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The Literacy Practices of Law Enforcement Leslie Eames Seawright University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

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The Literacy Practices of Law Enforcement Leslie Eames Seawright University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2012 The Literacy Practices of Law Enforcement Leslie Eames Seawright University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, and the Legal Writing and Research Commons Recommended Citation Seawright, Leslie Eames, "The Literacy Practices of Law Enforcement" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 295. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/295 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THE LITERACY PRACTICES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT THE LITERACY PRACTICES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By Leslie Seawright University of Oklahoma Bachelor of Arts in Communication, 1999 University of Arkansas Master of Arts in English, 2008 May 2012 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates police report writing at the Jackson Police Department in Northwest Arkansas. It presents three primary research questions which are addressed through qualitative methods of interview, observation, and discourse analysis. 1) In what ways does police training address report writing? 2) What audience awareness do police officers have when writing reports? 3) How do actual report audience members read and evaluate reports? The police academy in this study fails to spend the necessary time discussing report writing. This is not rectified by the in-house training program, which pairs officers with Field Training Officers that are often reluctant or unqualified to address report writing. There is little to no discussion of the report genre, its purpose, or its readers. The readers of the report were unsatisfied with the report presented in the study. They complained that important information was left out and that details of the event were unclear. The audience response was completely underestimated by the officer who wrote the report. In his interview, he claimed all the information that he, his supervisor, prosecutor, and other readers would need was included in the report. This assumption was largely misplaced, and his limited audience awareness was demonstrated in this study. The primary finding of this dissertation is that current police training programs and literature fail to address important issues such as genre and audience in regards to report writing. This lack of training may result in officers that are unprepared to meet the literacy needs of judicial system. This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. Dissertation Director: _______________________________________ Dr. David Jolliffe Dissertation Committee: _______________________________________ Dr. Pat Slattery _______________________________________ Dr. Elias Dominguez Barajas _______________________________________ Dr. Danielle Zawodny Wetzel (ex officio) DISSERTATION DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this dissertation when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed __________________________________________ Leslie Seawright Refused __________________________________________ Leslie Seawright ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the aid of the men and women of the Jackson Police Department and the City of Jackson Court System. Their honest and open interview responses were critical to my investigation of police report writing practices. In addition, their hospitality in allowing me access to their department, police cars, computer room, court proceedings, prosecutor office, and jail was greatly appreciated. Special thanks are due to David Jolliffe, my dissertation director and advisor, for his insight, encouragement, and careful reading. Also, special thanks to my dissertation committee and the English Department faculty and staff for their time and dedication in helping further the education and careers of graduate students at the University of Arkansas. DEDICATION For my husband, who inspired and made possible much of the research and writing of this dissertation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction ...........................................................................................................2 Chapter Two The Language of Law: Discourses, Genres, Voices, and Sponsors .........................9 Discourse.................................................................................................................................9 Genre..................................................................................................................................... 14 Voice ..................................................................................................................................... 18 Literacy Sponsors .................................................................................................................. 21 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................... 27 Police Literacy Training, Audience, and Genre: A Literature Review ........................................ 27 Police Report Writing: How-Tos and Grammar Drills ........................................................... 28 Workplace and Technical Writing: A Social Context Landscape ............................................ 33 Audience: Invoked, Addressed, and Socially Situated ............................................................ 37 Genre: Complexities and Malleability .................................................................................... 42 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter Four The Literacies of Police Officers .......................................................................... 50 Defining Literacy .................................................................................................................. 51 Reading Literacy ................................................................................................................... 55 Writing Literacy .................................................................................................................... 57 Technology Literacy .............................................................................................................. 58 Street Literacy ....................................................................................................................... 61 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 65 Chapter Five A Study of Police Literacy Training in Northwest Arkansas ................................. 68 Problems in Police Reports .................................................................................................... 69 Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training ..................................... 73 Police Academy Training ...................................................................................................... 75 In-the-Field Training ............................................................................................................. 80 In-House Department Training .............................................................................................. 83 Current Training Implications ................................................................................................ 86 Chapter Six Study of a Police Report Audience ......................................................................... 90 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 90 The Officer ............................................................................................................................ 94 The Supervisor .................................................................................................................... 105 The Prosecutor..................................................................................................................... 110 The Defense Attorney .......................................................................................................... 118 The Judge ............................................................................................................................ 125 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 132 Chapter Seven Discourse Analysis of a Police Report ............................................................. 136 Social and Rhetorical Contexts ............................................................................................ 139 Genre................................................................................................................................... 144 Intertextuality .....................................................................................................................
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