police blotter
3
7.4
- noun
- /pəˈlis ˈblɒtər/
- Formal
:
registro policial
- She turned the page to the police blotter.
- check the police blotter
Examples
-
After reviewing the police blotter, she learned about the nearby theft reported last night.
-
Bean Burpee said he next anticipated sending out a police blotter on Oct. 26.
Blog text (15) -
And only one of them ends up on a police blotter.
-
Saw it right there on the police blotter.
-
How many DUIs are in the police blotter every week?
Blog text (25) -
They're statistics on a police blotter.
-
As soon as I do get down there, I'll check the police blotter, if it'll make you feel better.
-
Now All-Day is on the Houston police blotter.
Blog text (10) -
Every day, the local news publishes the latest incidents recorded in the police blotter.
-
The community often checks the police blotter to stay informed about recent arrests.
Synonyms
8
7.4
A daily record kept by a police station listing arrests and incidents
2
5.4
A written list of charges and arrests at a police station
A daily written record of arrests and events at a police station
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'police' (law-enforcement organization) modifies 'blotter' (a daily written log), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes the police department's daily record of incidents and arrests. This is a common modifier+head noun pattern found cross-linguistically, making the meaning transparent to learners familiar with the two words.
Etymology
Police blotter comes from the old desk item called a blotter, a thick paper pad that soaked up ink while officers wrote notes. Because police wrote the day's arrests and events on that blotter, the phrase came to mean the official 'record' of what happened that day.