The most critical evidence in a criminal investigation often isn't found at the crime scene, but in the dozens of routine contacts made in the days leading up to it. A "suspicious person" report that results in a documented field interview is the bridge between a cold case and a closed one.

The Philosophy: Beyond the Scratchpad

In law enforcement, a Field Interview (F.I.) card is a foundational tool for intelligence-led policing. This template moves the F.I. from a vulnerable piece of paper to a searchable, forensic-grade database. It acknowledges that the value of a contact isn't just in the immediate identification, but in the long-term patterns of association and geography that emerge over months of patrols.

The Blueprint: Forensic Data Architecture

The structure of this system is designed for high-pressure environments where speed and accuracy are mutually exclusive without the right tools.

  • Subject Profiling: Fields for SSN, DOB, Sex, and Race provide the baseline for identification. By capturing Driver's License No. and State immediately, you bypass the errors common in hand-written notes taken under low-light conditions.
  • The Vehicle Dossier: A subject is often defined by what they drive. The dedicated sections for Vehicle Tag/VIN, Make, and Model ensure that a vehicle spotted near a scene can be instantly cross-referenced against your field logs.
  • Temporal and Geospatial Anchors: The Date of Contact and Time of Contact are automatically timestamped. Memento’s Location of Contact field uses GPS to pin the exact coordinates of the encounter, creating a heat map of activity that is invaluable for shift hand-offs.

Usage Scenarios: The Pattern Recognition

Consider a series of residential burglaries in a specific neighborhood. A detective opens the library and filters for all Field Contacts within a two-mile radius over the last thirty days. They find three reports involving the same Vehicle Color and Make, each with a different driver but a shared Residence Address. What looked like isolated stops suddenly becomes a clear investigative lead.

Power Feature: Audio Field Notes

In the immediate aftermath of a contact, your observations are at their sharpest. The Audio Note field allows you to record a verbal summary of the subject's demeanor, clothing details, or unusual statements before they are forgotten during the drive back to the station. This creates a secondary layer of evidence that captures nuances that text alone—especially truncated field text—might miss.