why cant police find reports of incidents that they have attended?

Answer 1

I don't know in what context you ask this question. All the cops I worked with kept pocket note books and recorded every incident they every attended. These were kept for the duration of their employment, so they could always refer back to incidents far back in their careers.

Answer 2

If police have been called and attended there will be numerous records of their attendance...

First there will be the initial call which will have its own reference number.. to trace this you only need location date and time of the call

Secondly the officer that attended (this is traced on the initial call record) will or should have made notes they attended and dealt with anything this could be in a pocket book

If they reported someone/arrested someone they will have completed another record this again can be traced via the criminal justice unit

If they reported an incident in a crime report this is also given a reference and can be traced via the crime desk

As you can see there are numerous reports for one incident, your best chance is to get the location date etc.... it is more difficult when the incident is over a year as the initial call is "archived" and so harder to trace but not impossible

Answer 3

It depends what kind of reports you mean. Police in the UK keep records of telephone calls (they normally have someone type what you say, into a computer when you call them), and the calls are recorded. If you are reporting something that would have been recorded as a crime, then another computer record is generated, and usually a paper report of some kind. If the officer came across an incident, he/she may only record it in their pocket note book, so it won't be held on computer unless they call it in on their radio. A Police officer will only make a note of an incident in their pocket books when something relating to that incident is likely to be required in court. I hope this covers a few angles for you.

Answer 4

An officer may not always raise an incident log if he/she deems an incident to be of a minor nature, in that case if you don't know the name of the officer or their shoulder number you won't be able to find the record. Police officers don't raise a computer log every time they speak to someone over a particular matter.

Answer 5

ragill's answer is perfect.I worked for 10 years as a police dispatcher and twenty before on the street.If an officer is sent to an incident that is logged automatically by the call taker when the call comes in and put on a computer that can be searched by time,area,type of incident,crime,incident number,crime number,but if an officer is not directed but comes across it if he considers it needs logging such as a crime or accident he will call it in and it will again be put into the computer,if it is something not worthy of logging he may or may not make an entry in his pocket book and so if you don't have his collar number or name it will be difficult to trace.

Answer 6

If your police department is like most others, the officers dictate their reports and a person transcribes them and keeps them in files. Also, some incidents do not warrant a written report. The officer may just log the incident on his daily report.

Answer 7

There is no reason why an officer can't find reports of an incident that that attended in the performance of his duties.

If he can't he then should be fired for incompetence.

Answer 8

they cant be bothered i daresay but they are stored somewhere and they have access

Answer 9

poor record keeping