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Most security officers are issued, or required to buy, spiral bound notepads. These notepads should be of a size that make them convient to carry, and should be shielded from inclement weather for the duration of their use.
Upon first getting the notepad, one would think that you just jot down notes, and throw it away after filling it up, or sticking it somewhere. Depending on your company policy, this is usually not the case.
In court, a witness may refer to texts as "memory aids" while giving testimony. These texts will usually be subopenaed by either counsel, so that both counsels have time to review them and prepare argument for/against them.
As such, your written notes are important. They are what you base your chronological log entries and incident reports on. They are what both sides will want to examine with a microscope. If it is shown that the notes taken are able to be altered or destroyed, then credibility issues are raised. Questions like, "Did you tear a page out, then rewrite your notes to implicate my client?" can be raised.
When first purchasing a notepad, think of it as a mini chronological log. Take your notepad, and count the sheets. At the start of the note pad, write the following satement, in block print, replacing the information as appropriate to you:
On 25 December, 2005, at 1900 hours, I, Lt. N. A. Corbier #3270, opened this security officer's notebook. There are 100 double sided sheets, for a total of 200 pages accounted for, numbered in sequence. All pages are blank as of the opening of this notebook.
Then, becomes the tedious part of preparing a notebook. Using a black pen, you must label every page with a page number. This is where finding pre-numbered notepads comes handy. However, even the Write in the Rain notepads don't have numbers at times.
The reason for the above is to prove that the pages have not been altered when they are presented before a court of law, a district attorney, or an investigator from the police, fire, insurance industry. It can be reasonably proven that the contents are not altered by removing pages because the pages were numbered long ago, or not so long ago, before the notebook started seeing use.
When making entries, remember to put enough information that you will be able to recall the incident your writing notes about weeks or months in the future. A standardized heading for each "event" is sometimes taught at police academies, and may be appropriate for you. Otherwise, note at minimum:
In this way, no matter what's going on, you will know what other sources of information are available to consult when your scratching your head wondering what WMx2 205 AgBat(Dom) means - which you thought would make perfect sense when you wrote it.
While most reports and chronological logs should be written in plain english without jargon, your notes are designed to refresh you. So long as you know what the jargon and abbreviations you are using in your notepad are, it is acceptable to use them. Anything required to be "brought up" in court over your notes will require your presence to explain them.
Finally, after exausting a notepad, keep it around. You may be called to testify multiple times on a simple incident without police intervention in a civil case a year later - or the criminal case you were working may go to trial 6-12 months from the day you made your arrest/detention.
This, indeed, has happened to me. 8 months after an arrest by local police on my property, in which I assisted a small police manhunt for a suspect on my property, I was subponea'ed. No information on what it was, and the police CANNOT give you information on an active case. Thankfully, the desk officer gave me a police report number, and I was able to locate the notebook and incident report based off that. There's nothing more annoying than going before the State's Attorney blind. On a lighter note, the bad guy pleaded out the moment his lawyer saw four out of four officers his client was being charged with failing to obey and resisting with violence sitting in the waiting room, comparing notes.
Upon first getting the notepad, one would think that you just jot down notes, and throw it away after filling it up, or sticking it somewhere. Depending on your company policy, this is usually not the case.
In court, a witness may refer to texts as "memory aids" while giving testimony. These texts will usually be subopenaed by either counsel, so that both counsels have time to review them and prepare argument for/against them.
As such, your written notes are important. They are what you base your chronological log entries and incident reports on. They are what both sides will want to examine with a microscope. If it is shown that the notes taken are able to be altered or destroyed, then credibility issues are raised. Questions like, "Did you tear a page out, then rewrite your notes to implicate my client?" can be raised.
When first purchasing a notepad, think of it as a mini chronological log. Take your notepad, and count the sheets. At the start of the note pad, write the following satement, in block print, replacing the information as appropriate to you:
On 25 December, 2005, at 1900 hours, I, Lt. N. A. Corbier #3270, opened this security officer's notebook. There are 100 double sided sheets, for a total of 200 pages accounted for, numbered in sequence. All pages are blank as of the opening of this notebook.
Then, becomes the tedious part of preparing a notebook. Using a black pen, you must label every page with a page number. This is where finding pre-numbered notepads comes handy. However, even the Write in the Rain notepads don't have numbers at times.
The reason for the above is to prove that the pages have not been altered when they are presented before a court of law, a district attorney, or an investigator from the police, fire, insurance industry. It can be reasonably proven that the contents are not altered by removing pages because the pages were numbered long ago, or not so long ago, before the notebook started seeing use.
When making entries, remember to put enough information that you will be able to recall the incident your writing notes about weeks or months in the future. A standardized heading for each "event" is sometimes taught at police academies, and may be appropriate for you. Otherwise, note at minimum:
- The Date and Time of the incident
- The street address and client name
- The type of incident/offense
- Company Report / Event Number(s)
- Police Report / Even Number(s)
- Other company employee's present (by name)
In this way, no matter what's going on, you will know what other sources of information are available to consult when your scratching your head wondering what WMx2 205 AgBat(Dom) means - which you thought would make perfect sense when you wrote it.
While most reports and chronological logs should be written in plain english without jargon, your notes are designed to refresh you. So long as you know what the jargon and abbreviations you are using in your notepad are, it is acceptable to use them. Anything required to be "brought up" in court over your notes will require your presence to explain them.
Finally, after exausting a notepad, keep it around. You may be called to testify multiple times on a simple incident without police intervention in a civil case a year later - or the criminal case you were working may go to trial 6-12 months from the day you made your arrest/detention.
This, indeed, has happened to me. 8 months after an arrest by local police on my property, in which I assisted a small police manhunt for a suspect on my property, I was subponea'ed. No information on what it was, and the police CANNOT give you information on an active case. Thankfully, the desk officer gave me a police report number, and I was able to locate the notebook and incident report based off that. There's nothing more annoying than going before the State's Attorney blind. On a lighter note, the bad guy pleaded out the moment his lawyer saw four out of four officers his client was being charged with failing to obey and resisting with violence sitting in the waiting room, comparing notes.
Better: Ms. Smith fell while walking to her vehicle in the parking lot. An investigation revealed that the area was salted and sanded with warning signs placed in visible areas. No other slip and fall accidents occurred in the parking lot.
Whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Especially since civil matters are decided on preponderance of the evidence as opposed to the higher requirement of beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases.
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