Police statements, why do they dislike you writing it yourself?

robj20 said:
You do realise you get to read it after and then have to sign it. So he can't just make stuff up, not happy with the way he wrote it, don't sign it and ask for changes.
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Of course you get to read and sign it, but nonetheless if someone is capable of penning an accurate, coherent and legible account they should not interfere.
Avenged7Fold said:
...That's when the bint started kicking off. Tensions were high so we all kept an eye on the foreign fellas in the room for the obvious. We heard the sound of someone falling down in the other room but we just assumed it was one of the more effeminate types fainting for attention as they do...
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[/QUOTE]

LOL, not *that* far wrong ;)
 
robj20 said:
You do realise you get to read it after and then have to sign it. So he can't just make stuff up, not happy with the way he wrote it, don't sign it and ask for changes.
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As someone whose opinion of the average British copper is that I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw a grand piano, I can understand Chris’s initial reticence to let the copper write the statement for him.
However, when I witnessed an RTA where an elderly guy was knocked up in the air and died of his injuries, I gave a statement to the officer attending the accident, but subsequently I had a phone call from the Met’s Accident Investigation Department, where they arranged a visit to my home to discuss it.
This officer spent maybe 90 minutes asking me questions, was I absolutely sure that I saw this, or that, how did I decide if the car involved was exceeding the speed limit, or if it wasn’t doing so, how did I judge that, etc. etc.
Eventually he wrote the statement, pausing to ask if I agreed with what he was writing.
When it was finished, he asked me to read it over carefully, and if I wasn’t happy with any part, to say so.
I think that we ended up with a truthful, well composed statement, I’m sure that I could have done it on my own, but I couldn’t swear to have compiled it as efficiently as he did.
I was particularly impressed that the officer added under my signature, “This witness has been a professional Licenced London taxi driver for 27 years, when he says that in his opinion the car was being driven at below the speed limit, I’m inclined to believe that to be an accurate assessment.”
 
Chris Wilson said:
I declined the offer and told him I was perfectly capable of putting a coherent and legible statement of what I had seen, where and when on a sheet of paper.
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To put it simply, I would put money on you not being able to write a statement to the level required. Why? Because writing statements is much more complicated and technical than you think it is. It's not just like writing a story.

As @FBi7 alludes to, there is a format for writing statments called the 5 point plan. Part of this format is writing summaries of the evidential value at the top of the statement, with another section being dedicated to the people mentioned in the chronological account and their involvement in the incident. This is important as CPS lawyers who have very limited time to prosecute a volume crime case won't necessarily read everything in the case file. They'll look at the incident summary on an MG05C and try and link up key pieces of evidence in the statements. They use the format of the statement to easily work out what is relevant and what isn't depending on what the defence may bring up.

On top of the format, there is a lot of technicality in how an incident is described. Everyone should have a full 10 point description at the end of the statement so help link up who is who on other statements and CCTV. Most people haven't even heard of a 10 point description, let alone know what all 10 points are.

It was also mentioned about ADVOKATE. This is a mnemonic around some case law which is really important for witness statements. It includes things like describing the lighting and any obstructions in your view of someone or an incident. How long did you see that person for? Was it a split second or longer? When they hit someone, how many times did they do it? Where did they hit them? What with? A fist? Closed? Left or right hand? What was the level of injury? Common Assault, ABH or GBH level? What defences may be suggested? Do you think it could have been self defence? What made you think that?

Put simply, it takes Police Officers a lot of training, lots of practice and a long time to write good evidential statements that can be successfully used in a prosecution.

But hey, you think you can do it, so it must be easy right?

On the point of you thinking it may not reflect what you want it to say, ultimately you have a choice to sign it or not. The officer will write it and you can change it if something is inaccurate or gives the wrong impression. If it's not signed, it's not a whole lot of use.
 
Rroff said:
I take it you don't deal with the general public much :p it is probably far quicker, more efficient and less of a waste of everyone's time for them to write it themselves in general.
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100% this. I wouldn't trust some random member of the public to do my job for me and send out my emails for me! The public are morons.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Of course you get to read and sign it, but nonetheless if someone is capable of penning an accurate, coherent and legible account they should not interfere.
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You're clearly not capable.

