Record Keeping, Reporting and Evidence Handling
What the exam tests
This domain tests the paper trail: notebook discipline, incident report content, data protection obligations, and continuity of evidence. Weak records lose cases and lose marks, so expect questions on what belongs in a note and what must never appear.
The rules
- Notebook entries must be contemporaneous, chronological, in permanent ink, factual and signed with date and time. Corrections are made by a single line, initialled, never by erasure or removal of pages.
- Incident reports record date, time and location, persons involved with identifying details, witnesses, what was observed and done, injuries, property, and the Garda reference. Facts only, no opinion, no speculation.
- Data protection: the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR require a lawful basis, data minimisation, secure storage and defined retention periods. CCTV must be signposted, access controlled, retained per policy and never used for personal purposes.
- Evidence handling requires continuity (chain of custody): who found the item, when, where, its condition, how it was sealed, and every handover recorded against signature.
Worked example
An operative recovers a stolen phone. Reasoning: record the find, bag and label the item with date, time and location, log it in the property register, and hand it to An Gardaí against a signature and receipt. Do not switch the phone on or examine its contents, do not photograph it on a personal phone, and do not break the seal to check it later.
Mark-losing traps
- Writing opinions such as 'he was obviously drunk' instead of observations.
- Making notes hours later and back-dating them.
- Using personal devices to capture evidence.
- Breaking a seal, reversing CCTV, or overwriting footage of an incident.