NTN Police Spelling and Punctuation for Police Reports

Question 1

Which of the following is the correctly spelled word for a legal order requiring a person to appear in court?

Accepted Answer

Subpoena

Answer

'Subpoena' is the correct spelling. This Latin-derived legal term is routinely used in police reports and court documents. All other options contain misspellings that would be flagged as errors in official reports.

Question 2

Which of the following words is spelled correctly as it would appear in a police surveillance report?

Accepted Answer

Surveillance

Answer

'Surveillance' is correct. It derives from the French 'surveiller' (to watch over). It contains 'veill' in the middle and ends in '-ance,' not '-ence.' This word appears frequently in investigative and undercover documentation.

Question 3

Which sentence is correctly punctuated?

Accepted Answer

Officer Martinez, who arrived on scene first, wrote the initial report.

Answer

Non-restrictive relative clauses — clauses that add extra information but are not essential to identify the subject — must be enclosed in commas on both sides. 'Who arrived on scene first' is non-restrictive (Officer Martinez is already named), so it requires a comma before and after.

Question 4

Which sentence uses an apostrophe correctly in a police report context?

Accepted Answer

The witnesses' statements were recorded at the scene.

Answer

When a plural noun already ending in 's' is made possessive, only an apostrophe is added after the final 's' — no additional 's.' 'Witnesses'' is correct because 'witnesses' is plural. 'Witnesses's' and 'witness'es' are not standard English forms.

Question 5

Which of the following is spelled correctly in the context of a criminal case?

Accepted Answer

Perpetrator

Answer

'Perpetrator' is the correct spelling, referring to the person who committed a criminal act. The suffix is '-ator,' derived from Latin, matching the same ending found in 'investigator' and 'administrator.' All other options contain misspellings.

(NTN Police) National Testing Network Police Test Practice Test

(NTN Police) National Testing Network Police Test Practice Test

NTN Police Spelling and Punctuation for Police Reports