Or maybe you are - why not write your proposed statement below and let those here qualified to provide feedback.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
To put it simply, I would put money on you not being able to write a statement to the level required. Why? Because writing statements is much more complicated and technical than you think it is. It's not just like writing a story.

As @FBi7 alludes to, there is a format for writing statments called the 5 point plan. Part of this format is writing summaries of the evidential value at the top of the statement, with another section being dedicated to the people mentioned in the chronological account and their involvement in the incident. This is important as CPS lawyers who have very limited time to prosecute a volume crime case won't necessarily read everything in the case file. They'll look at the incident summary on an MG05C and try and link up key pieces of evidence in the statements. They use the format of the statement to easily work out what is relevant and what isn't depending on what the defence may bring up.

On top of the format, there is a lot of technicality in how an incident is described. Everyone should have a full 10 point description at the end of the statement so help link up who is who on other statements and CCTV. Most people haven't even heard of a 10 point description, let alone know what all 10 points are.

It was also mentioned about ADVOKATE. This is a mnemonic around some case law which is really important for witness statements. It includes things like describing the lighting and any obstructions in your view of someone or an incident. How long did you see that person for? Was it a split second or longer? When they hit someone, how many times did they do it? Where did they hit them? What with? A fist? Closed? Left or right hand? What was the level of injury? Common Assault, ABH or GBH level? What defences may be suggested? Do you think it could have been self defence? What made you think that?

Put simply, it takes Police Officers a lot of training, lots of practice and a long time to write good evidential statements that can be successfully used in a prosecution.

But hey, you think you can do it, so it must be easy right?

On the point of you thinking it may not reflect what you want it to say, ultimately you have a choice to sign it or not. The officer will write it and you can change it if something is inaccurate or gives the wrong impression. If it's not signed, it's not a whole lot of use.
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I think I said all that in two lines ;). It's nice to get it confirmed though.
 
Chris Wilson said:
They are dreadfully short of time and manpower, I was just making things run more efficiently so he could return to patrolling Facebook and Twitter ;)

Or enjoying a robust and noisy sex session in an unused interview room with a married solicitor ("Copping off" as the Sun deliciously described it):

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7349896/detective-loud-sex-married-lawyer-police-station/
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:p

You sound ever so slightly like you may have a chip on your shoulder.

If members of the public wanted to write their statement so as to save me doing it - I would be absolutely delighted....if....if I thought that it was going to be worth the paper it was written on and I wasn't going to have to waste twice as much time going back and doing it over again. All of the people I have had hand me a statement written by themselves have all been really well meaning, but the statement has been totally unusable and has, without exception, required me to rewrite them.

Statement writing is an art, many never seem to learn how to write a great statement and it's one of the things that many people shy away from - I'm not sure why, perhaps they aren't very good at writing? Perhaps it's dealing with the people they generally have to get statements from...? ;)

When you're writing a statement you have to be thinking about 3 moves ahead should this get to court and a defence solicitor ask questions around certain key areas and address them before it gets there. Then this is not even considering that a well written statement can often persuade CPS to prosecute, whereas half a page of hand written guff has "NFA" written all over it.

And you obviously have no idea how giving a statement works and I can't imagine why the officer didn't want to let you write your own... You read every word of your own statement, you are free to change anything, and you must sign only when you're happy.
 
Interesting thread, another reason, if one were needed, why cooperating with the police is a painful and unrewarding experience.

"At approx 8pm on the 27th August 2018 I saw the accused arguing with his girlfriend outside the Red Lion, 10 mins later on my way back from the shops
I saw that the accused was still in the same locality now talking to his brother. That was the last I saw of the accused."

So how would a copper [ obviously noted for their literary prowess ] rewrite that statement for court use ?
 
I'm just going to write "I didn't ruddy well do it" as my statement if ever given the opportunity. I'm sure the judge will appreciate the vague reference to the 80s sitcom "Bottom".
 
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