Statement Writing - Initating an investigation

A Statement is a written account of an incident as told by a complaint (the person who is filing a complaint) a witness (a person that have important information about the incident) or a defendant (a person who is alleged to have commit an offence), to be used as part of an investigations or to initiate some legal proceeding. 

There are two type of witness statements. There is the: 

1. complaint statement: Most complainant statement are given by the victim; however, there are cases where a person other then the victim may be reporting the incident, and give a statement to sustain that report and get the wheels of investigation rolling on behalf of someone else. For example, a parent or a guardian of which the victim is a minor, or the victim is a person with mental disability; an elderly person who is in the guardianship of someone else and may not be in full control of their mental faculty; one who is making a report on behalf of one who is seriously injured and otherwise are unable to make the report for themselves or as a community service. 

2. There is general witness statement, which is a statement from anyone with important information that can help the investigation and later be a vital witness in a court proceedings if it comes to that. 

Statement writing in itself is a specialized art, that entails much more than the mere detailing of the series of events that transpired or that constituted an incident. The telling of the story is just one segment of statement writing. Many people are often tempted to write their own statements because who can tell their story better than they can, after all, they were the ones involved in the incident from which the report is being made or they saw what happened. But it may not be the best idea for witnesses to write their own statement. In another issue, I will deal with witness who want to and insist on writing their own statements. 

The recording personnel must be a good listener; he must never anticipate what the witness is going to say. He must also allow the witness to express themselves in their own words. They must also abstain from helping the witness finish their sentences, because to do so may aid in influencing the witness to adjust their story to facilitate the recording persons expressed will. It is important that the recording personnel be patient as the witness search for the correct words to express his thoughts. It is also important as possible for the recording officer to use as much as the witness words as possible. 

Although there is no statement without the story that gives an account of the incident that give rise to the investigations, the person who is recording the statement need to be able to do three important things; which are: 

i. The recording person need to be able to write the details of the story in clear, understandable language; giving a chronological account of what happened and using as much as the witness words as possible. 

ii. The recording person must be able to classify the offence that was committed by the act or acts from listening to the account that was related. 

iii. The recording person need to spell out and intertwined in clear and understandable languages the points to prove the offence that was committed within the statement. this is accomplished by asking the correct questions and relating the answers to the question in a connecting and understandable manner.

The above objective can only be accomplished by asking the right questions, to get a clear view of the person’s knowledge of what happened and to qualify the points to prove the offence. and the recording officer's knowledge of the law and what is expected of him as the recording officer. 

Another thing we must remember is; not every police officer, or investigator is capable of writing every statement. As I said above statement writing is a special art and while most police officer, private investigator may have a general idea of how to write a statement, it is always better to leave the statement for the people who are working in the area or field of law enforcement to qualify the offence. They will know best of any change of the law, what is the standard of the court as it relates to the offence in question and how to incorporate the information into the statement to prove the offence. 

A good example of this is a Traffic violation or a traffic accident statement are often best left to the traffic officers, because while in some places a regular traffic offence is a mere infraction, traffic offences are normally offence of negligence, and it is important for that aspect of the offence to be brought out in any witness statement if it is possible. 

Let us use the offence of theft as an example, it is not good enough to just declare that the person takes your property without permission. Because there is some defense to the offence of theft. One of which is; if there is a history between the victim and the alleged defendant and the alleged defendant is of the impression that, the victim would not have mind if he took the alleged stolen item, then the offence of theft was not committed. 

So in the case of theft apart from bring out the regular component of theft, which is, the defendant dishonestly took the property of the victim with the intention of permanently depriving the victim of it. The recording officer need to ensure that he do the following things; 

a) Established in the statement any relationship between the defendant and the victim if there is any, if there is no relationship what so every that must also be made clear. 

b) That victim did not give the defendant permission by verbally expressing it, in writing or did or say anything to implying that (the defendant) they can take the property that is of the center of the complaint. 

c) And the victim is aggrieved over the loss of his property. 

In the case of burglary which can also be a type of theft, or assault as well as damage or destruction of property, but is classified differently because of the nature in which the theft was committed. It is important to prove all of the points that was mentioned above as well as, to show that the defendant entered or part of the defendant entered into a property that he had no permission or right to enter, his entry was an unlawful entry and he did not have any right to the property he took or to do anything unlawful whilst in the property. 

If those points are not made, then the offence will change to either theft or trespassing in one of its varying degrees. It is simple but profound components that must be included in a statement to ensure that the points to prove the incident is laid out clear and plain. This is just scratching the surface of Statement writing, which only get easier the more one practice.