Reporting System

Policy Properties

• Scope: All Employees
• Chapter: 10 Records
• Distribution: Policy Manual
• Reference: 48.981(3), 950.08(2g)

Purpose

This is a mandatory policy under Wisconsin State Statue §48.981(3)(b)(3).

The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for administering the reporting systems of the department.

Policy

It is the policy of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Police Department that the delivery of police services to the community shall be thoroughly documented through a system of standardized reporting

Definitions

1. Pro Phoenix: A software program used to create field report and ancillary field report templates that also permits the electronic completion and distribution of reports.
2. Green Bay Electronic Records Program(GERP): A software program used to create field report and ancillary field report templates that also permits the electronic completion and distribution of reports.
3. Traffic and Crime Software (TraCS): An automated reporting system capable of sharing common data among various forms and electronically transmitting the data to various records management systems.

General Guidelines

1. Prior to November of 2011, reports were produced in hard copy. From 2011 until 2020, Reports were generated within ProPhoenix. After November of 2020, all incident reports are generated in GERP.
2. Police reports serve a variety of important purposes, which include: 
   1. Creating a permanent record of incidents, events, problems, etc.
   2. Recording critical information necessary for use in trials, appeals and civil proceedings
   3. Providing a foundation upon which to continue investigations
   4. Coordinating and planning future law enforcement activities
   5. Informing the community about events of interest
   6. Compiling crime statistics
   7. Evaluating officer and agency performance
3. The activity of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Police Department will be documented through a system of standardized reports as outlined in this policy.
4. The incident reporting system is comprised of two elements, incident reports and supplement reports.
   1. Incident reports are standalone documents used to describe an incident and the action taken by the department in initial response to the incident.
   2. Supplement reports are documents that support or supplement incident reports, or add information gathered by supporting officer(s).
5. In addition to the guidelines for completion of incident reports contained in this policy, numerous other policies provide specific direction regarding the completion of incident reports and should be consulted as appropriate.

B. Reporting styles:

1. Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Screen: A CAD screen is generated in the Communications Center for every incident involving the dispatch or assignment of an officer, whether initiated by a citizen or a department employee. a. b. A CAD screen captures basic information regarding every request for service and will be assigned a unique incident number to each situation. In situations where no additional incident report is completed, the CAD screen serves as the only report associated with the incident. In such situations, officers may elect to include a brief description of the incident in the notes field of the screen.
2. Incident (Offense) Report: An electronic report which provides a detailed account of the police response to an incident, and should include all applicable known information for the incident.
3. Uniform Traffic Citation (UTC): A uniform citation form established by Wisconsin Administrative Code Chapter Trans 114, and used for the purpose of enforcing Chapters 341 to 348 and 350, Wis. statutes. An electronic version (electronic citation or ELCI) is available in TraCS, and is the primary version utilized by the department.
4. Non-Traffic Citation (NTC): a citation form formatted as outlined in Wisconsin Chapter 18 and used for the purpose of enforcing the University of Wisconsin System code. An electronic version (non-traffic citation or NTC) is available in TraCS, and is the primary version utilized by the department.
5. Parking Citations: A electronically generated printed document used for enforcing the University of Wisconsin System Code and regulations. A printed copy is left for the violator and the electronic information of the violation data is transmitted to the digital repository.
6. Warning/Equipment Violation Notice: An electronic warning report, available in TraCS, used for the purpose of issuing a written warning for a violation of Chapters 341 to 348, 350 and Trans 305 Wis. Stats.
7. MV4000 and MV4000e: The Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Crash Report form provided by the DOT for recording information collected during the investigation of motor vehicle crashes. The MV4000e is an electronic version of the form available in TraCS, and is the primary version used by the department.

C. Supplemental Incident Forms

1. Numerous supplemental Incident Forms have been developed to address specific needs that arise during certain types of investigations. Examples of frequently used supplemental incident forms include the following:
   1. Domestic Abuse Worksheet
   2. Death Investigation Checklist
   3. Witness Statement
   4. Miranda Warning
   5. Use of Force Report
   6. Victim Information Form
2. The aforementioned forms, and numerous others, are available in the officers work area or as digital representations located on shared storage drives.

