Keeping a Police Blotter: Things You Hear on the Police Scanner

Keeping a police blotter is very fun and enjoyable. The main purpose of keeping a blotter is being able to document all that you hear in order to go back and look or to show off all that you have heard on your scanner. It is also fun to show other family members or friends all that you have heard. Sometimes, they may have even heard about that event taking place; then, you will be able to tell them that you listened to that on your scanner!

Reasons to Blotter

Like I said above, one reason to keep a blotter is to be able to show off all that you have heard with your friends. Maybe they saw an accident or an event taking place involving the police department. They may come to you after they have seen that event and ask you what as going on. You will be able to tell them what was going down. Almost daily, people either text or call me about some fire or police action they see and I am always able to tell them was has happened.

Another reason to blotter may be to help our your local newspaper. Many newpapers around the world post blotters in a section of the daily paper. You may be able to call into the paper company and help them out with what you have heard on your scanner. I have never done it, but you may be able to.

How To Keep a Blotter

Keeping a blotter proves to be easy. There are many ways to keep a blotter, but the following example is how I keep mine.

Go and get a Composition Book or some notebook where the paper is ruled. The type of paper where there are two colomns on the right and left side along with a large ruled section in the middle. There are many pages in a Composition Book, so you will only need one.

Once you have the notebook, it is now time to start making the actualy blotter. First let's start labeling. On the front of the book, make sure your name and something like 'Police Scanner Blotter' is on the front just in case you lose it. I use a label sticker maker, but sharpies or pens can also be used.

Now open the book up to the first page. Label the inside cover with your name and a label like 'Police Scanner Blotter'. Then on the first page, label the far left colomn on the sheet as Date. Whenever you record something in the blotter, it is important to have a date. Moving to the right, you will see a large middle section. Label this section 'Info' or 'Event Data'. This section is where you will post the main points of the event (see example below if confused). Then on the last far right colomn, label 'City'. When you post an event in your blotter, be sure to input the city in which the event was taking place. After the page's 3 colomns have been labeled, you have the option to draw lines in between all the sections, but this is optional. I just do it to avoid confusion.

Now you have your blotter! Fill up the page with events (sometimes you may use multiple lines for one event), move on to the next page, and repeat the same labeling process as the previous page. Once you have filled the whole book (which will take awhile), buy a new book and repeat the whole process over.

Once again, this is how I blotter. You may choose to use a different method or even create your own may of blottering. But however you do it, have fun and happy blottering! :)

Thanks for reading,

JohnB0127

My website: www.NorthTexasLuxury.com
Twitter: @JIBurg4