Use Word's AI to Polish and Format Report Drafts

What This Does

Word's built-in AI can rewrite your report draft into active voice, fix passive constructions, and apply consistent professional formatting — catching the common writing issues that supervisors flag before you submit.

Before You Start

• Microsoft Word is open (desktop app; Copilot requires Microsoft 365)
• Your department allows drafting reports in Word before pasting to the RMS
• You have a rough draft of your incident report typed out

Steps

1. Open your draft in Word

Type or paste your rough report narrative into a Word document. Don't worry about grammar or word choice — just get the facts down first.

2. Select the text you want to improve

Highlight the paragraph or section you want Word to rewrite. Start with your narrative section (not headers or form fields).

3. Access the Rewrite feature

Right-click the selected text and choose Copilot → Rewrite, OR click the Copilot icon in the Home ribbon → select Rewrite. In older M365 versions, look for the Editor pane on the right sidebar.

4. Review suggestions

Word will show you a rewritten version alongside your original. Look at the changes: passive voice → active, vague language → specific, run-on sentences → clean separated statements.

5. Accept or reject changes

Click Accept to use the AI's version, Regenerate for a different attempt, or manually edit to blend both versions. Then copy the polished version into your RMS.

Real Example

Scenario: You wrote your DUI arrest narrative at the end of a 12-hour shift. It's accurate but clunky — lots of "was observed by this officer" and run-on sentences.

What you type (before): "The subject was observed by this officer to be swerving and upon stopping the vehicle the odor of alcohol was detected and the subject failed the walk and turn test and was placed under arrest."

What you get (after Copilot rewrites): "This officer observed the subject's vehicle swerving between lanes on Oak Street. Upon stopping the vehicle, this officer detected a strong odor of alcohol emanating from the driver's breath. The subject failed the walk-and-turn field sobriety test and was placed under arrest for DUI."

Tips

• Word Copilot improves clarity but doesn't know your facts — always verify the rewritten version still matches your notes exactly
• Use the Rewrite feature once per paragraph rather than on the entire document at once for better results
• If your department uses a specific report format template, paste Copilot's output back into that template rather than submitting the Word file

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.