9.2 Clear, Concise, Complete, Correct & Courteous Reports

The five quality checks

Delaware's official study guide describes good reports with five C words:

• Clear: plain language, identified people and locations, no ambiguous pronouns.
• Concise: relevant detail without repetition, filler, or commentary.
• Complete: the reader can answer who, what, when, where, why or stated purpose, and how, including actions and disposition.
• Correct: verified names, numbers, spelling, chronology, grammar, facts, and source labels.
• Courteous: professional, neutral wording without ridicule, profanity outside necessary quotations, bias, or editorial attacks.

Concise does not mean short at the expense of a missing force action or notification. Complete does not mean including every rumor. The report contains all relevant facts and excludes noise.

Build the narrative

Start from contemporaneous notes. Identify the assignment and how the guard became involved. Proceed chronologically: initial observation or dispatch; arrival; conditions; people and statements; guard requests and actions; subject response; force or care; notifications; responder arrival; evidence; and final disposition. Use short paragraphs when the subject or phase changes.

Active voice establishes responsibility: “I called 911 at 18:42” is clearer than “911 was called.” Name the actor before relying on a pronoun. Explain a security term that an outside reader may not know. Use past tense consistently for a completed event.

A narrative should support decisions with facts. Compare:

• Conclusion: “The visitor was hostile and I had to remove him.”
• Facts: “The visitor stepped within one foot of Lee, raised both fists, and said, ‘I will hit you.’ I directed him twice to step back…”
• Conclusion: “The door was burglarized.”
• Facts: “The strike plate was bent outward, wood fragments lay inside the room, and the door stood open approximately six inches.”

The factual versions do not require the guard to decide a diagnosis, crime, or ultimate legal issue.

Details that demand verification

Before submitting, compare names and identifiers to reliable records; verify street, building, floor, and room; reconcile times; check plate characters; identify property and serial numbers; quote accurately; and name the source of estimates. Describe injuries without medical diagnosis: location, appearance, complaint, consciousness, breathing, care, and EMS disposition. Include every display or use of force and every known allegation of force.

For detained or restrained people, state the factual basis, time restriction began and ended, location, directions, response, restraint checks, symptoms, aid, police call, and transfer or release. For evidence, identify the item, where it was, who first observed it, changes made for life safety, protection, and transfer.

Independent accounts and review

Each guard writes an independent report from that guard's observations and actions. Coworkers may verify objective identifiers or obtain the same dispatch record, but should not synchronize memories or copy narratives. Similar factual overlap is expected; identical subjective wording can undermine credibility. Never change a fact simply because a supervisor prefers a cleaner result. A supervisor may request clarification, missing detail, or grammar correction, and the amendment process should remain transparent.

Read the finished report aloud or slowly. Ask:

1. Can a reader locate the event and establish the sequence?
2. Is every important fact attributed to observation, statement, record, or inference?
3. Does the report explain each guard action and result?
4. Are force, injury, care, police, evidence, and disposition fully included?
5. Are contradictory facts acknowledged rather than silently resolved?
6. Is private information limited to the authorized report and audience?

Example structure

“On September 14 at 18:37, while assigned to the north lobby, I heard the access alarm for Door N3. I arrived at 18:39 and saw…” That opening establishes date, time, role, stimulus, response, and personal observation. The narrative then proceeds in timed order and ends with transfer or current status.

The final standard is not literary style. It is whether the report is clear, concise, complete, correct, courteous, and defensible from its stated sources.

Violations and final submission

Do not select a report category to make an event sound more serious. State the conduct and let supervisors, police, prosecutors, or courts classify it. If an allegation concerns another guard, preserve the same facts and use the required reporting path; loyalty does not justify omission. Confidentiality controls who receives the report, not whether a serious event is truthfully recorded.

Confirm every required field, attachment, distribution, and signature. Keep the event number so later video, property, or supplemental information reaches the correct file. If software fails, use the approved outage form and enter or attach it later without inventing a submission time. Record when and to whom the report was delivered.