Circular Number 05 issued by the General

Headquarters, PNP, dated December 10, 1992,

is the rule “Prescribing a Uniform Police
Blotter for the Philippine National Police.”
Police Blotter – is a record of daily events
occurring within the territories and
jurisdictions of a given police unit or command.
Form and Size – the police blotter shall be a
record book bound with hard cover and shall
be 12 inches by 16 inches in size.
 The entry in the police blotter should
answer the 5 Ws and 1 H and should contain the
disposition of the case.
All details about the event including: the
name/s of the suspect/s; name/s of the
victim/s; 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-
on-case and the status of the case.
The following events or transactions are entered
in the police blotter:
1. Violation of laws and ordinances reported and
recorded;
2. All calls in which any member of the PNP is
dispatched or takes official action;
3. All fire alarms, reports and information
received by the station;
4. Cases of missing and found persons, animals
and property.
5. Vehicular and other types of accidents which
require police actions.
6. All personal injuries, bodies found, and
suicides;
7. Damage to property;
8. All cases in which a police member is involved;
9. All arrests and returns made; and
10. Miscellaneous cases, general and special
orders, violation of rules and regulations, and
any other reportable incidents that the sub
station, station commander, or higher authority
desires to be recorded.
 Procedures for Making Entries
1. All entries shall be handwritten in a clear,
concise and simple manner but must answer
as far as practicable the 5Ws and 1H. Clarity
should not be sacrificed for brevity.
2. Only facts, not opinion, are entered in the
blotter.
3. No erasures shall be made on the entries.
Corrections are made by drawing a horizontal
line over such words or phrases and the actual
entry initialed by the police officer making the
correction.
4. A ball pen 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 is
punishable criminally and administratively.
6. All entries must be legibly written in longhand
and consecutively numbered.
7. Every page of the blotter shall be
consecutively or chronologically filled in. No
line or space shall be left blank between any
two 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,
shall be made.
9. During every shift, the duty sergeant, under
the supervision of the duty officer or
complaint desk officer, shall make the actual
entries on the blotter and at the end of their
tour of duty, both the duty sergeant and duty
complaint desk officer shall sign the blotter.
 Procedures for Recording Incident Report
in the Police Blotter
1. The Crime Incident Report recorded in the
IRF, after the transaction with the reporting
person has concluded, shall be transcribed
and entered into the Police Blotter by the
Desk Officer of the police station.
For those police stations equipped with the
Crime Incident Reporting System, popularly
known as the e-Blotter, the designated Crime
Registrar will likewise enter the record into the
System.
2. Blotter entry reports serve as a permanent
record of incidents, events, problems, and so forth.
There are many types of reports, each of which
serves different functions.
A police blotter is used to keep people informed
of activities within the police jurisdiction.
It is also used to compile statistical information,
identify problems in the community, or identify
police training needs.
These reports are needed to facilitate
investigations, prepare court cases, or defend
case in court.
3. The narrative written in the IRF shall basically
be the record that shall be transcribed in the
Police Blotter.
 While it is in narrative form, it is prudent,
however, to list down some necessary
information in the Police Blotter in itemized or
outline form.
 These shall answer the necessary
requirements of the five W’s and one H.
4. The following questions should be answered
as a guide to writing the report:
a. Who was involved?
b. When did it take place?
c. Where did it take place?
d. What happened?
e. Why did it happen?
f. How did it happen?
5. As soon as the incident is transcribed in the
Police Blotter, the Desk Officer and the
Reporting Person shall sign in the Police Blotter.
 It should be indicated under the name and
signature of the Reporting Person, his address,
home telephone number, mobile phone
number, and identification card presented.
 In the event that the Reporting Person
indicates that he does not want his contact
details to be recorded in a public record as the
Police Blotter, by reason of privacy, the same
should not be recorded, as a matter of respect
to the said person’s rights, but it should,
however, be indicated in the IRF.
6. Any violation of this SOP shall be dealt with
administratively as may be warranted by
evidence.
 All Unit Commanders shall be included in the
investigation under the principle of command
responsibility.
 If evidence further warrants, criminal
complaints shall also be filed against those
who may have committed acts or omissions
contrary to the Revised Penal Code or any
special penal statuses.
Police Blotter Procedure Flowchart
 Supply Accountability of Police Blotter
1. A police blotter should be maintained by a police
station.
2. All PNP operating Units or Divisions in the
Metropolitan Police District, together with the
stations and substations, should maintain a
separate blotter.
3. The General Headquarters, Philippine National
Police, should supply police blotters to each PNP
command reflecting the same as accountable
items on their property books.
