POLICE BLOTTER

Technical English 1
Prof. Jerome A. Billarina, Ph.D.
Police Blotter
▪ is a record of daily events occurring within the
territories/jurisdiction of a given police unit or
command. It contains material detail concerning
the event for legal and statistical purposes. The
Police Blotter is therefore an informational record
book that is utilized for evidentiary or referral
purposes (Circular No.5, GHQ PNP dated 10 Dec
1992).
Police Blotter
▪ Is a logbook that contains the daily registry of all
crime incident reports, official summaries of arrest,
and other significant events reported in a police
station (PNP Police Operational Procedure 2013).
CONTENTS OF ENTRY
The entry in the police blotter should
answer the following cardinal
elements of a police record, to wit:
who, what, why, where, when, how
and disposition of the case.
In answering the above 5Ws and 1H and the case
disposition, all such material details about the event,
including: the names of the suspect/s; the victim/s; the
eyewitness/es, if any; the nature of the action or offense;
the possible motive/s; the place; the date and time of
occurrence; significant circumstances that aggravate or
mitigate the event or the crime should be entered along
with the identity of the officer to whom the case is
assigned- officer-on-cases; and the status of the case.
INCIDENTS TO BE RECORDED:
1. All violations of laws and ordinances reported and
discovered;
2. All calls in which any member of the police force is
dispatched or has taken an official action;
3. All legal papers handled such as warrants,
subpoenas, summonses, citations, and the like;
INCIDENTS TO BE RECORDED:
4. All fire alarms, reports and information
received by the stations;
5. Movement of prisoners with
corresponding notations on the authority
for such movements;
6. Cases of missing and found persons,
animals and properties;
7. Vehicular and other types of accidents
which require police actions;
INCIDENTS TO BE RECORDED:
8. All personal injuries, bodies found, and suicides;
9. Damage to property;
10. All cases in which a police member is involved;
11. All arrests and returns made; and
12. Miscellaneous cases, general and special orders,
violations of rules and regulations and any other
reportable incident that the Chief of Police desires to be
recorded.
PROCEDURE IN MAKING ENTRIES
1. All entries in the police blotter shall
be handwritten in a clear, concise
and simple manner but answering
as far as practicable the 5Ws and
1H. Clarity should not be sacrificed
for brevity.
2. Only facts, not opinions, are
entered in the blotter.
PROCEDURE IN MAKING ENTRIES
3. No erasures shall be made on the entries. Corrections
are made by drawing one horizontal line over such word
or phrases and the actual entry initiated by the police
officer making the correction.
4. A ballpen or pen with blue, black or blue black ink is
used for making the entries.
5. Misrepresentations in the blotter or any attempt to
suppress any information therein are punishable
criminally and administratively.
PROCEDURE IN MAKING ENTRIES
6. The entries must be legibly written in
long hand and consecutively
numbered.
7. Every page of the blotter shall be
consecutively or chronologically filled-
up. No line of space shall be left blank
between any two entries.
PROCEDURE IN MAKING ENTRIES
8. Any development of a case to be reflected in the blotter
should be a new entry at the time and day it was reported.
A reference to the previous entry number of the case,
however, should be made.
9. In every shift, the Duty Sergeant, under the supervision of
the Duty Officer or Complaint Desk Officer, shall make the
actual entries in the blotter and at the end of his tour of
duty, both the Duty Sergeant and Duty Complaint Desk
Officer shall sign the blotter.
Appendix A-Police Blotter
Entry Date Time Incidents/Events Disposition
No.
2013- 3 May 8:10 Robbery This case was filed
45 2013 AM Juanita De Guzman, 34 years old, married of No. 345 in court with CC
Abella Street, Brgy. Abella, Naga City, reported to this No. 2013-0056,
Police Office that on or about 2:00AM of May 2, 2013, she Branch 15, RTC,
was awaken with a noise from their kitchen and when she Naga City.
checked it, she saw the person of Aldrin Dimayuga, of minor
age, also a resident of their barangay, trying to escape in an
open outlet in the comfort room with her laptop and when she
shouted for help, subject person assaulted her with a bladed
weapon but fortunately her father was awaken also and
successfully subdued the suspect.
Officer-on-case: SPO1 Jose C. Manzanero
Appendix A-Police Blotter
Entry Date Time Incidents/Events Disposition
No.
2015- 6-10- 8:10 Shooting Incident For referral to the
069 2015 AM At the stated date and time, an alleged shooting incident Investigation
transpired along National Highway, Brgy. Bucal, Calamba Section.
City, Laguna. Upon receipt of information, the operatives of
this office responded immediately to the crime scene. The victim
was identified as Romeo S. Tigasin, 38 years old, married,
carpenter, and a resident of Brgy. Halang, of this city. The
suspect left immediately after the commission of the crime
heading toward unknown direction. The victim was brought to
the nearest hospital at JP Rizal Memorial Hospital for
medication.
Officer-on-case: SPO1 Jose C. Manzanero
CERTIFICATION OF POLICE BLOTTER EXCERPT:

For whatever legal purpose, interested

persons always seek a copy of a police
blotter. Since the entry in the police is
difficult to be machine-copied due to its
size (bigger than the ordinary document),
a certification of its contents is the only
way to have it. In copying the contents of
a blotter entry, it should be copied
verbatimly, meaning, it should be copied
word for word and not correction in the
grammar or in any mistake should be
made in the entry.
CERTIFICATION OF POLICE BLOTTER EXERPT:

Obvious mistakes in the entry should

be consulted to the Desk Officer who
made the entry and he is the only
person authorized to correct it based
on the procedures previously
discussed.
 Appendix B-Certification of Police Blotter Excerpt
Republic of the Philippines
NATIONAL POLICE COMMISSION
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE
NAGA CITY POLICE OFFICE
City of Naga

CERTIFICATION

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the following is an excerpt from the Police Blotter of this Police Unit dated May 3, 2013, to wit:
=============================================================================================
2013-45, 03 May 13, 8:10AM

Robbery
Juanito De Guzman, 34 years old, married of No. 345 Abella Street, Brgy. Abella, Naga City, reported to this Police Office that at
or about 2:00AM of May 2, 2013, she was awaken with a noise from their kitchen and when she checked it, she saw the person of
Aldrin Dimayuga, of minor age, also a resident of their barangay, trying to escape in an open outlet in the comfort room with her
laptop and when she shouted for help, subject person assaulted her with a bladed weapon but fortunately her father was
awaken also and successfully subdued the suspect.

Officer-on-case: SPO1 Jose C. Manzanero

Disposition: This case was filed in court with CC No. 2013-0056, Branch 15, RTC, Naga City.
=============================================================================================

Given this 8th day of May 2013 at Naga City, Philippines.

DANILO S MAGBANUA
Police Superintendent
Chief, Admin Section
TASK:
1. Until April 8, write at least 5 Police
Blotters with different nature of
incidents/offenses. Focus on your
respective barangays or municipalities.
2. Select 3 from the Police Blotters that
you have written, and make a
Certification for each. Print it out and
attach it to the pages of your Report
Book. Formality must be preserved.
3. Students living in the same location
may have common incidents but can
not have the same outputs.