An assault incident report form is a written record of a physical attack or threat of violence, and filling one out well comes down to three things: gathering the specific facts before you start, writing a plain chronological account of what happened, and sending the form to the office that matches where the assault occurred. Speed matters. Details fade within hours, and a vague report filed days later is far harder to act on than a precise one completed while the event is fresh.
Gather These Facts Before You Open the Form
Blank fields and guesses are what weaken a report later. Pull the following together first:
- Full legal names, phone numbers, and addresses for the person assaulted, the person who committed the assault, and any witnesses.
- The exact date, time of day, and specific location. Not “the parking lot” but “the east parking lot near the loading dock entrance.”
- Injury descriptions in concrete terms: a bruise on the left forearm, a cut above the right eye. Avoid general complaints of pain where you can point to something visible.
- Damaged items — torn clothing, broken equipment, personal property — with an approximate replacement cost for each.
- Who responded: whether anyone called 911, whether security came, whether first aid was given, and by whom.
Having this at hand keeps you from leaving fields blank or filling them with approximations you’ll later have to correct.
How to Write the Narrative Section
The free-text narrative is where most reports go wrong, and it’s the part an investigator will read first.
Stick to what you directly saw, heard, or experienced, and write it in the order it happened: what came first, what came next, how it ended. Use specific language. “He grabbed my left arm and shoved me into the wall” is useful. “He attacked me” is a conclusion without facts. “She said ‘I’m going to kill you’ while pointing a finger at my face” gives an investigator something to work with; “she threatened me” does not.
Keep opinion out of it. Phrases like “he was clearly drunk” or “she obviously wanted to hurt me” inject guesswork into what should be a factual account. If the person smelled like alcohol or was slurring words, describe those observations and let the reader draw the conclusion. Describe injuries the same way: “a two-inch red mark on the right side of my neck” beats “he almost strangled me.”
If you’re filling out the form on behalf of someone else — a supervisor documenting an employee’s report, say — note that clearly. Record whose account you’re writing down and when they told you about it.
Where to Submit the Form
Which form you use and where you send it depends on where the assault happened and what you want the report to do.
Workplace Assaults
Start with your employer’s human resources department or safety office. Most organizations have an internal incident report form available through an employee portal or intranet. OSHA’s sample violence incident report form for healthcare settings is a good model for what a thorough form looks like: it covers the assailant’s identity, whether a weapon was involved, predisposing factors like intoxication or prior history of violence, a detailed narrative, injury descriptions, whether police or security were called, and how the incident ended.1Occupational Safety and Health Administration. eTool: Hospitals – Violence Incident Report Form Even if your employer’s form is shorter, covering those categories in your narrative strengthens the record.
If the assault resulted in medical treatment beyond first aid, lost work time, restricted duty, or loss of consciousness, your employer is separately required to document the event on OSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report), which captures what the employee was doing before the incident, how the injury occurred, what body part was affected, and whether emergency room treatment or hospitalization was needed.2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Forms for Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses You don’t fill out the OSHA form yourself; your employer does. Confirm it was completed.
Police Reports
For criminal matters, file with your local police department. You can do this at a station, by calling the non-emergency line, or in some jurisdictions through an online reporting portal. If the assault just happened and you’re in danger, call 911 and the responding officers will take the initial report at the scene. For non-emergency reports filed after the fact, go to the station and ask to speak with an officer or a clerk in the records division. Some departments route assault reports through a special crimes or victim services unit.
When you report in person, an officer typically interviews you and writes the report based on your account. Bring any evidence you have: photographs of injuries, torn clothing, screenshots of threatening messages, contact information for witnesses. The more you bring, the less the officer has to chase down later.
Campus Assaults
At colleges and universities, report to campus police, a campus security authority, or a Title IX coordinator depending on the nature of the assault. Under the Clery Act, institutions that participate in federal financial aid programs and maintain a police or security department must keep a daily crime log recording the nature, date, time, and general location of every crime reported to them, along with the disposition if known. Entries must be open to public inspection within two business days of the initial report unless release would jeopardize an ongoing investigation or someone’s safety.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1092 – Institutional and Financial Assistance Information for Students
What Happens After You Submit
Once your report is received, the agency or department assigns it a case number or incident number. Write it down. That number is your reference for everything that follows: checking status, requesting a copy, or filing a supplemental report with new information.
Processing timelines vary. A police department may begin reviewing a report within a few days; a corporate HR investigation can take weeks depending on caseload and complexity. Ask the person who takes your form what the normal turnaround looks like and when you should expect to hear back. If you get no acknowledgment within a week, follow up using your case number.
If Your Employer Says a Workplace Assault “Doesn’t Count”
Employers sometimes resist logging workplace assaults because they don’t want the incident on their safety record. OSHA doesn’t give them that option in most cases. Under OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation, injuries from workplace violence are treated the same as any other work-related injury: if the assault results in medical treatment beyond first aid, days away from work, restricted duty, job transfer, or loss of consciousness, the employer must record it.4Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Are Cases of Workplace Violence Considered Work-Related Under the New Recordkeeping Rule The agency explicitly decided not to exclude violence-related injuries from recordkeeping, and employers cannot leave these incidents off their OSHA 300 Log.5Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Determining if Injuries or Illnesses Are Work-Related as a Result of an Act of Violence If you’re told otherwise, that’s almost certainly wrong.
Retaliation and the 30-Day Window
Fear of retaliation keeps a lot of people from filing, and the protection against it has a short clock that catches people off guard.
Under Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, no employer may “discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee” for filing a safety complaint or participating in a related proceeding, and that covers reporting workplace violence.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 660 – Judicial Review Firing, demotion, cut hours, reassignment, threats, and harassment all qualify.
If you believe your employer retaliated against you for filing an assault report, you have 30 days from the retaliatory action to file a whistleblower complaint with OSHA.7Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1977.3 – General Requirements of Section 11(c) of the Act Complaints can be filed by phone at 1-800-321-6742 or online. If the Department of Labor finds retaliation occurred, available remedies include reinstatement, back pay with interest, compensation for expenses and emotional distress, and punitive damages.8Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Protection From Retaliation for Engaging in Safety and Health Activity Under the OSH Act Thirty days is tight. If retaliation happens, don’t sit on it.
Getting a Copy or Correcting an Error
You can request a copy of your report through the records division of whichever agency or department received it. Use your case number — it’s the fastest way to locate the file. Fees vary; some agencies charge nothing, others charge a few dollars per page for certified copies.
For reports held by federal agencies, the Freedom of Information Act provides a formal request process. There’s no fee to submit a FOIA request, and the first 100 pages of duplication and first two hours of search time are typically free for standard requesters.9FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act Frequently Asked Questions FOIA covers only federal executive branch agencies, not state or local police departments, courts, or Congress.10FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act: How to Make a FOIA Request For a local police report, use your state’s public records law.
If you spot a factual error in your filed report — a misspelled name, a wrong date, an incorrect phone number — contact the filing agency and ask to submit a supplemental statement or correction. Many police departments accept supplementals through the same channels as the original, linked to the same case number. Fixing small errors early is much easier than explaining discrepancies months later in a legal proceeding.