In our latest best practices whitepaper, we focus on graphics in support of criminal justice (CJ) organizations. But accidents, crime and safety are concerns in any organization—not just for CJ professionals. The goal, of course, is greater safety and better emergency plans and procedures both within organizations and for clients, customers and constituents.

Naturally, crime and accident scene sketches are vital tools for recording, reporting, analyzing and reconstructing crimes and accidents. This includes computer theft and information crimes—an increasing concern in every size and type of organization. And these diagrams often become the basis for presenting evidence for insurance claims and in the courts.

Safety and prevention are the ultimate goals, though. And, because organizations are dependent on people at every level, clear, concise and complete communications make it easier to establish quality performance and to improve outcomes. Effective visuals and graphics are the high impact way to improve communications.

The ability for ordinary computer users—at all levels of an organization—to directly create the necessary graphics that support improved communications presents an opportunity to raise the bar across the board. But all visuals are not created equal, and there are techniques to help make your visuals more engaging and memorable.

For best practices on documenting crime, accident, safety and evidence graphics, read the whitepaper and download our free templates.

As always, with SmartDraw, anyone in the office or department can create professional quality diagrams without the expertise and expense of a graphics artist. And having diagrams that can be created and modified by anyone using standard PC software makes it easy and cost-effective to keep documents up to date.

As part of our ongoing series on graphics in business, we've prepared a free white paper and free templates and examples on using business and criminal justice graphics to document accidents, crimes, safety plans and the associated business process in support of investigations and security.

Download FREE best practice templates for criminal justice here