1. JOEL HARDIN PROFESSIONAL TRACKING SERVICES
REPORT WRITING
JOEL HARDIN PROFESSIONAL TRACKING SERVICES

3. Tracking Mission Report Writing WHY??!
Court cases
Separates “skilled” trackers from the rest
Professionally responsible trackers
Note taking during mission improves understanding and accountability
“Just do it”

4. Note Taking Short, simple phrases to stimulate memory
Who talked to whom -- when, where
Exactly what was said by whom
What was the preliminary info
What developed later
Actions taken – when, where

5. Notes -- Factors
Arrive Prepared with pen/pencil, notepad, foot print cards
Listen carefully to what is being said
Ask questions
Write only key phrases
Compare notes with other listeners
Record people’s names, places and dates

6. Good Notes – Good Report
Notes are the framework of the report
Notes should remind you of the facts
Notes become evidence

7. Tips on Report Writing Be Direct Write in the Active not Passive Tense
Be Organized
Don’t wait for inspiration
Don’t worry to much about style
Consider your reader
Include footprint card in report

8. The Report Heading Info
Name, contact info
Date/time of report
Incident or mission name
Date of incident

9. Cowlitz County, Washington
Reporter Information
MISSION REPORT
Tom Hoy Search
Cowlitz County, Washington
October 22, 2007
Reporter’s Information: Sharon Ward
Cowlitz County Search and Rescue
P.O. Box 13410, Portland, Oregon 97213 ;
Journeyman Tracker
Certified through Joel Hardin Professional Tracking
Services, (208) ,
Date/Time of Report: October 22, 2007, 1300 hours
Incident Name: Tom Hoy Search
Date/Time of Incident: October 20-21, 2007
Subject’s Name: Tom Hoy
Mission Number: State DEM

10. Preliminary Info Who made the call that initiated your response
Brief narrative of call out info – dates, times, etc.
Description of incident
Where and when you are requested to meet
Your resource objective as a tracker
Any other prelim info

11. Preliminary Information
I received a page from Cowlitz County Dispatch at 0815 on October 20, I called Steve Reddington of Cowlitz County Search and Rescue. He stated that an 84 year old Alzheimer subject had walked away from his home in Kalama, Washington. Search base would be located on Meeker Dr., which is parallel to Interstate 5, exit 32.
I responded to this mission as a member of Cowlitz County Search and Rescue (CCSAR). I am a Senior Coordinator for CCSAR, Kelso, Washington, and the Training Officer for Pacific Crest Search Dogs, Stevenson, Washington, an operational member of 1st Special Response Group, an international search team based in Moffett Field, California, and a Journeyman Tracker with Joel Hardin Professional Tracking Services.

12. Why Note Preliminary Info?
Mind set is based on your picture image
You discover the facts upon arrival
Dominant mental picture is based on the preliminary information
We have a pre-disposition about what happened

13. Mission Arrival Info Time/date/location of your arrival
Confirm preliminary info
Additional info, provided by whom
Witness names/statements

14. Mission Arrival Information
I arrived at search base at 0945 hours. Incident Commander, Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Coordinator Deputy Darren Ullmann, was on scene. Deputy Ullmann stated that the missing person was Mr. Tom Hoy (hereafter “Subject”). Subject was a white male, 5’5” tall, approximately 160 pounds. He was 84 years old and suffered from advanced Alzheimer disease. Subject was last seen by his 85 year old wife, Beatrice, in their residence, Unit # 116, which is located in the mobile home park (hereafter “Park”) at Harbor Heights Lane, off of Meeker Drive, Kalama, Washington…….
Subject did not take his glasses or his false teeth. He is presumed to be wearing one sneaker and one moccasin. (See attachment) He was wearing a yellow shirt and blue jeans. He is in excellent condition and is an avid walker. He has had no food since 1700 hours Friday. Subject did not take his wallet and had no money. Typically he would walk around the Park. He is on no life-dependent medications…..

15. PLS
Point Last Seen:
Subject was last seen in bed in his home at 2100 hours on Friday, October 19, 2007.

16. Weather/Conditions/Terrain
The Park was paved. Subject’s driveway was paved. His small lot had bark chips on the south side and manicured lawn to the north and east.
Weather, according to Weather Underground ( was as follows:
October 19, 2007
Temperature: High: Low: 44.9
Precipitation: inches
Average Wind Speed: 4 mph
Wind Gust: mph
October 20, 2007
Temperature: High: Low: 41.0
Precipitation: inches
Average Wind Speed: mph
Wind Gust: mph

17. Mission Objectives
Our objective was to use tracking and canine resources to find Subject as quickly as possible.
Or…
Our objective was to locate any and all evidence of criminal participation with particular attention to…

18. Footprint Evidence/Info
Subject purportedly was wearing a tennis sneaker and a rubber soled moccasin.

19. Body of Report Actions taken
Include tracking definitions and complete descriptions of footprint evidence using terms and references related to tracking
Does physical evidence found support the info given?
Times/places/descriptions of who saw what
Should be in agreement with team members, but not compromised if different.

