Incident report: Definition and What It Means for Your Property

When an incident report is written

Anything that could lead to a claim, a complaint, a criminal case or a change in post orders gets its own report. That includes injuries, vehicle damage, break-ins and attempted break-ins, vandalism, fights and threats, trespass warnings issued, fire alarms and fire watch findings, medical calls, lost children, water leaks found on a round, and any contact with police, fire or EMS. The threshold is low on purpose. A report that turns out to be unnecessary costs ten minutes. A missing report costs an argument months later.

What ours contain

Our officers are trained in incident reporting as part of their basic training, and the report follows a fixed order so nothing is left out. The header records the property, the post, the date and time of the event and the time the report was written. The narrative records what the officer saw and heard, in sequence, in plain words, without opinion about who was at fault. People are identified by name where known and by description where not. Witnesses are listed with contact details. Actions taken are listed with times: when police were called, when the manager was texted, when the area was secured. Attachments are noted: photographs, the camera and time stamp that captured the event, a copy of a trespass notice.

The report is signed by the officer, reviewed by a supervisor and sent to the client the same day, with a line in the daily activity report pointing to it.

Why the format matters

An insurance adjuster, a police officer and an attorney all read incident reports, and they all want the same thing: a factual account written close to the event by someone who was there. Adjectives weaken it. Times, names and photographs strengthen it. The incident report template is the structure we use, and you are welcome to adopt it for your own staff.