Believe it or not, I would recommend that you use direct quotes from people sparingly in your police reports.
Any time you put quotes around what someone said, you’re telling the reader this is Exactly what they said.
So, if you use quotation marks in your report to directly quote someone, make sure it is Exactly what they said. This must be apparent on the audio of your Body Worn Camera (BWC) or Mobile Video Recorder (MVR).
If you can’t make out exactly what someone said as you review your audio recording, just paraphrase! It’s ok to put in your report something to the effect of: As Ms. Parker yelled at me, it sounded like she said she would crack me upside the head.
If you happen to use quotation marks around a phrase and it is Not Exactly what they said, this can lead to issues in the courtroom. A defense attorney can ask you if the statement you quoted is exactly what the defendant said. If you testify that it is exactly what they said, and then the attorney plays the audio proving otherwise, this can make you look less credible.
If you don’t curse or blaspheme in your personal life, that’s ok and very respectable. However, don’t skip out on using these words in your reports if someone actually said them. They paint an accurate picture of what happened.
