I. PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for employees of the Hawaii Police Department in the use and format of memorandums as an official form of written communication within the department.

II. PROCEDURE

A. Memorandums emanating from the office of the Police Chief shall be written on 8-1/2" by 11" department letterhead paper.

B. Memorandums originating within or between organic units shall be written on 8-1/2" by 11" white bond paper.

C. All memorandums shall be submitted as original with one copy. The member submitting the memorandum is required to keep one copy for record purposes.

III. FORMAT

Memorandums are a form of written communications originating within or between organic units of the Hawaii Police Department. All official written communications

(1 inch from top of page)

Date

(6 spaces)

TO : (Name and rank of addressee)

(2 spaces)

VIA : (Name and rank of supervisor if applicable; if more than one supervisor is to review the memorandum, the term "PROPER CHANNELS" shall be used in lieu of any/all supervisors; it shall then become the responsibility of the reader to forward the memo to the next person in the chain of command; if the memo is to be directed to others outside normal channels, it shall be so stated in the body of the memo)

(2 spaces)

FROM : (signature)

(2 spaces)

SUBJECT :

(4 spaces)

Memorandum body in block format, i.e., paragraphs are not indented

IV. MEMORANDUM BODY

The body of the memorandum shall contain a brief summation of the reason the particular correspondence is being written.

It shall be written in block format with double spaces between paragraphs.

In the even more than one page is needed, the second and subsequent pages shall begin with the following format:

1. Six (6) line spaces from the top edge of page

2. SUBJECT on first line (left edge)

3. PAGE NO. on second line (left edge)

4. Four line spaces, then continue memorandum.

The conventional business letter complimentary closes, such as "Yours truly" or "Sincerely yours," shall NOT be used.

V. SIGNING MEMORANDUMS

All memorandums shall be signed by the author, directly above his/her name as it appears in the header of the memorandum.

Supervisors reviewing the memorandum shall indicate that they have reviewed the memorandum by placing their initials and date of review on the lower left corner of the last page.

WAYNE G. CARVALHO
CHIEF OF POLICE

(Amended: 09-21-98) 

(6 spaces)

(4 spaces)

Memorandum body in block format

(initial and date of supervisors reviewing memorandum)