20. Actions Taken
Jim Peters and I were “Dog Team I.” We entered the field at approximately 1030 hours. We went to the PLS and began to cut for sign (look for evidence of the passage of a person on foot) around the residence. Our first search area is outlined as Search Area 1 (in red) on Map I attached hereto. We discovered footprints in the bark chips in the south front yard, but they were too large to be those of the Subject, who had a tennis shoe measuring 12”. We met Subject’s son William at the PLS. He reported that he had walked back and forth in the front and back yard many times. We found no sign matching the Subject’s at or around the residence. We continued to cover our Search Area 1. We found no sign matching that of the Subject in or around the residences….
I discovered the deceased Subject. He was wedged along the fence at
the bottom of the drop off, behind blackberry bushes. He was face up, lying
straight, with his elbows bent, hands near his chest. He was wearing glasses.
He had on blue jeans and a yellow shirt. He had on one sneaker, no moccasin.
I radioed base for law enforcement and backed out of the area.
Captain Nelson came to the scene, approached the body and checked for vital
signs. He found the moccasin nearby.

21. Describing Footprints
Remember the terms that trackers use to denote aging and other characteristics
Color tone – texture changes
Broken twigs – bent grasses – smudges –smashes and smushes

22. Use Definite Statements
You are a tracker – trackers know what they see and what they do not see.
Example:
There was footprint evidence of the Subject having taken three steps down the ravine then slide marks ending where the body was lying. There was a broken branch above where her body was located. There were no footprint indications of any other person or persons having come to the ravine with the Subject, or having been there after the subject slid into the ravine. The Subject was located at GPS location N W

23. Combining Notes
The report may be a culmination of several trackers’ notes, ideas and opinions but that must be noted
Report statements must be in agreement by all contributors
More than one report may describe events, operations and evidence in different ways – different opinions, ideas and conclusions

24. Summary Brief, organized summation of all actions taken
Conclusions based upon evidence or lack thereof
Distribution of Report
Sign and date

25. Summary
I responded to a page at 0820 on October 20, 2007 for a search for a missing 84 year old Alzheimer Subject, Mr. Tom Hoy. My team searched from the PLS, a residence in a mobile home park located off Meeker Drive, Kalama, Washington, on October 20. We searched outward to the surrounding neighborhood and then from downtown Kalama, along Meeker Drive back to the mobile home park. On October 21, using a tracking team and canine, we searched westerly along Meeker Drive from the storage container area adjacent to the Park. Canine Kunga found the deceased Subject at 1030 hours in the back of a commercial establishment (tractor business) on the west most side of the property, off of the pavement, down a drop-off, against a fence and behind blackberry bushes.

26. Distributed to Distributed to:
Deputy Darren Ullman, Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office
Art Jordon, Chair, Cowlitz County Search and Rescue
Joel Hardin, Joel Hardin Professional Tracking Services
______________________ ______ _______
Sharon Ward Date
Cowlitz County Search and Rescue

27. TIPS ON REPORT WRITING
Assume that the report reader does not know tracking
Include maps showing the area and the sign line
Avoid “loaded” language
“aggressive lug pattern”
Avoid “making up a story” to go with the tracking evidence

28. Reader has no tracking experience

29. What is going on?

30. Tips Continued Describe the track – DON’Ts
The footprint obviously was old
The footprint was size 12
The footprint had aged
There was two day old sign

31. Describe the track -- DO
These prints were made when the mud surface was just wet enough to capture full detail followed by a period of drying to “set” the mud such that subsequent periods of light moisture falling had little or only slightly deteriorating effect.
We found heel marks digging into the lawn soil and pulling it up as mud, onto the grass itself, the evidence of slight moisture deterioration and then a period of light drying (fair weather on the 29th) before another period of slight moisture causing further deterioration of the now somewhat crusted muddy smears.
We examined the aging factors of the sign and determined that the deep green/black, ever so slight beginning of deterioration at the creasing and crushing of the lawn grass blades, considering the temperatures, humidity and condition of the grass itself, the sign would have been made the afternoon of the 29th. The crushed grass showed slight evidence of a drying period prior to further surface moisture, fitting the fair weather period of several hours mid-day on the 29th.

32. Your Turn Examples of aging descriptions
At a crime scene, you need to document that there were two, not one suspect. You have two bloody footprints. How do you say they were there at the same time
At a missing person’s search, how do you know you have the right track when you only know the woman went missing 8 days ago but her car was found yesterday

33. Conclusion
Reports separate the hobby tracker from the professional tracker
Reports “cover your butt”
The first report is the hardest one.
You have lots of help getting it right
There is no excuse for failure to document your work