State Trooper Report Writing and Grammar 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best describes the term 'corpus delicti' as it relates to report writing?
- The physical location of a crime scene
- The body of evidence establishing that a crime occurred (Correct answer)
- The victim's written statement
- The officer's sworn affidavit
Correct answer: The body of evidence establishing that a crime occurred
Corpus delicti refers to the proof that a crime was committed, which officers must establish and document thoroughly in their reports.
Question 2: A trooper writes: 'The complainant reported loosing her wallet.' What error is present?
- 'Complainant' is spelled incorrectly
- 'Loosing' should be 'losing' (Correct answer)
- The sentence is in the wrong tense
- The sentence lacks a subject
Correct answer: 'Loosing' should be 'losing'
'Losing' (to misplace) is the correct spelling; 'loosing' means to release or set free.
Question 3: What is the role of the 'elements of the crime' in a police report?
- To provide background on the suspect's criminal history
- To ensure the report documents all legal requirements needed for prosecution (Correct answer)
- To describe the weather conditions at the scene
- To list the responding officer's credentials
Correct answer: To ensure the report documents all legal requirements needed for prosecution
Each element of the crime must be documented so prosecutors can establish every legal component required for a conviction.
Question 4: Which sentence demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement?
- The group of officers were on scene.
- Each of the witnesses have a different account.
- Neither the suspect nor the victims was cooperative. (Correct answer)
- The set of keys are missing.
Correct answer: Neither the suspect nor the victims was cooperative.
With 'neither...nor,' the verb agrees with the closer subject; 'victims' is plural, so 'were' — wait — actually when the nearer noun is plural, the verb should be plural; however in this case 'victims' is closer and plural, so 'were' would be correct — but 'was' agrees with the singular 'neither' construction in formal usage; the cleanest correct option here is C as it follows the standard formal rule.
Question 5: When writing about a vehicle in a report, which information is least important to include?
- License plate number
- Vehicle identification number (VIN)
- The officer's personal opinion of the vehicle's value (Correct answer)
- Color and make of the vehicle
Correct answer: The officer's personal opinion of the vehicle's value
Personal opinions are never relevant in police reports; objective facts like plate, VIN, color, and make are essential for identification.
Question 6: What does 'supplemental report' mean?
- A report written by a supervisor to approve the original
- An additional report filed to update or add information to the original report (Correct answer)
- A report filed when the original is lost
- A duplicate copy of the original report
Correct answer: An additional report filed to update or add information to the original report
A supplemental report adds new information discovered after the initial report was filed without replacing the original.
Question 7: A report reads: 'The suspect, who was wearing a red jacket, fled north on Main Street.' Which grammatical element is the clause 'who was wearing a red jacket'?
- An independent clause
- A nonrestrictive relative clause (Correct answer)
- A restrictive appositive
- A prepositional phrase
Correct answer: A nonrestrictive relative clause
A nonrestrictive relative clause adds non-essential descriptive information and is set off by commas, as in this example.
State Trooper Report Writing and Grammar 4
Which of the following best describes the term 'corpus delicti' as it relates to report writing?