descriptive title, date and other pertinent information. The second element is the introduction part which details the background information on the subject case. In the introduction, an officer will establish the foundation of the case before them. An introduction should be as detailed as possible such that when another party reads, it knows crucial information about the case in question. Third, a case report must have a victim statement which recants their side of the events. Since they are aggrieved, an officer must ensure that they comprehensively narrate what happened to them ( Skvortsova & Khazma, 2017 ). A victim’s statement lays the foundation for the commencement of an investigation and court cases. The fourth component is the witness statement which gives information about those who were present when the crime happened. The witness statement is used to corroborate the information provided in the victim's statement ( Downes, 2017 ). Suspect's statement is the fifth component that aims at getting information from the defendants. An investigator must be keen to note critical aspects that can link or exonerate a suspect to the crime. However, these two mandates are bestowed upon the jury to implement. The last cog of a case report is the facts of the case which are deduced from the statements provided by the victim, witnesses, and the suspect. The investigating officer must remain within the boundaries of the evidence collected when developing these facts. 

The above components are critical both for completion and any future investigations. Fully capturing each of the mentioned elements allows an investigator to inject depth in their case. Principally, the above structure is vital for amassing all the necessary facts while also giving an officer a structured approach to argue their case in a court of law. Moreover, in case there is a need to reopen a case, the case report will give the investigators a detailed background on which to base their activities. Thus, initial case reports must be as detailed as possible for better decision making. 

Conclusion 

Notetaking during investigations is a critical undertaking that significantly contributes to the weight of the case. Investigators must ensure that they hone this vital skill if they are to present solid cases in court. The process of notetaking is accentuated by several factors that are pertinent to an investigation. These elements include “the who”, “the what”, “the when”, “the where”, “the how”, and “the why. The need for objectivity and legibility further supports these elements. These two extra elements are essential for optimizing the data on an officer's notebook. Notetaking further forms a foundation for a case report which in itself has several components. These sections include coversheet, introduction, victim statement, witness statement, suspect statement, and facts of the case. All these work to form the basis of a case and any future investigations. 

References 

Dettrick-Janes, M. (2018).  An investigation of handwriting legibility and pencil use tasks in healthy older adults  (Master's thesis, University of Sydney). 

Downes, K. (2017). Taking a witness statement.  Proctor, The ,  37 (3), 36. 

Skvortsova, T., & Khazma, R. A. (2017). Victim impact statement: Admissability of victim impact statements in the ACT.  Ethos: Official Publication of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory , (245), 26. 

Souliere. M., (2015). The ABCs of police note-taking - Blue Line . Blue Line. (2015). Retrieved 28 August 2020, from www.blueline.ca/the_abcs_of_police_note-taking-3288/ . 

Tkacukova, T., & Oxburgh, G. E. (2020). Patterns of Cooperation between Police Interviewers with Suspected Sex Offenders.  The Discourse of Police Interviews , 136.