Keeping a record

Get the details down

It’s worth your while to have details recorded while they’re fresh in your mind. Even information that doesn’t seem particularly relevant may prove useful (to you and/or police) later on. A completed form will help when reporting to police and appealing to the public.

Keep either a hard copy or soft copy of notes detailing facts, contacts etc. Digital records can help you to share the information efficiently, but you may want to use a notebook instead – do whatever is natural to you.

Also consider the following:

• Create a timeline of events noting people involved, times – anything you can think of.
• Check any accounts that you may share (or know the login details for) for clues.
• Call their close friends and connections, write down anything relevant and ask them to call you back if they remember something important.
• You may be contacted by people who want to let you know they have made a report. Keep your own record of any information reported to the police.
• You may need to follow up on these reports to track the outcomes of specific lines of enquiry.
• It can be useful to keep a separate spreadsheet for this, which can also be referred to when meeting with the officer in charge (OIC).
• Create a dedicated private folder to store all important information you collect: Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.