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REPORT WRITING COURSE AND TEST
Please read the course and take the text.
Officers Name
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First
Last
Date
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WRITING A SECURITY REPORT
A security officer needs to write about security report along with performing his or her duty. The Security report is an official memo for a particular officer, security company and the client’s company as well.
In the course of the duty, a security officer encounters thousands of incidents and actions and needs to pass the factual information to persons who were not present at the actual event. Since these reports can be called into court as evidence in a case, a security officer must take an observation/incident/action and record them in clear, concise and logical manner.
The report is a recorded remark in which the facts of the events are included. The report helps to learn other people just about past incidents. A security officer must know the following things regarding the report.
• Reports are an officer’s way of passing on information
• Reports are read by many different people
• Reports should have an introduction, what the incident was about, and a belief Summary about the incident at the end.
• A good narrative has an introduction, a body, and a summary
• Use heading that is necessary
• Remember the 5 W’s and ‘H’ when writing a report. They are Who, What, When, Where, Why and How
• Avoid slang and bad language in a report
• The report should be written in the past tense.
In another words, ASI reports give a description of the occurrence/actions during the security officers shift. After an incident or action, a security officer has to write a complete report in detail.
With ASI, these reports may include Field Action, Incident, Maintenance, Trespassing, Robbery, Burglaries, etc.
You should always have a means of writing information down, like a small notebook, for later use when writing the report.
Never be afraid to take pictures with your cell phone. You never know how important the pics may be later.
Use the TIME STAMP CAMERA APP to take pics. This app adds the time/date and location.
First and foremost, you should know the following purpose of the good security report.
1. To become an official record of what happened;
2. To record the occurrence for the writer’s future reference, and
3. To pass the facts of an occurrence on to others for a variety of uses.
Even though a security officer writes a different type of report in a different scenario. A good report must include the following points.
1. factual,
2. accurate,
3. objective,
4. complete,
5. concise,
6. clear,
7. correct and
8. well organized
What should include in the good report?
Generally, an integral formula to write the report is 5Ws and 1H.
1. Who?
2. What?
3. When?
4. Where?
5. Why?
6. How?
THE 5 W’s AND 1 H
1. WHO?
“Who” uses for the person. It describes anyone who was involved. When you writing the security report you should try to answer this question.
A. Who was involved?
B.. Who was the complainant or subject?
C. Who witnessed the event?
In this part, we can include the victim, the person who made complain, someone who asks you to do something, the person who started the event, police if they come in the scene. Secondly, we should use “what” in the security report.
2. WHAT?
This portion includes the important part of the incident and accident. It indicates the title of the event and provides majority substance of the good security report. Ask these questions while you come to the point to include the “what”.
A. What actually happened? and
B. What evidence is available?
C. What valuables did the victim state was taken?
D. What type of vehicle, bldg or other structure was involved?
Furthermore, it includes the description of the event that was happened and the action was taken by the people are involved. Also, what shreds of evidence were available and what was done with it. Remember you should include the action taken by a security officer in that event.
3. WHEN?
It represents the time, day and the date of the incident that are equally important for the good security report.
A. When did the event occur? If unknown use approx. time.
Answering the above question, it completes a section of the report. You should incorporate things like:
B. When you last observed the area prior to the occurrence
C. When the event began and it ended
D. When you had contact with a witness
E. and When police, the fire department, or the ambulance arrived.
4. WHERE?
Similarly, above 3 WH questions “where” also equally important for the good security report.
Where portrays the location of the incident. i.e North side of bldg in the parking lot, inside the bldg at reception desk, etc.
A. Where did the event occur? Post name
B.. Where the witnesses were located.
C. Where the pieces of evidence discover?
D. Where the accused was found?
In addition, you need to describe the environment and the location you and the other individuals were at the time.
5. WHY?
This part of the report
gives the reason for the event. Starting from “Why” we can ask many questions at the investigation of the scene. Remember that, Some questions may remain unanswered even after a complete investigation. Some question you need to includes. Sometimes you may not know why.
A. What motive was there for the incident?
B. Why did this particular series of events occur?
A good security officer report does not complete along with the above “5W” altogether it requires to include the 1H too.
6. HOW?
This portion describes how the incident took place and what action was done in response.
A. How did the subject enter the property or break into the vehicle?
B. How did this event come to your attention?
C. How did the event take place?
D. How did the accused act?
E. How did the witnesses act?
F. How was the evidence recovered?
G. How was the suspect/accused arrested? If they were.
Before writing the good security report you should take time to organize the things need to include on it and the questions to be the answered.
Although the report writing styles may vary depending on the worksite, the standard format is applicable in the security industries. Your employer or the client may have a different format of different types of report that you need to fill out.
If your report does not contain the 5 Ws and 1 H, you should probably re-write it.
1. Why is it important to write an accurate report?
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It prevents any legal action being taken by involved third parties
It provides a permanent record of incidents which can be called into court
It allows all involved parties to together and agree on what happened
2. In writing an incident report, what critical information must be present at all times?
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location of incident
date and time of incident
names of all possible suspects
all of the above
3. Identify the statement which best describes hearsay?
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An eyewitness statements
Photocopies, photographs and images of evidence
A statement of something one person heard another person say
Any evidence which doesn't provide a solid lead or conclusion
4. Someone breaks into a building, what is the criminal offense?
Arson
Robbery
Burglary
Trespassing
Theft
Stalking
5. Should you include your opinion in the reports?
Yes
No
6. When do you need to write a report?
When you observe something abnormal
When you were told something that could effect your post/person
When you take action
All the above
7. During your shift, you must practice situational awareness. Which statement best describes situational awareness?
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Situational awareness occurs when a security officer asks his supervisor what he thinks of the officer’s on-the-job performance
Situational awareness dictates that an officer constantly monitors his surroundings and is aware of his conditions
8. Is it OK to ask for help in filling out your report?
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Yes
No
9. When are report due??
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In 1 week
by 0900 the next morning
My supervisor will pick it up.
Never, just hold onto it to protect yourself
10. What are the 5 W's and 1 H
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Who
What
Whenever
Why
Where
How
When
11. Bonus Question SELECT ALL THAT ARE CORRECT
By Texas Law, When is a person considered to be under arrest ???.
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When you have them in handcuffs
When you read them the Miranda warning
When you tell them they are under arrest
When they feel like they cannot leave
Security Officers cannot arrest anyone