4. It is the responsibility of the PNP Unit
commander to properly maintain, use, safe keep
and account the police blotter.
5. Police forces shall continue to use the present
blotter, provided the forms and rules should be
followed.
Sample Format of a Police Blotter Page
ENTRY DATE TIME EVENTS/INCIDENTS DISPOSITION
NO.
0001 Nov 0600H 5 W’s and 1 H The action
28, taken by the
2010 police officers
Additional Guidelines and Procedures
 As mandated in Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) Number 2012-001 dated
March 26, 2012, PNP adopts a uniform and
standard procedure on how to enter data in
the Police Blotter so that the service offered
by the police to record complaints in the
Police Blotter shall be done in the most
efficient, fast, and accurate means.
 The following guidelines and procedures shall
be observed in entertaining complaints and
recording data of the same in the Police
Blotter:
A. Incident Reporting and Filling Out of Incident
Record Form (IRF)
1. An entry of record in the Police Blotter shall not
be done directly to the Police Blotter book.
 The facts and information of a blotter entry
shall at first be recorded in the Incident Record
Form or IRF.
 Once it is signed and acknowledged by the
Desk Officer and the Chief of Police, or his
representative, the data that were provided by
the complainant or client in the IRF shall be
entered and recorded in the Police Blotter Book.
2. As soon as a client or complainant enters the
police station, and is ascertained that his
purpose is to file a complaint or to request data
in the police blotter, the Duty Officer of the
Quality Service Lane (QSL) must:
۞Accord the client with the due respect and
politely ask him/her the nature of his/her
transaction.
۞The Incident Record Form (IRF) shall be made
available for the client to fill out.
3. The QSL Duty Officer shall, at all times,
 Guide and assist the client in filling out the form.
 In the event that the client is illiterate or
incapacitated to fill out the IRF, the QSL Duty
Officer shall do the same for him/her.
 The Chief of Police in the station shall make
available space in the police station where the
process is done, in the privacy outside the
scrutiny of kibitzers.
4. Whenever the subject of the complaint involves
confidentiality, as in cases involving protection of
women and children, the QSL Duty Officer shall:
 Escort the client to the female Duty Investigator of
the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD)
where the filling out of the IRF shall be done.
 While the IRF should be filled out by the
complainant, the female police officer of WCPD
may assist the complainant in doing so, with the
latter providing the facts and details of the case.
5. The first item to be filled out in the IRF is the
general information about the Reporting Person.
҉ It contains the name, address, occupation
and other analogous information about the
Reporting Person, whether he is the victim of
the crime or not.
҉ It is important that this general information
be taken.
҉ The object of this is:
 to prevent an attempt of a client to
mislead the police to record an event or
crime that did not occur;
  motivated by a client’s desire to later get an
extract of the Police Blotter for the purposes of an
insurance claim, for example; or
 to tarnish the personal record of another
person by imputing the commission of crime by
such person.
҉ The client’s home and work addresses shall be
included in the event that a formal inquiry or
investigation is subsequently ordered by the Chief
of Police.
6. The next item in the IRF is the data of the
suspect.
 There are two (2) boxes in this item which
should be indicated with a tick mark before
answering the data under suspect:
 The first is whether there is no suspect
or no crime was committed.
 This is applicable for blotter entries
where a client wants to put on official
record, the loss of his Driver’s License, or
Company Identification Card.
  Once this is checked, proceed to the next
item, which is the data of the victim.
 The second box, however, should be indicated
if there are suspects in the incident.
 The data of the first suspect will be
recorded on the IRF and those of the second
and subsequent suspects on a separate
sheet of paper which will then form an
integral part of the IRF.
7. The data in all items on the IR should be as
specific and complete as possible.
 The information indicated and brought forth
in this item will be a very vital tool of the
investigator-on-case (IOC), which could mean
the solution of the crime.
 The client and/or the QSL Duty Officer is
given the opportunity to indicate, as
completely as possible, any information and
distinguishing features of the suspects in the
space provided thereon.
8. The third item on the IRF is the general
information about the victim.
 It contains the name, address, occupation,
and other analogous information about the
victim.
 It is important that this general
information be recorded.
 the object of this is for the investigator to
easily locate the victim/complainant during
court trials if the case is filed in court.
9. On the second page of the blotter form, the
facts of the incidents should be narrated by the
complainants.
 It contains a narrative of what happened,
answering the five W’s (Who, What, When,
Where, Why) and the one H (How) of an
information report.
10. It is necessary and mandatory requirement
that at the end of the narration of every
incident, the Duty Officer who recorded the
incident shall place his/her signature and of the
complainant certifying the correctness of the
narration.
