CRMJ 2000 Court Testimony and Report Writing

This course introduces the student to report writing and court testimony, important functions of peace officers within the criminal justice system. For a peace officer’s testimony to be given serious consideration by the court, it is essential that officers present themselves as professional, credible, and reliable witnesses. The student will learn skills, techniques and strategies to prepare and provide professional, credible, and reliable testimony.

Police reports provide critical and necessary information to evaluate and prepare a case; and from which a peace officer’s later testimony is prepared and developed. Well written reports help protect peace officers from both civil liability and disciplinary action; and help peace officers prepare to testify credibly. As the original report may be written months or even years before any testimony this class will discuss those things necessary for proper report writing. The student will learn skills, techniques and strategies to prepare effective and reliable police reports. This course will allow each student the opportunity to write a report and testify in a practice setting. (3 lect.)

Credits

3 credits

Transfer Status

Transferable to UW.

Major Topics

Effective communication in the criminal justice field
History, reasons, rationale, and role of report writing
Types of criminal justice reports
Techniques for writing a reliable, accurate and credible report
Techniques of note taking for criminal justice professionals
Records management
The importance of the editing and review process before submitting written reports
Connections between report writing and testimony
Testimony as an important function of a peace officer’s professional responsibilities

Outcomes

In order to successfully complete this course, the student will:

Describe the reasons why clear, concise, complete, and accurate reports are important to criminal justice professionals.

Apply the concepts of note taking to create a well-written report.

Identify the various types of criminal justice reports and their uses in different situations.

Write criminal justice reports using the basic steps of report writing: gather, record, organize, write, evaluate and revise.

Evaluate various reports for clarity, concision, completeness, and accuracy.

Explore a peace officer’s responsibilities regarding pretrial preparation and testimony.

Identify appropriate peace officer responses while testifying as a witness, including when a peace officer is unsure of or does not know the answer to a question or is asked to give an opinion while testifying.

Explain the importance of being truthful and accurate while testifying in court.