A New Era of Police Reports

Law enforcement officers don’t go into the field for the paperwork. Writing police reports can be tedious and time-consuming. Many officers don’t even begin writing reports until the end of their shift because the necessary paperwork and technology are back at the station.

With modern technology, the report writing process is evolving to be easier and more collaborative.

Police Reports: The Old Way

A typical emergency response follows a three-phase pattern:

In this process, officers take the information gathered in the “respond” and “react” phases and compile it into a report once the situation is under control. Historically, officers must use paper forms or complete the report via mobile data terminal (MDT) or desktop computer back at the station. This often requires duplication of effort, locating and rekeying data already stored in the call narrative or records system. Each responding officer must also submit a separate report.

Police Reports: The New Way

Modern report writing technology blurs the lines between these three phases and eliminates many of the pain points.

Officers can collect report data throughout all three phases of a call for service rather than compiling and reentering information at the end of a shift.

Existing, verified information — like call-for-service details and global information from the records database — can be imported, reducing duplicate data entry and ensuring accuracy. Plus, updates to global records — if a subject’s hair has changed color, for instance — can be pushed back to the records database.

Reports can be completed on any device, including smartphone, tablet, MDT, laptop, or desktop at the station, so there’s no need to wait until the end of a shift.

All responding officers can contribute to a single report, reducing the burden on each individual and eliminating supervisors’ need to review multiple reports.

Paper forms can be digitized and existing data can be imported, further reducing manual effort. Updates made in the records system, such as new fields, are automatically reflected in the mobile report writing technology.

In addition, the technology automatically checks for incident-based reporting (IBR) compliance and makes the correction process simple and collaborative.

A New Era of Police Writing

With advancements in public safety technology, law enforcement agencies spend less time on paperwork and more time making communities safer.

Download Flyer: Report Writing

Looking to reduce the pain points associated with police reports? Learn more about Tyler’s Report Writing solution.