Motor Vehicle Crash Exercise
PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT: To allow students the opportunity to practice completing a Police Crime Incident Report form with appropriate information.
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION:
Students will draw a sketch of a car accident using the fact scenario provided and then write a narrative to describe what occurred.
DIRECTIONS FOR STUDENTS:
• Review the Indiana Crash Report form on Blackboard
• Read the facts of the crash scenario provided on Blackboard
• On the appropriate page of the Indiana Crash Report form draw a diagram of the accident
• Draft a narrative which describes all essential details of the accident
• Include your name and unit number as the reporting officer
• Use your date of submission for the date and time of the accident.
• After drawing the diagram and writing your narrative save the documents as a PDF
• Submit the PDF via the Turnitin Link provided
There are several points to keep in mind as you begin structuring and writing a report. Some of them are:
1. Formulate a plan as to what you are going to write in your narrative.
2. Include facts of the crime or incident as they are given to you.
3. Do not put your opinion in the report.
4. Keep racism, ageism, sexism, and other inappropriate information out of your report.
5. Do not use police jargon or slang, unless you are quoting someone directly.
6. Do not add words that are not needed, such as “the below officer” or “the undersigned officer.” You want to use “I” when you are writing your reports. We
already know it is “you” who wrote the report.
7. If you are going to put something in your report specifically that a person said then you will want to use quotation marks.
Example: The witnesses said the suspect told her he would, “Kill her and her whole family if she called the police.” Then he fled the residence.
8. Check your spelling; computer programs such as Word have a spell check program. Use it, but make sure it is giving you the correct word you want to spell, and
not a different homonym.
9. Do not use abbreviations unless they are commonly accepted abbreviations.
10. Avoid use of contractions.
11. Make sure you are using proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar throughout your report.
12. Use capital letters for entire last name of individuals referenced in the report. This will make it easier for your reader to determine who the involved
parties are in your report.
13. You are the reporting officer. Use your last name and first name. If you do not want to use your entire first name, then just use the first letter of your
first name. For example: J. Jones.
14. Use military time to avoid confusion between AM and PM.
IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED FOR FULL POINTS
• Diagram is neat and easy to understand-contains all relevant information such as make/model of vehicle- 5 points
• Narrative is specific and factual, contains all relevant information – 5 points
• Proper spelling, punctuation, grammar- 5 points
• Military time –avoids confusion with AM/PM – 1 point
• Page numbers included such as Page 1 of 2, etc. – 1 point
• Last names of involved individuals is always capitalized for emphasis 3 points
Always keep in mind that you are trying to answer the typical questions of who, what, when, and where. You may be able to answer the why, but that will depend largely
on what type of incident you are writing about and what information you have available at the time of your report.
GRADING: By successfully completing this assignment, each student may earn a total of 20 points.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS – Will not be accepted.