 Likewise, the last line of the paper should
indicate that nothing follows.
11. After the form is authenticated, an Incident
Record Transaction Receipt, cut from the lower
end of the IRF, is given to the complainant who
confirms that the reporting person had
completed a transaction with the police office
concerned and reported an incident.
12. For purposes of standardization, all stations
should only maintain an official Police Blotter
and an Official Police Blotter IRF.
۞ As such, it is discouraged, and is
henceforth unauthorized, that logbook,
notebook, or any materials be used.
13. Thereafter, it is the duty of the police officer
who is in charge of the Police Blotter to lodge
the complaint to the proper investigator who
will handle the case.
 The investigator should interview the
complainant on the nature of his complaint
and ensure that all entries therein are
complete to prevent duplication and relieve
the complainant from repeating his narration.
14. Check the necessary documents in support
of the complaint, if needed.
 If there are documents submitted, the
same shall be attached and will form part of
the IRF.
15. Make sure that all information gathered are
truthful and exact in its documentation.
16. In the event that the complainant desires to
amend or make supplemental of his complaint,
the investigator shall inform the officer-in-
charge of the blotter to make the necessary
corrections and state therein that it amends or
supplements the previous report and shall place
the signature both of the complainant and the
officer-in-charge of the blotter.
Common Errors in Writing Police
Blotter/Reminders:
 Proper Nouns start with capital letters (names
of persons, places, etc.)
 Disposition should be related with the blotter
entry (disposition: filed charges against the
suspect; victim brought to hospital – blotter
entry: the incident has just been reported.
 The victim has debt (how do you know this as
just a witness?)
 Specify names of places (store, office, etc.)
 Double check your work; avoid misspelling
(Brookes Poin; Palalawan; happended; againts;
pulis; cut (to mean cat); Flaridel, etc.
 make the incidents realistic; the one going to
the station is the person directly involved in the
incident (unless he’s dead or hospitalized) Ex:
rape, physical injuries, direct assault, acts of
lasciviousness, robbery, etc.)
 Avoid writing please be informed, request be
informed..
 Don’t forget to write the name of the one who
reported the incident.
 You may not write that the witness went to the
station. It’s also possible that he just
called/telephoned Ex. One Pedro Astig y Lambot
(or a concerned citizen/ A citizen who refused to
give his name) called (or telephoned) this station
because he saw an unknown man entering the
room of his board mate…
 In case that the suspect was captured, it could be
that:
1. The suspect was brought to the PNP by the
reporter
2. The reporter reports for the turn over of the
suspect.
 Use pronoun to avoid redundancy.
 Don’t mention the motive if you have
insufficient evidence.
 in collision, no victim, no suspect.
How can you say it’s collision if you have not
seen the other vehicle.
The suspect may be unidentified but the
vehicle involved may be described.
 Witness for a rape case?
 Avoid using the first person pronoun (I, me,
we, us, our, ours)
 be direct; don’t be redundant; you may no
longer write the offense (see example)
 The incident transpired in Aborlan but the
involved persons are in Narra. (the was
walking in the street in Narra)
 According to the reporter, the suspect suffers
from financial crisis… (how did you know? Did
the suspect talk to you?)
 OOA 10:00 PM in the morning…
 10:00 PM in the evening….
 One (1) Juan dela Cruz, 27 years old, single, a
resident of Bgy San Juan, this municipality
came and reported to this station that on or
about (OOA) 8:30 in the morning, this date, at
the aforementioned place, one (1) Pedro
Penduko y Calvo was stabbed twice by one (1)
Joel Bernal y Guapo on his chest. Motive old
grudge.
What happened?what was the offense
committed?
One (1) Juan dela Cruz, 27 years old, single, a
resident of Bgy San Pedro, Puerto Princesa City
came and reported to this station that this
afternoon, at more or less 6:30 PM, when he
was about to go home from the office and while
he is waiting for multicab, he was suddenly
attacked/punched by an unknown/unidentified
man at the corner of Rizal Avenue and H.
Mendoza St. The suspect immediately got away
before he was able to find out who he is.
What was the incident all about?
Who reported to the police?
One (1) Juan dela Cruz, 27 years old, single, a
resident of Bgy Sandoval, this municipality came
and reported to this station that OOA 1:00 in the
afternoon, a collision took place along the
National Highway at Bgy Sandoval, Narra,
Palawan involving One (1) black Honda Wave
125 motorcycle with plate # YZ 6415 and one (1)
Kawasaki Fury……
You may also write owned and driven by….if the
witness knows the driver/owner personally.