ABSTRACT
When compiling and writing an incident report, it is important to remain unbiased in the terminology used to describe the incident. Because history dictates our predisposed opinion to believe that all water-related incidents are an accidental drowning, it would be easy to make the mistake of titling the incident report as such. It is much more e¬cient to use terminology such as water-related incident, death of undetermined origin, or deathunknown cause. If the death is later ruled an accidental drowning, a supplemental form can be added to the report listing the incident as an accidental drowning. Defense attorneys can make a witness appear inadequate and confused on the witness stand by playing on these words. For instance, an attorney might ask of a witness, “Why was the incident investigated at all if the initial report ruled it an accidental drowning?” “Why has my client been charged with a crime if the initial responding o¬cer declared the incident to be an accident?” e use of unbiased terminology in the beginning will eliminate this confusion.
