Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission Investigation and Enforcement Division
OPERATIONS MANUAL
CHAPTER: A-011
SUBJECT: Report Writing Procedures
AMENDS/SUPERSEDES: All Previous
DISTRIBUTION: All Investigators
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I. PURPOSE:
This chapter covers what a report is, its purpose and a recommended method or outline for writing a report and specifics with regard to Report of Violations.
II. FUNCTION:
A. An investigator's report is a written description of the investigator's activities. When an investigator reports on an investigation undertaken by him, the report may contain statements describing the investigator's own observations and conclusions. It may also contain statements describing the observations and conclusions of other persons whom the investigator has interviewed.
B. It is fundamental that a good report shall always make clear:
1. The basis for any statement of fact;
2. The observation of the investigator or the observation of another person;
3. A conclusion drawn by the investigator or a conclusion drawn by another person.
III. SOURCES:
A. If the source of the investigator's information is an informant, whose identity the investigator has agreed to keep confidential, the report shall identify the source of his information only as an informer; otherwise he shall identify the source of his information.
IV. PURPOSE:
A. It is the purpose of a report to communicate to the Chief Investigator, information about the investigator's activities or information about criminal or other matters which the investigator is investigating. A report is, therefore, a basis upon which the Chief Investigator can evaluate the progress of an investigation or the value of the activities as well as a basis upon which the Chief Investigator can evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the investigator making the report.
B. Once a report has been submitted and examined by a Chief Investigator, its potential value is still far from exhausted, for such reports are essential to prosecuting Investigator in preparing for prosecution and may be invaluable to the investigator making the report if he needs to refresh his recollection of his observations long after the time when he made them.
C. In every activity, an investigator should bear in mind the need to report at a later time. He should, therefore, keep with him at all times, a notebook in which to make complete and accurate notes of his observations, and he should make his notes as soon as possible after making the observations themselves. These notes will prove to be the raw material from which good reports are fashioned.
D. There should be a record of all significant observations that an investigator makes. An investigator should never fail to make a record of an observation simply because it doesn't square with his "theory of the case".
V. METHOD/PROCEDURE:
A. Reports should be organized to follow a specific outline or form. The following organizational sequence would be an appropriate one.
1. Name of department.
2. Statement of the type of offense, complaint or situation under investigation.
3. Date, time and place of alleged or suspected offense.
4. Name and description of defendant or suspect under investigation, if known.
5. Date and time of investigation being reported in this report. Distinguish clearly in your report between the date of the investigation and the date of the crime.
6. Name of and other identifying information about the investigator making the report and any other person who assisted him or participated with him in the investigation about which this report is being made.
7. Citation to specific statute or statutes believed to have been violated.
8. Statements of fact describing:
a. The observations of the investigator and any conclusions which he may draw; and
b. The observations of other persons and any conclusions which those other persons may have drawn. These statements of fact will make up the body or text of the report.
9. In making observations and reporting on them an investigator should constantly, bear in mind, the five essential questions which must be answered before any investigation can be said to be complete.
(1) Who? Who did it? To whom did it happen?
(2). What? What happened?
(3) When? As precisely as possible, at what hour of the night or day did something happen?
(4) Where? Where did something happen? Where did the investigator interview the witness? Where did the investigator observe something?
(5) How? How was the offense committed? How was an act done?
11. In reports filed as parts of an uncompleted investigation, a statement of any leads which may be developed in the further course of the investigation.
12. Arrest reports, incident reports and on-going investigations will be submitted and reviewed by the Chief Investigator within five days of the incident occurring or the investigation being initiated.
13. CASE INDEX LOG
If the report is a summary of other reports, it may be appropriate to include a list of all statements, items of physical evidence, laboratory reports, photographs, and the like utilizing the case index log. The case index log can be of great help to the prosecuting Investigator at a later time. Where the chain, or sequence, of possession of evidence is important, such a report summary should completely list the sequence.
14. SIGNATURE OF REPORTING INVESTIGATOR
The final Violation Report should be signed by the reporting Investigator and the Chief Investigator.
B. In learning the elements of a good report it is valuable to be told what one ought to do. Perhaps it is even more valuable to be told what one should not do. The following is a list of don'ts.
1. Don't start writing a report until you have organized your thoughts. Make an outline first.
2. Don't write long sentences, don't write long paragraphs, and don't use a big word if a small word will do.
3. Don't fail to identify the source of your information. Anyone reading your report should be able to tell whether any statement of fact describes your own observations or that of any other person, your own conclusion or the conclusion of any other person.
