Written Communication and Documentation
Reports, CAD narratives, and supplemental entries are the agency's legal memory and will be read by supervisors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and your future self. Write so a stranger who never heard the radio can reconstruct what happened without asking a question.
A complete entry answers who, what, when, where, and how it was known: the caller's name and callback, the exact address and how it was verified, the nature of the call as reported, units assigned with times, and every significant update. Keep entries chronological and time-stamped. Record facts, not conclusions. 'Caller stated her ex-boyfriend kicked the door in and she saw a handgun in his waistband' is a report; 'caller was drunk and making it up' is an opinion the dispatcher is not qualified to record. If you must record an impression, label it as one and say why.
Quote speech directly when wording matters, use the caller's own terms for names and places, spell unfamiliar names phonetically when needed, and use only abbreviations your agency formally recognizes. Never overwrite or delete an earlier entry; correct errors with a new, time-stamped supplemental entry that explains the correction. Preserve your handwritten notes, which may be discoverable.
Traps. Opinions and speculation. Missing or rounded times. Recording a second-hand statement as established fact. Silent edits made after the fact. Incomplete unit identifiers or badge numbers.
Rule of thumb: if it is not in the log, it did not happen, and if it is in the log, be ready to read it aloud in court.