Which word is correct: advise or tell?

In just a few moments you’ll have a chance to take a short quiz on the difference between advise and tell. (The answers are provided at the bottom of this post.)

First, though, let’s talk about why you should care about the difference.

Many officers mistakenly use “advise” as a synonym for “tell”: Barlow advised me that he’d been at work when the break-in occurred. It’s a longstanding criminal justice habit.

You’re thinking no problem, right? Other officers know you mean “Barlow told me.”

But what happens if you use advise this way when you’re not writing a police report? For example, suppose you’re writing a research paper for college, or an article for a police publication, or a press release for a local newspaper, or a supervisory report. Everyone who reads your work is going to wonder why on earth you don’t know how to use advise correctly.

And here’s another potential problem. Suppose you’re an administrator who orders an officer to correct a behavior that’s causing problems. After you talk to her, you put a document into her file that includes this statement:

I advised Officer Blaine to follow agency guidelines when questioning suspects.

That “advised” could cause trouble for you later if Officer Blaine claims that you only suggested (“advised”) that she change her behavior.

Advise doesn’t mean “tell” (check the dictionary!) “Tell” means “tell,” and “advise” means “to give advice.”

(Can you tell that I just read a college paper full of misused “He advised” and “I advised” sentences? Guess who wrote it: a police officer who’s working toward a college degree. Sigh.)

Here’s a little quiz to make sure you know how to use advise correctly. Change advised to told where necessary. Answers appear below.

1.  I advised Inmate Jones that he was assigned to the morning shift.

2.  I advised Inmate Jones to improve his negative attitude.

3.  I advised Mary Smith to see a doctor about the cuts on her arms.

4.  Smith advised me that her ex-boyfriend was responsible for the cuts.

5.  Chief Simmons advised us that he would be on vacation the first half of July.

6.  Officer Donaldson’s doctor advised him to limit his cholesterol intake.

7.  I already advised the Assistant Warden about the broken alarm in Baker Dorm.

8.  I’m glad I listened to Chief Johnson when he advised me to continue my education right after high school.

9.   The chaplain advised us that there would be a special religious service Sunday evening.

10. I’m glad my guidance counselor in high school advised me to take a keyboarding course.

Here are the answers:

X 1.  I told Inmate Jones that he was assigned to the morning shift.

X 2.  I advised Inmate Jones to improve his negative attitude.  (giving advice)

3.  I advised Mary Smith to see a doctor about the cuts on her arms.  (giving advice)

X 4.  Smith told me that her ex-boyfriend was responsible for the cuts.

 5.  Chief Simmons told us that he would be on vacation the first half of July.

6.  Officer Donaldson’s doctor advised him to limit his cholesterol intake.  (giving advice)

X 7.  I already told the Assistant Warden about the broken alarm in Baker Dorm.

8.  I’m glad I listened to Chief Johnson when he advised me to continue my education right after high school.  (giving advice)

X 9.   The chaplain told us that there would be a special religious service Sunday evening.

10. I’m glad my guidance counselor in high school advised me to take a keyboarding course.  (giving advice)

Effective police reports require effective sentences. The good news is that you don’t need grammar jargon to master professional sentence patterns.

Build your confidence (and learn how to avoid common sentence mistakes) by watching this free 10–minute video. 

Here are two words that every officer should know: subjective (related to an opinion) and objective (factual).

Simply stated, there’s no place for opinions in a criminal-justice report. If you’re new to report writing, this may take some getting used to.

Of course you want to state that the man in the red plaid jacket was behaving suspiciously or seemed inebriated. It’s tempting to write that the kitchen window was probably the point of entry in the break-in. You’ll want to say that the inmate was disrespectful when you confronted him about disrupting the count.

Don’t do it.

Subjective (based on opinion) reports label you as unprofessional. Even worse, they can get you into trouble in court.

A skillful attorney can use vague descriptions (“The suspect was nervous”) to cast doubt on your judgment, trip you up on the witness stand, or convince a judge that you did not have probable cause for getting involved in the first place.

Objective (factual) reports make you look professional, and they’re especially useful in court. After a long time has passed, you may not remember details about what you saw.

If they’re plainly stated in your report, you’ll have no problem testifying. And many officers say that good reports can help keep a case from landing in court. An attorney who sees that you’ve convincingly stated the facts may decide not to challenge what you did.

Start thinking about ways you can describe rather than label a person who is nervous, inebriated, sarcastic, belligerent, aggressive, disrespectful, frightened, or disoriented. For example, instead of writing “Jones was disrespectful,” you could write this:

Jones told me, “If you knew what you were doing, the count would be finished by now.” OBJECTIVE

Practice thinking of objective ways to describe everyday things you see and hear. The extra effort now will pay off throughout your criminal justice career.

I often talk to officers who feel frustrated about their police reports. They’d like to improve their writing skills, but they don’t have time – or they think they don’t have time. Another issue is that they’re not quite sure what steps to take. Sign up for a course? Buy a workbook? Hire a tutor?

Today I’d like to suggest a practical way to get better – in your spare moments. All you need is access to the Internet.

