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- M E M O R A N D U M -
TO: PATROL SERGEANTS / DATE:FROM: / SUBJECT:
REPORT CORRECTIONS
The Computer Committee has been addressing the continuing issue of the high number of errors that are made in offense/incident reports and the high number of reports that are approved with these errors. Several efforts are underway to address this problem, the first of which is described below. The goal here is to train both the officer and the supervisor in the proper method of writing and reviewing reports. The Records Section receives an average of 100-150 reports each month that contain errors even after supervisor review. This creates a significant backlog in records and slows down the time for which reports become available to the public. Additionally, the report corrections officers are taken off of the road for significant amounts of time to deal with this issue.
The Committee has voted to implement a 30 day trial period of having supervisors review report errors with the officer who wrote the report which they reviewed. An analysis will then be conducted after 30 days to determine whether this review has lessoned the frequency of the errors.
As such, the Committee requests that sergeants review the attached list of errors with the corresponding officer. The list contains the name of the officer who wrote the report and the supervisor who approved it. If necessary you can open the report in RMS for a better understanding of the error or contact a records clerk if you have questions.
Remember that while some supervisors names appear more than others, this does not necessarily mean they allow more errors. Those particular supervisors may check more reports. This list will be updated and provided to you weekly for the next 30 days. Please review the listed error with your officer, determine what would have been the correct method, and provide signatures and dates in the corresponding box to indicate the review was completed. The list will be collected from you each Friday.
Other efforts are also underway including changes to the report correction process, training, and accountability measures. Further information will follow.
Your involvement in this process will be extremely helpful in addressing this problem.