Recent Book: Espionage: School for Spies
| Date | 01 September 1961 |
| Published date | 01 September 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6103400518 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
WRITING REPORTS
ALLEN
Z.
GAMMAGE:
Basic Police Report Writing. BlackwellScientific Publica-
tion.80s.
THE
FORMAT
AND
standards of police report writing in this country are invariably
set at force level,and local customs, traditions and idiosyncrasies have combined
to produce a factor which militates against the teaching of report writing, other
than in the simplest forms, at the Regional Training Schools. Most police
officerswill, I feelsure, agree that report writing should be improvedwithin their
respectiveforces, and some willadmit that the writer of a good report commends
himself to his superiors in a manner hard to equal by any other means. Good
report writing may, in itself, be a medium through which to rise successfully
in the service, and whether sufficient attention is paid to it in the training field
is a matter for some conjecture.
The author of this book is Supervisor of Law Enforcement Training at the
Sacramento State College, California, who, while making no claims that his
manual is a panacea states his conviction that thorough study and application
of the principles and procedures presented will cause the reader to become a
better report writer.
The book, which is excellently presented, is divided into three parts: Intro-
duction; Mechanics of Report Writing; and Reporting Police Operations.
The introduction is designedto acquaint the reader with the purposes, values and
principles involved in the preparation of reports. It is an effort to convey to the
practical police officer the idea that in submitting better reports he not only is
doing a professional task for his department, but is contributing to his own pro-
fessional growth. The second part is a guide to improved diction, spelling, the
use of capitals, abbreviations, sentence structure, punctuation and paragraphing,
because it is on account of inability in these mechanical aspects that the average
police report often falls short of the ideal. The third part deals with Form
preparation, and it is this part which I found of least use to the British reader.
The forms utilized are the result of study of many in current use in America,
and bearing in mind that the reporting and recording of crime, lost and found
property, aliens and accidents is almost, if not completely, standardized in this
country, it is more in the field of narrative presentations that our weaknesses
lie than in a need for variations of the pro forma report. I was impressed,
however, bythe firstchapter inthis part which dealswith the useof the note-book
during interrogations. The observations contained in these pages are sound and
useful to every practical police officer, although they scarcely fall under the
heading of basic report writing.
This is a useful book for police officers,and I can recommend its purchase,
if only for the common sense advice contained in the first and second parts.
J. D.
DAGG
ESPIONAGE
J.
BERNARD
Htrrrox: School for Spies. Neville Spearman. 16s.
MR. Htrrrox, a former member of the Central Committee of the Czech Com-
munist Party, was for four years under training in Moscow before turning away
from Communism to become a journalist and a diplomat in the Western camp.
In School for Spies he givesa lively and often detailed account of the astonishing
lengths to which the Russians go in training people for espionage on this side
of the Iron Curtain. Mr. Hutton appears to be extremely well informed on the
subject of Soviet spy schools and training techniques; what he has to say is
of absorbing interest to
anyone-and
who is not?--i:oncerned over the state
of Western counter-espionage today.
Mr. Hutton says that Russia has the largest espionage system in the world.
He describes the selection of agents and their training, tracing the latter stage
by stage. He goes on to study Russian agents at work in the field, and relates
several remarkable exploits. He stresses the world-wide nature of the Soviet
network, remarking sombrely
that"
most of the key people in Soviet Embassies
and Consulates are active spies." His description of the techniques by which
Soviet agents infiltrate Western society and gain control over their informants
is of special interest.
378 September-October
To continue reading
Request your trial