PNP Police Blotter

What is a police blotter?

       The PNP Police Blotter is the official logbook of the PNP. It is covered blue with hardbound cover. It contains the daily register of all crime incident reports, official summary of arrests and other significant events/activities reported in the police station. The records in the police blotter need not be detailed, it only needs to be concise. Basically, it only requires to answer the basic questions of the 5W’s and H.

 

Blotter Procedure

        The duty Desk Officer is the person in-charge of the Blotter book. He is the personnel responsible in the entry of official summaries of arrest and significant events in the station/unit.

          However, there are also citizens/civilians who would want to report crimes and incidents which they are involved in or which they themselves had witnessed. In theses cases, the citizen may report the said incident to the duty Desk Officer.

        If the incident to be recorded are important event or incident but does not involve a crime, the Desk Officer would then cause the recording of the said incident in the blotter book.

         If the incident falls under the jurisdiction of the Katarungang Pambarangay, it shall be recorded in the blotter book but the same would be referred to the Barangay for possible settlement through mediation, conciliation or arbitration. It will be noted in the disposition portion of the blotter book that the said case was referred to the Barangay.

        If the incident to be reported is a crime but which is beyond the jurisdiction of the Katarungang Pambarangay, the duty Desk Officer will then refer the case to the duty Investigator. The latter will then evaluate the said report and accomplish the Incident Record Form (IRF) using the Crime Information Reporting Analysis (CIRAS), otherwise known as e-blotter. The duty Desk Officer will then transcribe the IRF in the blotter book

 

Can the Police Blotte be used as evidence?

             The recorded incidents in the blotter book are mere records of incidents. These are generally based on the statement and personal knowledge of the reporting person.

             According to the Supreme Court in the case of People vs Corpuz, G.R. No. 215320, February 28, 2018, “Entries in the police blotter are not evidence of the truth thereof but merely of the fact that the entries were made. Affidavits executed before the police or entries in such police blotters cannot prevail over the positive testimony given in open court. The entry in the police blotter is not necessarily entitled to full credit for it could be incomplete and inaccurate, sometimes from either partial suggestions or for want of suggestions or inquiries. Without the aid of such the witness may be unable to recall the connected collateral circumstances necessary for the correction of the first suggestion of his memory and for his accurate recollection of all that pertain to the subject. It is understandable that the testimony during the trial would be more lengthy and detailed than the matters stated in the police blotter.”

             Entries in a police blotter can prove the existence of such report but such reports are merely prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein but they are not conclusive.

 

Source: Revised Philippine National Police Operational Procedures (September 2021)