Incident report writing
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This document provides guidance to staff on writing incident reports. It instructs staff to learn about the purpose and proper formatting of incident reports. It then outlines best practices for titling reports, describing the chronological order of events factually, identifying student involvement codes, using descriptive language, and submitting the report in a timely manner. Following these guidelines will result in effective documentation of campus incidents.
Incident report writing
- 1. Office of Residence Life & Services
- 2. Staff members will: Learn why incident reports are important Learn the formatting and mechanics of incident reports Learn how to write appropriate, helpful content for incident reports Review the incident report submission page
- 3. Incident Reports: Serve as an official report of situations that occur on campus and/or involve students Serve as documentation during student conduct process Allow professional staff members to follow- up appropriately with incidents Allow campus officials to analyze patterns of behavior and campus-wide trends
- 4. Incident Report Submission Page http://housing.case.edu/staff Timing is everything. Write the report immediately after the incident occurs. This allows appropriate personnel to respond appropriately. It is important to compose the body of your incident report in a word processing program. The submission page will time-out after 10 minutes of inactivity. Writing and proof-reading are vital to a clear and concise IR
- 5. Make sure the title is straightforward and simple, but gives enough detail to distinguish it from similar IRs. Bad: “EMSTransport for Alcohol” Better: “EMSTransport for Alcohol from Sherman” Best: “EMSTransport for Alcohol from Sherman 208” This is an official document; do not use clever titles or jokes.
- 6. This means the date and time that the incident happened, not the date and time you are writing the report. In your report, describe all events in the order they occurred. What did you first observe? What steps did you take? What happened as a result of those steps?
- 7. ‘Involvement” indicates the role an individual played in the incident and/or the type of policy violated. Involvements can be added at a later time, but involvements can never be removed from an incident report. If applicable, you may add a name multiple times, each time with a different involvement. For example, you may add a name with “AlcoholTransport” and add it again with “Alcohol Related.”
- 8. All students named in the body of the IR should be listed in the “Alleged Involvement” section with an involvement code, and all students listed with an involvement code should be mentioned in the body of the IR. While staff may be mentioned in the body of the IR, they should not be listed in the “Alleged Involvement” section. Make sure to select the code or codes that most closely describe the policy-violating behavior. Know your policies! Remember than an involvement is what a person did, not what the situation is. For example, if a resident reports that their bookbag has been stolen, the resident’s involvement is NOT theft.
- 9. Only use "Informational" if there was no policy violation, and no other code applies. Only use "Witness" to list non-staff witnesses. Do not use an involvement code for staff involved in confronting a situation. If the incident does not involve anyone or it is unknown as to who was responsible, type “unknown” in the CaseID field. Some involvement codes, such as AlcoholTransport and MedicalTransport, are not policy violations. Rather, they are used for statistical purposes. "Alcohol Related" should be used every time "AlcoholTransport" is used.
- 10. Write the report in third person. 1st person: I saw three guys run through the lobby... 3rd person: RA PATEL saw three males run through the lobby… Use last names rather than pronouns whenever possible. Bad: “SMITH and JONES were arguing and he punched him in the face.” Better: “SMITH and JONES were arguing and SMITH punched JONES in the face.” However, if name usage makes the IR difficult to read, a well- placed pronoun may be useful. Bad: JACKSON said that JACKSON suddenly felt ill, then JACKSON said that JACKSON vomited.Ten minutes later, JACKSON then vomited again. Better: “JACKSON said that earlier he felt ill and vomited twice.”
- 11. The first time you mention an individual, use first and last name. Every time after that, use just the last name.Type last names in all capitals. 1st use: John SMITH and Jane DOE 2nd use: SMITH and DOE Keep the report factual and unbiased. Avoid adding personal opinions and assumptions.
- 12. Document behaviors, and not opinions. “SMITH was wasted” (opinion) “SMITH smelled like liquor and was slurring his speech” (factual, articulable) Be descriptive with what you see. “There was alcohol in the room.” (vague) “There was one half full bottle of vodka in the room.There were also 10 empty beer cans and 8 full beer cans.” (specific) When appropriate, take photographs, e.g. vandalism, safety and security violations, etc.
- 13. Include direct quotations in the body of the IR whenever possible. For example: If a resident says “Quiet, it’s the RA!” and you hear clinking bottles, you would document the direct quotation and the context.
- 14. Submit the IR immediately after the incident occurs. Form can be found at: http://housing.case.edu/staff After you submit an IR, your supervisor or another Residence Life staff member may ask you for clarification regarding your IR if they have questions or need more information.