Police Statement Writing - Basic Training Policies
Keywords
Writing, Statement, ADVOCATE, Acronym, Amount, Distance, Visibility, Obstructions, Suspect, Identification, Discrepancies, Basic, Training, Policies, Introduction, People, Places, Account, Clarification.
Publication Number
PUB 1197
FOI Reference Number
15708
Request Title
Police Statement Writing - Basic Training Policies
Date Range
N/A
Information Requested
When writing a statement, the Police use an acronym called ADVOCATE. What does it stand for and what are the basic training policies taught when writing a police statement?
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Disclosure
Information Correct as at
19 May 2021
Date of Disclosure
26 May 2021
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 15708 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, Essex Police can confirm in respect of Section 1(1)(b) the following data:
Caveat: The information is correct as at 19 May 2021.
When writing a statement, the Police use an acronym called ADVOCATE. What does it stand for and what are the basic training policies taught when writing a Police statement?
The acronym ADVOKATE is explained as below:
A - amount of time under observation
D - distance between witness and suspect / incident
V - visibility including time of day and lighting
O - obstructions blocking the view
K - known suspect from before
A - any reason to remember the suspect
T - time lapse between first and later identification
E - errors or discrepancies.
The basic training policy for obtaining witness statements is that they should adhere to a 5 part model with those 5 parts being:
Introduction – Establishing who the witness is and what matter they are providing a statement about.
People – Identifying the people they will be talking about within the statement, how they are known to them (if they are) and how they will refer to them.
Places – Describing / Identifying the locations that are going to be referred to in the account.
Account – The actual events that took place.
Clarification – Clearing up any ambiguities, adding information not already captured and including the elements of the ADVOKATE acronym where they have not already been captured.