reporting-styles/formats

[guest]

I'd like to know if anyone is using checklist or fill in the blank style reports or just a narrative when reporting on evidence or crime scenes.

[Dave Tivin]

Guest,

We use both check lists and narrative style reporting. The checklists are an ideal way to collect preliminary information in a quick and efficient manner. When designing the checklists I think it is critical to enumerate items in the proper flow. I've seen some that tend to jump from one topic to the next. This mistake tends to overlook evidence. I also believe that the checklists yield a better narrative report. Vernon Geberth has compiled a decent sample of checklists in the publication, "Checklist and Field Guide" that is available through CRC press.

[Guest]

Guest,

We use both check lists and narrative style reporting. The checklists are an ideal way to collect preliminary information in a quick and efficient manner. When designing the checklists I think it is critical to enumerate items in the proper flow. I've seen some that tend to jump from one topic to the next. This mistake tends to overlook evidence. I also believe that the checklists yield a better narrative report. Vernon Geberth has compiled a decent sample of checklists in the publication, "Checklist and Field Guide" that is available through CRC press.

Thanks for the info, Dave. Do you have a standardized form I could look at?