Nobody hires a security agency because of its paperwork. It is, reliably, the thing that matters most once something has actually happened.
Why it has to be written the same night
A report written before the crew leaves is a contemporaneous record. A report written the next afternoon is a reconstruction, and any competent lawyer will treat it as one.
The practical difference is detail. At 03:05 the officer remembers the exact words that were said, which hand the glass was in, and that the manager was standing by the till. By Sunday lunchtime that has collapsed into "he was being aggressive so we walked him out" — which is not evidence of anything.
Limitation periods in Ontario mean a claim can land two years later. An AGCO review can look back further. The report is the only thing that will still be accurate then.
What belongs in it
- Date, venue, shift times, and every officer on duty by name and licence number.
- Head count at peak against your licensed occupancy.
- Every refusal: time, stated reason, whether ID was involved.
- Every ejection: time, what prompted it, what was said, who spoke, whether force was used, what kind, for how long, and how it ended.
- First aid: what was administered, by whom, whether naloxone was used, whether EMS attended and when they were called.
- Police attendance: time called, time attended, officer badge numbers, incident number.
- Anything that nearly happened. The near miss is the most useful line in the whole document, because it is the one that tells you what to change next week.
- Witnesses, including your own staff, by name.
Times should be specific. "Around midnight" is worth nothing. "00:14" is worth a great deal, particularly when it matches your CCTV timestamp.
What must never be in it
- Opinions about character. "Regular troublemaker" is an invitation for someone to argue the report is biased. Record behaviour, not verdicts.
- Medical conclusions. An officer can write "unresponsive, breathing, naloxone administered at 01:22". An officer cannot write "overdose".
- Legal conclusions. Not "he assaulted her" — "she stated that he had struck her; I observed redness to her left cheek".
- Anything filled in later without marking it. If something is added, it is dated and initialled as an addendum. A silently edited report is worse than no report.
- Personal information you do not need. Record what the incident requires, not everything you could have written down.
The refusal log is the quiet hero
If a human rights complaint is ever made about your door, the question will be whether there is a pattern. A consistent log — time, stated reason, no protected grounds — is the strongest answer available, and it is built one line at a time on nights when nothing is happening.
It also tells you things. Three refusals a night for the same reason means your door policy is unclear or your signage is wrong, and that is a cheap fix you would otherwise never have noticed.
A template you can use tonight
| Field | Example entry |
|---|---|
| Date / venue / shift | Sat 14 Sep 2026 · [Venue] · 20:45–03:10 |
| Officers on duty | Name, licence no., post |
| Peak count / capacity | 268 / 300 at 23:50 |
| Refusals | 21:40 — intoxication, entry refused, left without incident |
| Incident time | 01:14 |
| What was observed | Factual, first person, in order |
| Action taken | Who did what, in what order, ending with the outcome |
| Force used | Type, duration, by whom, when it stopped |
| Medical / EMS | Called 01:19, attended 01:27 |
| Police | Called, attended, badge, incident number |
| Witnesses | Names, roles, contact where given |
| Near misses | Anything that could have gone the other way |
| Signed / time filed | Lead officer, 03:05 |
Every shift we run ends with this in your inbox before the crew is in the car. It is not a value-add and it is not an upsell. It is the job.
Swarm Protective Services staffs licensed venues, events and protection details across the Greater Toronto Area. Dispatch is answered 24 hours on (416) 938-4766.
