Plain English for Cops

By Nicholas Meier and R. J. Adams

Most cops hate to write reports. What cops hate even more is instruction on how to write reports. Why? Because instruction in report writing tends to focus on the traditional forms of grammar which cops find irrelevant and boring. We agree. So this book is not written like a traditional report text. You won't find discussions of past perfect and future perfect verbs, modal auxiliaries or correlative conjunctions. You will find Plain English for Cops organized around the common mistakes that most cops actually make in their reports and how to avoid them.

We've approached report writing in a non-traditional and humorous way. Plain English for Cops can be used in basic training academies, field officer training programs, and remediation programs for veteran officers. It can also be used in other areas such as private security, corrections or any other occupation where narrative reports are important.

Plain English for Cops is a "non-textbook." It uses a non-technical approach to police report writing that is easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to apply.

Authors Nicholas Meier and R.J. Adams are available to conduct a "Train the Trainer" workshop at your agency. The workshop is designed for command staff, supervisors, academy instructors, and FTOs. For more information, contact the authors at plainenglishforcops@gmail.com.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0890898464
• ISBN13: 9780890898468
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding

This book is right on the money. I work for a small department and guidance when it comes to report writing is limited. This answered just about all my questions and the hummor definitly helped.

Great Book! The seminar was great also!

I recently read this book in conjunction with the seminar put on by the authors Nicholas Meier and R.J. Adams. The book is a must read for all future police officers as well as a must have for current officers and supervisors. This is the first report writing book that I was actually able to read and enjoy. I was able to pick up several tips that have made my job much easier. You will learn so much from this book you'll wonder how you worked without it. If you have the chance sign up for the seminar!G. Ladwig

Great resource for rookie and veteran officers

I feel this book is a great resource for police report writers. It teaches the basics of english usage and reporting as it relates to police writing without putting you to sleep. A valuable book for everyone who "pulls paper."

Best choice for police report writing

This books begins by describing police report writing as being like dental work without Novocain, and that is essentially true. No one likes writing reports, and learning to write reports is worse by several orders of magnitude. This book *is* the Novocain, the tool that can make the process relatively painless. Meier and Adams have collected advice and anecdotes from cops at all levels of the hierarchy and experience to craft a book that covers the essentials without being ponderous. Humor is used to make a dull subject bearable. There are some examples of English mechanics in the book, but they are in the context of practical examples that make the grammar lessons meaningful. This is the first police report writing book that one could actually sit down and read. This would be the first book I would recommend to a training officer with a recruit with writing deficiencies, for a police academy instructor, or for an academic instructor that wanted to do a course or workshop on report writing. The book itself can serve as your curriculum plan. If you need to know how to write police reports, or need to know how to teach someone to write police reports, buy this book.