Monday, February 28, 2011

The Art of the Police Report (Not the art of writing an article about well-written police reports)

The Art of the Police Report — Mixed Media — Utne Reader:

Image via Utne Reader

At a Lewd Acts on Child crime scene, Martinez’s partner, Brown, writes, “The Victim sustained multiple injuries.” Martinez would tell us, “The baby was bleeding from three orifices.” There’s a world of difference here. Brown gives us a victim; Martinez gives us a baby. Brown offers a fact; Martinez paints a picture.
Yes, an interesting article, but did it need to be spread over five separate pages? Let me tell you how irritating it was to read about the scintillating reports Mr. Martinez reports without actually getting an example of what makes them stand out of until the 4th of 5 pages ... extremely.

Hey, I know, I read the article for free and it's a small price to pay, so putting aside the grumbling about the pagination, couldn't the first example have been in the first half of the article? 
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