Writing-It's not just for English majors anymore!

"Waltemeyer's written reports...were no better than district quality when he first came to homicide-a typical problem for men who spent more time on the street than at the typewriter, but in homicide the reports genuinely mattered, and what fascinated McLarney was that after mentioning the value of coherent paperwork to Waltemeyer, the detective set out on a sucessful, systematic campaign to improve his writing ability. That was when McLarney first realized that Waltemeyer was going to be one hell of a detective." ( p.376)

This passage reminds me of a story one of my colleagues in the Criminal Justice department at BSC told. She said she just loved it when she worked as a district attorney and a poorly written police report was submitted. She just knew she would be able to blow it full of holes and win the case for her client. Everyone should learn to write well. It always matters, not just in homicide.