What I’m suggesting is that you read as many police reports as you can – and do it with a critical eye. If you Google “police reports,” you’re likely to find some reports about celebrities who have had encounters with the law. You can also visit www.DeadSpin.com and www.TMZ.com, which often post police reports.

Or – just keep coming back to this website. I often post links to actual reports, along with comments of my own. (There’s a link where you can subscribe – free – on the home page.)

This “read lots of police reports” advice is particularly useful if you’re hoping to climb the career ladder. The higher you go, the more paperwork you’ll be doing – and in the criminal justice field, it will often involve evaluating police reports.

Here’s why this advice is so useful: Your brain is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more improvements you will see. With practice, reading and evaluating reports will become easier, and you’ll be able to identify both the strengths and weaknesses whenever you read a report or – better yet – write one yourself.

Here’s an opportunity for you to sharpen those skills right now. A British newspaper, the Daily Mail, recently found and posted an old police report involving actor Sylvester Stallone. You can read it here:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5081605/Sylvester-Stallone-accused-forcing-teen-threesome.html

Back in 1986, Stallone was in Las Vegas to film Over the Top. A 16-year-old girl saw him at the Las Vegas Hilton and agreed to go upstairs with him. Afterward she told the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police that she had felt pressured her into having sex with him and his bodyguard. She didn’t want to prosecute.

A retired Las Vegas detective has confirmed that the report was true.  Stallone denies the allegations.

I hope you’ll read the report yourself! It is thorough and professional, and the writing is excellent.

I have a few suggestions (and these are the kinds of issues you should be thinking about whenever you read or write a report):

1.  I would have liked to see more details. The generalizations in the sentences below (marked in red) lack objectivity and might be open to a challenge from a defense attorney:

She appeared to be very embarrassed and reluctant to discuss the situation with these officers.

[Name redacted] appears to be a little slow. She has difficulty in relating her thoughts to someone, and she was very emotional.

Specific actions would make a stronger case: “cried,” “hesitated,” “wouldn’t make eye contact with me,” “covered her face with her hands” “tried to talk but couldn’t get the words out.”

2.  Some of the writing could be more concise. Busy officers should strive for efficiency. Repetition and unnecessary words waste time without adding anything useful. Here’s one example:

She indicated to these officers that Mr. Stallone said to her, “If you tell anyone about this, we will beat your head in.”  WORDY

Here’s a more efficient version:

She said Mr. Stallone told her, “If you tell anyone about this, we will beat your head in.”  CONCISE

The revised version has another benefit: it’s more specific (always desirable in criminal justice). “She indicated” could mean that she pointed, wrote, used sign language, tapped out a message in Morse code, or found some other means to communicate.  “Indicated” is too general for a police report. “She said” makes it clear that she spoke to the officers.

What were your thoughts as you read the report?

Bruce Maxwell is a catcher for the Oakland A’s. On October 28, 2017, he was arrested at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona on a felony charge of aggravated assault. He allegedly pointed a firearm at a female food delivery driver. Police in Scottsdale, Ariz., have released 20 pages of reports. You can read about the arrest here.

Today we’re going to look at an excerpt from one paragraph in the report. An officer at the scene questioned Wallace about what happened. If you were the officer’s supervisor, what advice would you give him (or her) about writing future reports? (My answer to that question appears below.)

I informed him police were called to his unit due to him pointing a handgun at a delivery person. I asked him if he had ordered food to be delivered and he stated he did but stated he had “cancelled” the order and was not expecting it to be delivered. I asked him if he had any weapons (specifically guns) and he stated he had a Sig Sauer 9mm subcompact handgun and another A5 caliber handgun inside his apartment. He stated he had a “concealed carry permit” and was allowed to carry his guns. He admitted basing the 9mm handgun holstered on his hip when he came to the door….I asked if he pointed the gun as it was alleged he did and he now became verbally aggressive and stated he should have never been detained. He began making anti-police statements and utilized excessive profanity.

My comments:

This is a thorough and professional report that could, however, be improved. My concern would be inefficiency. There are many unnecessary words – a waste of the officer’s time, and a problem for everyone else who read about the arrest (media reporters, district attorney, defense attorney, etc.)

I would recommend listing the facts in Wallace’s statement, like this:

When I questioned Wallace, he told me the following:

–  he had ordered food to be delivered

–  he had cancelled the order and was not expecting it to be delivered

–  he had a Sig Sauer 9mm subcompact handgun and another A5 caliber handgun inside his apartment

–  he had a concealed carry permit and was allowed to carry his guns.

And so on. Other parts of the report would not be in list format, of course.

Another problem is that the two final sentences lack objectivity (“…he now became verbally aggressive and stated he should have never been detained. He began making anti-police statements and utilized excessive profanity”).

The officer should have written Wallace’s exact words instead of stating an opinion – that Wallace was “verbally aggressive” and using “excessive profanity.” What if Wallace’s attorney argues that Wallace’s language was a normal response to the stress of the situation? If the report stated exactly what Wallace had said, it would be obvious that Wallace was aggressive and out of line.

                  Bruce Maxwell