Report Writing: The Proper Use of Pronouns

This post is only offered as a discussion topic only and does not represent legal advice. Officers must refer to the laws in their own State as well as their agency's policies, which can be more restrictive on officers that the law requires.

As a Police sergeant, have you ever read a report describing the actions of multiple people and been unable to tell which subject in the report was responsible for the actions mentioned? Well, an officer can avoid that confusion in their own reports by understanding the correct use of possessive pronouns.

The most important rule to remember about pronouns is that they refer to the closest noun. For example: Mike crashed his car. In this sentence, his is a possessive pronoun referring to Mike. When an officer introduces multiple people to the story, that is when it is important to pay attention to the pronouns used.

For example: Jane hit Mary with her fist. In this sentence, the pronoun her is a possessive pronoun and the closest noun to "her" is Mary. This sentence means that Jane is using Mary's own fist to hit Mary, which is probably not what actually happened. Because Law Enforcement Reports are all about who did what to whom, this is an unacceptable error.

One way to fix this would be to rewrite the sentence as: With her fist, Jane hit Mary. Now, the closest noun to "her" is Jane.

If an officer is unsure how to make the closest noun to the pronoun be the correct one, then just repeat the name of the person instead of using a pronoun. For example, "Jane hit Mary with Jane's fist." Keep it simple, keep it clear, keep it correct.