The difference between a police "report" and "call screen."

A police report is an actual report taken by a police officer, or sheriff's deputy, after the commission of a crime. It includes victim, suspect, and or witness information. These reports use numbers like 18-0001 or 18-20001. Any time you contact dispatch, the police department or sheriff's office front counter, your information is logged into a "call screen" (a database entry into our Computer-Aided Dispatch system). This is not actually a report, but instead a log of all pertinent information given by a caller or reporting party.