CCOG for CJA 230 archive revision 201903
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- Effective Term:
- Summer 2019 through Winter 2022
- Course Number:
- CJA 230
- Course Title:
- Police Report Writing
- Credit Hours:
- 3
- Lecture Hours:
- 30
- Lecture/Lab Hours:
- 0
- Lab Hours:
- 0
Course Description
Introduces police report writing. Covers appropriate narrative structures necessary for operational police reports. Includes critical legal aspects, content, organization, and grammar. Focuses on producing a quality police report capable of withstanding courtroom scrutiny. Audit available.
Addendum to Course Description
Students will learn how to document an investigation in a manner communicating concise and factual information. Covered throughout the course are techniques and procedures for gathering information at certain stages during an investigation and documenting it in a logical and understandable format.
Intended Outcomes for the course
Upon completion of the course students will be able to:
- Write police reports in a factual, logical, and understandable format that documents the investigation and is capable of withstanding courtroom review.
- Document a crime scene by sketching the location and logging the collected evidence and photographs.
- Interpret laboratory and autopsy reports.
- Prepare and maintain a notebook of the investigation.
- Properly document witness interviews.
- Present a completed criminal case for prosecution.
Course Activities and Design
- Classroom Lecture
- Films and Videos
- Simulated Crime Scenes
- Role playing situations
- Practice Interviews
Outcome Assessment Strategies
Methods of examination may include the following: examinations, quizzes, reports, role playing, interview assignments and diagramming a mock crime scene.
Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)
This course will address topics that include, but are not limited to:
- Legal Aspects of Investigation
- Documentation of Crime Scenes
- Chain of Custody
- Evidence Logs
- Report Writing and Interpretation
- Prosecution Preparation
- Interviewing Witnesses