Abstract
There has recently been a significant amount of interest in the study of police written discourse, particularly in the areas of monolingualism, warnings, and identifying deception. This article draws attention to the serious—yet unresolved—issue of unintelligibility in police reports. It gives insight into the grammatical and lexical complexities seen in these narrative reports, as well as how they affect meaning. A qualitative research technique was used to investigate the phenomenon. A collection of police reports from multiple criminal incidents—assault, intimidation, and crimen injuria—was examined using the theoretical lens of error analysis. The analysis involved error identification, classification, and description. The results show that the reports contained several inaccuracies that placed a heavy interpretive load on readers. These results are expected to increase police awareness of the role of language in presenting meaning and evidence. It is envisioned that this will enable police to write with accuracy, thereby solving cases more reliably and effectively.
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