Incident Report Writing Guidelines

The College of New Jersey, Department of Residential Education & Housing

Summer 2013
Purpose:
Incident Reports (IRs) are used to compile statistics, keep people informed, identify
programmatic or service-related needs, facilitate investigations and may be serve as evidence
in a criminal or civil trial.
They matter to:
Students: because IRs can help us determine what policy or code violations to charge
a student with, these reports are shared with the student and read in a hearing.
Professional staff: who serve as hearing officers or who need to know what is going
on in their building or area.
The College of New Jersey: because the College is responsible for reporting certain
crime statistics and maintaining the integrity of our conduct records.
The State of New Jersey: because IRs can be subpoenaed as evidence in a court
case.
As a result, its vital that student staff accurately and clearly report what they observed or were told
regarding an incident.
What to include:
Who are the residents, students or guests involved, but also, who were the other staff
members who assisted or were involved (examples: the RD on duty, another CA,
Lions EMS or Campus Police). Be sure to use IDs as much as possible to ensure
there isnt a problem with mistaken identity.
What do you see, hear or smell? This is especially important when dealing with
marijuana cases without a lot of evidence. Does the person appear to be under the
influence? If so, what are the signs (Bloodshot eyes? Slurred speech? Smells of
marijuana or alcohol?) Make sure that the what is relevant. It should connect to
the potential policy violation(s) and the persons level of cooperation. When
documenting alcohol, be sure to note the type of alcohol, size and quantity of the
containers and the degree to which they were full or empty.
When: document when you addressed the incident and when you left the incident.
Where did the incident take place (building, room number or location, such as the
main lounge.
Why did you address this incident? How did you come to know about it?

Documenting Names in the Narrative:

Do NOT use acronyms (like CA) on the first reference. If this document is shared in court,
they may not be familiar with that term. Instead write Community Advisor (CA) Jane
Doe and then on any subsequent reference you can simply write CA Doe.
The person writing the report also needs to identify him or herself. On the first reference,
write I, Community Advisor (CA) John Smith and for subsequent references, you can
simply write I when reporting your observations or actions.

Be OBJECTIVE:
Only report what you observe, not what you think or assume. Speculation doesnt prove
anything, but may appear as if the staff member addressing the incident was biased.
Speculation:
Resident Smith was about to throw an orange out the Travers 5 elevator lobby window.
Evidence:
Resident Smith was leaning out the open Travers 5 elevator lobby window with an orange
in his hand.
Subjective:
Resident Smith appeared intoxicated and was disrespectful.
Evidence:
Resident Smith smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and raised his voice when he spoke.
Additionally, Resident Smith refused to answer Officer Lopezs questions.

Dont forget to use your resources:

Cross-check the information you have with the guest log to identify whether nonresidents were signed in and, if so, who was their host.
If possible, approach situations with another staff member and have one person
address the situation while the other person takes notes.