Guides for managers

Guide for managers

Use of force: what belongs in the report?

The use-of-force report is a legal document. It may be read by the police, a lawyer and the court – perhaps long after the night. Here is what a good report should contain, and how Vekterlogg helps the guards get it right.

This is guidance, not legal advice. The rules can change – always check the sources at the bottom, and ask a lawyer, the Labour Inspection Authority or the police if in doubt.

What the law says

A security guard has no greater right to use force than anyone else (Security Services Act § 12). The ordinary rules apply, among them self-defence (Penal Code § 18), necessity (Penal Code § 17) and arrest when caught in the act (Criminal Procedure Act § 176). Whoever arrests someone must hand the person over to the police immediately.

Self-defence requires that the act is meant to avert an unlawful attack, does not go further than necessary and does not clearly exceed what is justifiable – judged by how dangerous the attack was, what was attacked and the attacker's guilt. This is what the report has to show.

The security company must keep a written log of every situation in which physical force was used. The log must be written as soon as possible and signed by the guard and the general manager (Security Services Regulations § 39), and a copy goes with the annual report to the police by the end of March (§ 37 and § 38). The regulations do not say what the log must contain – so a good template matters.

What the report should contain

  1. When and where: date, time and the exact location.
  2. What happened before: what triggered the situation, and what you saw and heard.
  3. What you did to resolve it without force: what was said – word for word if possible – and warnings, for example that the guest was told to leave.
  4. Why force was necessary: your own or others' safety, or to carry out an arrest – and the legal basis (self-defence, necessity or arrest).
  5. What force: the holds step by step and for how long. If handcuffs were used: how long they were on, and whether circulation was checked.
  6. Why it was not too much: how the force matched the resistance, and why less force was not enough.
  7. Injuries: to the guest, to the guard (including spitting and threats) and to equipment.
  8. Who was there: the other party (name or description), the colleagues and the witnesses.
  9. How it ended: police (note the officer or patrol number if they took over), ambulance or first aid.

Common mistakes

  • "The guest was taken to the ground" – without why, and without what was tried first.
  • The same text for every guard. Each person involved writes their own account, as they experienced it.
  • Written the day after, from memory. Write as soon as possible, while the details are fresh.
  • Assumptions and opinions instead of what you saw, heard and did. Keep it factual.

How Vekterlogg helps

  • The form follows the points above: date and time, location, observation, other party, guards involved, legal basis (self-defence, lawful arrest or necessity), attempts at de-escalation and warning, the description of the use of force step by step, and injuries and aftermath (police, ambulance, first aid). The guidance in the form reminds the guard of cause, necessity, proportionality and handcuffs.
  • Filled in from the incident: if the incident is logged, the time, location and what is already written are filled into the use-of-force report.
  • Everyone involved writes their own: the colleagues listed are told in the app to write their own account, linked to the same incident.
  • The AI check: before the report is sent, AI reads it and says if the most important points are missing – in the use-of-force report also what force was used, why it was necessary and whether anyone was injured. The guard chooses "Write more" or "Send anyway". The AI never writes anything into the report, and the names of those involved are not sent.
  • Improve the text: one tap fixes spelling and makes the text factual without changing what happened. The guard decides, the report is marked, and the original is kept.
  • Signature and the use-of-force log: the guard signs, and the person you have chosen as responsible countersigns – or sends the report back with a comment. The use-of-force log has every report for a month or a year as PDF and CSV, and "Report to the police" in the customer portal gathers what must be sent by the end of March.
  • Basis for a police report: if the incident is to be reported, a manager creates a basis for the police from the report – one PDF in the order the police use. Use-of-force reports never go to the venue.

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Sources (in Norwegian)

Last checked 29 October 2026

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