CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORT
WRITING
THE HOW AND WHY
Part 10
Using Bullet Style to Write
a Police Report

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORT
WRITING
THE HOW AND WHY
Part 10
Using Bullet Style to Write
a Police Report

Bullet style is an easy and efficient way to
record information in a report.

Here’s what bullet style looks like:
I went to the bedroom and saw:
•a pile of women’s underwear on the floor
•an overturned dresser drawer on the bed
•necklaces, earrings, and a watch on the dresser top
•an empty jewelry box on the dresser top

By contrast, here’s what a conventional
paragraph looks like:
I went to the bedroom and saw a pile of women’s
underwear on the floor. There was an overturned
dresser drawer on the bed. I saw necklaces,
earrings, and a watch on the dresser top. I also saw
an empty jewelry box there.

Information in bullet style doesn’t require:
 complete sentences
 complex grammar
 capitalization
 punctuation

Bullet style lists often begin with headings like
the ones below:
 I saw the following items on the
workshop floor:
 Jesse said these valuables were
missing:
 Five people were working that morning:
 I performed the following actions:
 Jackson failed two sobriety tests:

Bullet style offers many advantages when
you’re writing your reports:
 speed
 efficiency
 grammatical simplicity
 more effective organization of facts and
ideas

To Learn More:
Criminal Justice Report Writing is available in
softcover ($17.95) from www.Amazon.com and in a
variety of ebook and Apple formats (Kindle, Nook,
SONY etc.) for $11.99 from www.Smashwords.com.
Read a free sample online!

Find FREE report writing
resources online at
www.YourPoliceWrite.com