4. Don't fail to distinguish clearly between the date of the report, the date of the investigation which is the subject of the report and the date of the offense or occurrence which is the subject of the investigation. There is no more common, confusing or infuriating aspect of investigator reports than a single date at the top of the page. The person reading the report doesn't know whether that date refers to the date of the crime, the date of the investigation, or the date of the report. Make it clear.
5. Don't leave out a statement of fact simply because it is inconsistent with your theory of how the crime or occurrence happened. Your theory may turn out to be dead wrong: the statement of an "odd" fact may later turn out to be a valuable lead.
6. Don't fail to be as precise as your notes and recollections will allow in describing conversations with other persons, especially when a person whose conversation is being described has not himself signed a written statement. Your description of the recollection of statements made by another person may turn out to be very valuable evidence if that other person later changes his story.
7. Don't use pronouns in a confusing way. A report which constantly refers to "he" and "him" which at various times speaks of Smith, Brown, and Jones will be a misleading and infuriating report. When you are talking about more than one person in the report, use that person's name.
C. Reports of Violations are reports submitted by investigators, which report the facts and circumstances surrounding a violation of statute or rule.
1. Each violation report shall list the specifications of the charge. The specifications shall clearly state who committed the violation, the time of the violation, where the violation was, what the violation was, and what MGL or Rule the violation was contrary to.
2. Aggravating and mitigating uniform format procedures.
a. It is necessary to establish a uniform format of reporting facts and circumstances necessary to prove intoxication.(l). The following definitions control:
Intoxication means impairment of a person's mental or physical faculties as a result of drug or alcoholic beverage use so as to diminish that person's ability to think and act in a manner in which an ordinary prudent and cautious person, in full possession of his faculties, would act under like circumstances.
Mitigating factor means any condition or quantity which would moderate in force or intensity, any pending administrative action against a licensee and which is reported in a violation.
Violation means any violation of a criminal statute or administrative rule which is reported to the commission by an agent in writing, and which results in administrative action.
3. This section specifically covers the administrative and procedural duties of all Investigation and Enforcement Division Investigators for utilizing a standardized format of reporting signs of intoxication and aggravation and mitigating factors in reports of violation.
(1) SIGNS OF INTOXICATION
Each investigator shall, when observing patrons for signs of intoxication, report any of the following signs of intoxication observed, which shall include, but may not be limited to:
(a) Signs of Loss of Inhibitions
Being overly friendly
Bravado
Loud Speech
Changing from quiet to loud
Drinking alone
Annoying other customers
(b) Signs of Impaired Judgment
Complains about the strength of the drink
Orders doubles
Argumentative
Foul language
Careless with money
Buys drinks for strangers
Irrational statements
(c) Signs of Loss of Reactions
Lights more than one cigarette at a time
Unable to light a cigarette
Eyes are glassy/red/bloodshot/droopy
Loss of train of thought
Slurred speech/mush mouthed
Thick tongue when speaking
(d) Signs of Loss of Coordination
Can't pick up change
Spilling drinks
Head slumps forward in a "nod"
Unable to sit up straight or falls off stool
Sways while standing in place
Stumbles, bumps into objects
Staggers when walking
Each investigator shall, when preparing a report of violation concerning intoxication, organize the report listing any of the four categories and any criteria observed within each category.
(2) AGGRAVATING & MITIGATING FACTORS
a. In determining recommendations for administrative action, each investigator shall list any aggravating or mitigating factors observed. Methods of stating aggravating or mitigating factors are not limited to the examples provided, but shall clearly state the issues to be addressed to support the recommendation made by the investigator or examiner.
b. Aggravating factors shall include but shall not be limited to:
i. The failure to detect poor quality identification documents as being false;
ii. Failure to monitor the length of time a patron has been drinking;
iii. The active encouragement of intoxicated patrons to consume more alcohol;
iv. The service of alcohol to a patron that is so continuous and excessive that it creates a risk of death by alcohol poisoning;
v. Actively assisting by a person of a patron into a motor vehicle when the patron is so intoxicated as to need assistance, when he knows or should have known that the intoxicated person will operate the motor vehicle;
vi. The failure to properly manage the premises, such as allowing over crowding, unaccompanied minors in lounges, lack of effort to clear aisles, or areas of ingress or egress and blocked fire exits;
vii. The failure to take corrective action on previously cited violations;
viii. The licensee's previous history of like violations;
ix. Any factor that increases the hazard to public safety is due to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Mitigating Factors are but shall not be limited to:
(a) The licensee having no record of like violations;
(b) The licensee having no record of any violation;
(c) The licensee admitting to problems detected and taking steps to rectify the situation;
(3) Investigators when writing aggravating or mitigating factors shall write only facts, not their opinions or supposition.
A-011: 1
A-126: 1