| disposition (of incident report) | After approval of an incident report, the determination of how the case will be handled (i.e., unfounded, inactivated, retained for investigation by officers, referred to plainclothes investigators); usually made by the supervisor of the officer who wrote the report.
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| field notes | The shorthand written record made by a police officer from the time he or she arrives at a crime scene until the assignment is completed.
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| incident reports | The first written investigative record of a crime, usually compiled by the uniformed officer assigned to the call, who conducts the preliminary investigation.
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| narrative style | In incident reports, the officer's written chronological account of events at the crime scene from the time he or she arrived until the assignment was completed.
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| National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) | An FBI program for crime reporting that features a detailed report format documenting far more data than does a basic incident report; involves voluntary participation, but made mandatory by some states.
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