D. Incident Report Guidelines

1. The following circumstances require the completion of an incident report. While detailed, the list is not meant to be all inclusive. Officers in doubt about the need to complete an incident report should consult a supervisor.
   1. Any incident where, in the officer’s discretion, a report is necessary or would serve a purpose through documentation.
   2. When directed to be completed by a supervisor, or person assigned supervisory authority.
   3. Any incident involving an offense, regardless of enforcement action taken, which is a misdemeanor or a felony.
   4. Any incident involving an offense, regardless of enforcement action taken, which is a violation of UWS Ch. 18, not including those violations which are most appropriately addressed through an electronic traffic citation (ELCI).
   5. Any incident which involves the search of a person, place, vehicle or object in the performance of an officer's official duties, regardless of if it was done through consent, a warrant, or an exception to warrant.
   6. Incidents involving the use of force, including the pointing of a firearm at a person, as outlined in the Use of Force policy;
   7. Any situation where an officer causes injury or damage while performing official duties; regardless of intent.
   8. Any incident in which evidentiary or found property is received, recovered or seized.
2. Any person who is the victim of a crime should be promptly provided a printed Victim Rights Form but shall be provided this form no later than 24 hours after the crime was discovered or reported, as required by law. [Wis. Stats. 950.08(2g)]
3. An incident report will not be required for traffic only violations resulting in the issuance of a Uniform Traffic Citation, if the narrative written in support of the citation is sufficient to fulfill the elements of the violation with probable cause.
   1. Any Traffic Offenses which is also a criminal act requires the completion of an incident report. e.g. OAR-Alcohol, Fleeing,
4. The basic information to be recorded in an incident report will be determined by the facts of the incident and the data fields comprising the report template Reports will be completed as trained and with as much detail as possible.
5. Officers are expected to maintain their investigative workload and be timely in their investigative efforts. Officers are required to make reasonable efforts to work their assigned cases to completion, document within the case narratives why they're unable to work the case, when they anticipate being able to further the case or a reason to suspend the case's investigative efforts.
   1. All follow up tasks will be completed as directed, and shall be digitally marked as complete when completed.
      • The information in the follow up task should be retained in its original form, and may not be edited.
   2. All cases are required to have a current and clearly identifiable investigative status

E. Submission of Incident Reports

1. Incident reports should generally be completed and submitted prior to the end of an officer's shift. If unable to complete the full report, the minimally required information an officer must document within their case is:
   1. Create the Incident Report, by generating a digital report using the assigned case number.
   2. Case Sheet
      1. Primary Officer
      2. Summary
      3. Primary Suspect or Victim name entry
      4. Assignment
   3. Face Sheet
      1. Incident Type
      2. Incident Address
      3. Offense
      4. Date and Time Occurred
2. The following circumstances require the submission of completed incident reports prior to the end of an officer's shift.
   1. Custodial Arrest
   2. Use of force
   3. Any incident which may impact the operation of the university
   4. Any incident which is of a nature where the University or department may become the focus of the community or media's attention
   5. When directed by a supervisor
3. Cases which require follow up investigation should have supplemental reports generated and submitted for review by officers periodically. Holding open a single supplemental report and used as an ongoing report is not permitted.
4. Incident Reports need to be completed prior to an Officer going into their off days unless approved by a supervisor.

F. Quality Control of Reports

1. All reports will be reviewed by a supervisor.
2. Reports will be reviewed for various factors, including the following:
   1. Thoroughness
   2. Adequacy of the investigative effort
   3. Fulfillment of legal process requirements
   4. Compliance with department policy
   5. Spelling and grammar
3. If changes or corrections are required, the report will be returned to the originating officer for corrections.

G. Uniform Traffic Citation Accountability

1. Uniform Traffic Citations are issued to the department in a highly regulated manner by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
   1. Citations are issued in an electronic
   2. Each citation contains a control number assigned by the DOT.
2. The department TraCS coordinator will monitor the inventory of citations and order additional citations when the inventory is low.

H. Report Distribution for Criminal Review

1. University Supervisors, or those designated for processing reports, will promptly review all officer submitted reports and citations.
2. Any report which supports the probable cause of a law violation should note which enforcement action taken was such as a verbal warning, written warning, citation, administrative referral for charges or custodial arrest.
3. Any report which establishes probable, sufficient information to suspect or there is threatened abuse, as defined in s. 48.02 (1) (b) to (f), shall be referred to the district attorney's office for review.
   1. As a matter of routine, these reports are assigned a standing referral deadline of no later than 30 days after completion of the report or the 1st business day of each month, whichever is later.