Fillable Form Police Report

What is a Police Report?

A police report serves as the starting point of a law enforcement investigation. A police report will also provide crime victims with a legal document to use as evidence for court hearings and insurance claims.

How to fill out a Police Report?

To fill out a proper Police Report, you must provide the following information:

Case Number

Enter the case number of this police report. You may get this information from the reporting police officer supervising this report.

Date

Enter the current date.

Reporting Officer

Enter the full legal name of the police officer directly supervising you regarding this police report.

Prepared By

Enter your full legal name as the person creating this police report.

Incident

Enter the common name for the crime or illegal activity that has occurred.

Detail of Event

Enter specific and factual details about the crime or illegal activity that has occurred. To help the police officers conduct a thorough investigation, the information provided in this police report must be as accurate and specific as possible. You may provide answers that cater to the following questions including, but not limited to:

• What was the crime that was committed?
• When was the crime committed?
• Were there any witnesses?
• Was there any evidence obtained?
• Where was the crime committed?
• Who are the parties involved in this crime?
• How was the crime committed?
• What weapons were used?
• When was the crime discovered?
• Where was the suspect last seen?
• Did the witnesses hear anything unusual?
• Where was the suspect seen during the crime?
• How many suspects were there?
• Who had access to the crime scene?
• What further action should be taken?

Furthermore, providing the specific details mentioned below will be very helpful to police officers during investigations. You may include the following information if applicable:

• Date, time, location of the crime
• Your full legal name
• Your Identification Number
• Names of police officers or other authorities present
• Name of the suspects
• Name of the witnesses

Essentially, a proper police report must contain how the reporting police officer became involved with this certain incident, what the identities of the victims, suspects, and witnesses are, these people’s statements regarding the crime that has occurred, crime scene specifics and descriptions, information about the properties, evidence, and where the crime took place, and the observations done by the police officers and other authorities involved.

Actions Taken

Enter the specific and factual actions taken by the police officers and other authorities involved regarding the crime or illegal activity that was reported. Make the report as detailed and accurate as possible.

Summary

Summarize the incident including all the important details and information regarding the reported crime or illegal activity.

Why should I fill out a Police Report?

Filing a police report is important for a number of reasons. A police report will help police officers find and arrest the suspects that caused harm to their victims. It can also help the authorities track criminal activity in different areas much more accurately so as to prevent more illegal activities from occurring.

A police report will also help you in the future. In case the suspects, witnesses, or other parties involved decide to lie about what happened during the incident or how the incident happened, the police report will serve as proof that you provided factual evidence. Essentially, this police report will help protect you and will help you establish your claim.

When should I fill out a Police Report?

You must report any type of crime to the police as soon as possible. Filing a police report within a 24-hour time frame about the crime or illegal activity that has occurred would be the best choice in any case.

If you happen to be busy during that time and can’t go to the police station right away, take note of the specific details and important information regarding the incident so that you won’t forget any of them during the official filing of the police report.

Where should I send a Police Report?

Normally, a police report must be filed in the area where the crime or illegal activity has occurred, but exceptions will be made depending on each person’s case.

Regarding online submissions, after completing your police report, you may go to the official website of the authorities in your state or area to see how you can submit your police report.

Do I still have to file a Police Report if it’s an emergency?

In case of emergencies, you must call 911 immediately so that the appropriate authorities can go to you and help you right away.

What if I want to file a report over the phone?

Ideally, police reports should be filed in person, but exemptions may be made depending on the incident that has occurred.

Just as previously mentioned in the last paragraph, if there’s an emergency, you must call 911 immediately so that the appropriate authorities can go to you and help you right away.

What will happen after I file a Police Report?

After filing a complete Police Report, you will be given a reference number. This reference number will be used to give you updates regarding the crime or illegal activity you reported.

If the police force you reported to are the appropriate authorities to take over your case, they will be conducting an investigative assessment to see whether or not they have enough evidence to go through with an investigation regarding your Police Report instead of sending your report to another department.

Once it has been established that there is enough evidence regarding your Police Report, the police force and appropriate authorities will conduct an initial investigation. They will be talking to the witnesses, assessing the crime scenes, reviewing the evidence provided, gathering even more evidence, and searching for more information and leads regarding the crime or illegal activity.

All filed Police Reports have different outcomes. The incident that you reported to the authorities could be investigated further or the investigation could be closed totally.

If the police force has officially decided to investigate your case further, they will be assigning you an investigating officer. This officer will be responsible for acting as your single point of contact all throughout the span of this investigation. This person will be providing you with updates regarding your case.

On the other hand, if the police force decides to close the investigation, it’s probably because there were no more leads and there was not enough evidence to further continue the investigation.

In some cases, new evidence may be reported. When this happens, the police force may decide to open the investigation again.