During your security officer’s shift, he or she is responsible for capturing a substantial amount of information via the many reports that they write, including daily activity reports, incident reports, maintenance requests, truck logs, and a multitude of others. The most important is the officer’s daily activity report. The daily activity report (DAR) is the most common of all security guard reports because one is completed by every officer, every shift. Security officers act as the eyes and ears of the customer, therefore it is critical that your officers provide your customers with relevant and valuable information. As such, it is important that every security officer knows how to write a good daily activity report.
Here are some tips that your officers can use to provide your customers with quality daily activity reports. Whether your organization is using daily activity report software such as that provided by OfficerReports.com or you are still using handwritten reports, you should find these tips helpful.
1. Branding is important.
Every report that your organization provides to its customers should be branded with your company name and logo. By doing this you will help your customers associate your organization with high quality products. Building your brand helps build incredible value for your organization.
Every DAR should be time stamped. It should also contain the location that the report pertains to as well as the name of the officer who submitted the report. This step is critical in maintaining the evidentiary value of the report in case it is used in court.
At the start of the officer’s shift, there are many details that they should be recording. The three most important details are:
When your officers write a DAR, they should make it easy for the reader to quickly find the information that they are looking for. If you are using digital reporting, ensure that the officers are specifying the tasks that they are performing. For example, if they are doing an “Employee Escort,” that activity should be distinct and separate from their other activities. By setting up the DAR in this way, it is easier to quantify the officer’s activities throughout the shift. If you are using handwritten reports, think about having the officer use highlighters to color code their activities. For instance, incidents might be red while maintenance issues might be blue.
Every observation that the officer makes should be accompanied by the time that the officer is making that observation. If you are using daily activity report software, this time stamp will help demonstrate to your customers that your officers are active throughout their shifts. In addition, if the DAR turns out to have legal significance, an accurate detailing of activities will be important.
During the course of a shift, there are a number of details that officers can add to their daily activity reports. Officers should provide the Who, What, When, and Where for observations that they are making. Keep in mind that the phrase “Made rounds all secure” is unacceptable and demonstrates a lack of effort on the part of the security officer. Even on uneventful shifts, the officer’s report can include things like:
Additionally, the officer should only report what they know as a fact, and should refrain from stating their opinions or making speculations. The report should contain nothing but the facts.
Unless instructed otherwise, security officers should refrain from using 10 codes, unfamiliar abbreviations, or any terminology that would make the report hard to understand by a civilian reader. See #7…
A picture is worth a thousand words. If your officers are using reporting software, be sure that they include photos and images as applicable. The officer should also reference the images in the report. The images should include a timestamp as well as the name of the person who collected the image.
10. Follow up
In addition to the information that is directly submitted by the officer, information that comes to the officer or the customer after the report is submitted should be accurately time stamped and logged. If you are using paper reports, consider using the back of your reports for this information.
Whether your organization has implemented digital reporting or is still using handwritten reports, if your officers understand how to write a daily activity report, your reports will be professional. At some point, your officers’ reports may be referenced by your customer, lawyers, or law enforcement, so make sure they are representative of the quality of your organization.
To see an example of an electronic DAR, please click this link: