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Law Enforcement (MDT)

The Mobile Data Terminal is the officer's console. From here you go on duty, run statuses, work the call queue, run NLETS-style records queries, file reports, message other units, and watch the live map. Open it from the Law Enforcement row under Go on duty on your community home. All of your community's police departments share that one row; you pick your department on the login card.

The MDT is styled as a classic "Win32" terminal (title bar, menu bar, toolbar, status strip) so it reads like a real CAD. The same console powers three surfaces: Law Enforcement (/mdt), Fire & EMS (/fire), and Tow & DOT (/tow). This page documents the LE surface.

You must be on duty

Almost nothing works until you log in and go on duty. Until then the terminal shows only the login screen. Going on duty is what puts your unit on the Dispatch board and the live map.

Going on duty

The login screen is the first thing you see. It is drawn in the look you will land in, and all looks ask for the same things:

  • PulseSquare: a Login window over the console, which is drawn greyed out and reading LOGGED OUT until you are on. The fields are grouped into Unit, Officer and Capabilities, and Login and Hub sit at the bottom right. The X in the window's corner takes you back to the hub, like Hub.
  • PulseMin: a full-page login with a [P] PulseCAD heading and the fields labelled inside the boxes. Presets, Phone and Capabilities are behind the Detail link; Login and Hub are at the bottom.
  • PulseField: a Log On card inside the PulseField console, which reads OFF / Logged off until you are on. Hub and a green Log On sit at the bottom.

Fill it in and press Login (Log On on PulseField).

Field What it does
Server Only shown when your community runs more than one server. You must pick one before going on duty; your unit and all live dispatch are scoped to it. Defaults to the community's primary server.
Department A drop-down listing each agency on this surface with its logo (e.g. LSPD, BCSO, PBPD, SSPD, SAHP). If only one department exists it is auto-selected.
Station Shown only for departments that have stations configured (mainly Fire/EMS).
Unit ID (callsign) Your callsign, e.g. 2814. Selecting a department can pre-fill a prefix (e.g. LSPD → 53).
Presets If you turned on auto-callsign in My Account, your saved callsign presets appear as one-click chips.
Officer Your Rank (pick a suggestion such as Officer, Deputy or Trooper, or type your own), Name (e.g. N. Strong) and Badge #. This is the name on your reports, citations, court filings and signatures, and it shows as STRONG, N. in the User column of the unit list. You fill it in the first time you go on duty in a department and it is remembered after that, separately for each department. Login stays greyed out until you enter a name.
Capabilities Self-select the capabilities you're carrying (K9, SWAT, FTO, etc.). On PulseSquare, click one in the Available list and press Add > to move it to Selected (< Remove moves it back, and a double-click moves it straight across); on PulseMin, tick them under Detail. Configured per department in Admin.
Phone Optional contact number (only if your community enabled the phone field).

If dispatch already logged you on (your callsign shows as 5330* on the board), going on duty with that same callsign takes that unit over: you stay on the call dispatch put you on, with the same status, and the call opens on your MDT.

Press Hub to go back to the community hub without going on duty.

Which name goes on your reports

While you are on duty, reports carry the officer profile (rank, name, badge) you set for the department you are on duty in. With no profile in that department, the name falls back to your linked duty character, then your community nickname, then your account name. It never borrows a profile from another department.

Change your login without going off duty

Use Options → Modify Login (or the MORE grid) to switch department, callsign, phone, capabilities, or your officer rank, name and badge mid-shift. It opens the same screen in your look, with Save Changes and Cancel. Your unit stays on duty and keeps its call, and the new name goes on everything you file from then on.

Roster-managed members

If your community links a roster (PulseRoster), you'll only see the departments your roster assigns you and the capabilities you're certified for, and your callsign/badge may pre-fill from the roster. If your roster access is suspended or unassigned, going on duty is blocked with a clear message. Owners and super-admins are exempt.

Press Link in-game tablet under Other areas on your community home to generate a one-time code, or, from the MDT itself, use the login card or Options → Link FiveM Game. Then in-game type:

/cadlink <code>

The code is valid for 10 minutes and links this CAD account to your in-game character so your live GPS position shows on the map. This is a one-time setup per account. See FiveM Integration.

The terminal chrome

All LE MDT screens sit inside the same frame:

  • Title bar: PulseCAD Mobile - [Law Enforcement], with the dispatch indicator, a light/dark theme toggle and the window glyphs. The indicator shows a green DISPATCH ONLINE (with a count when more than one) while a dispatcher is Available on your game server, a yellow DISPATCH BUSY when all live dispatchers are on a 911 (wait, or self-dispatch), and a gray NO DISPATCH when nobody is live. A dispatcher still on Standby (signed on, getting ready) does not count. Hover it to see who is on. The full list, with each dispatcher's status, name and coverage zones, is under the unit board.
  • Menu bar: dropdown menus: Login/Logout, Queries, Messages, Units, Calls, Status, Tools (Map / Reporting), Options (Modify Login / Link FiveM Game / Reset Column Widths).
  • Status strip: your Jurisdiction, Unit callsign, current Call, and a colored Status chip.
  • Toolbar: two rows of buttons (below). Function-key badges on the buttons match the keyboard shortcuts.

Toolbar: top row (navigation & actions)

Button Key Opens
Back - Previous screen
Map F1 Live map
Display Call F8 Your current incident
Traffic Stop F10 Traffic Stop (TRS)
FG F4 Field Generate / On-Site
Plate F5 Vehicle query
Person F6 Person query
Queries F7 Query returns (flashes on a new return)
Msgs F11 Inbox (flashes on unread)
Reporting F3 Citation Writer, Crash Writer and Forms
Call Queue F9 Active + pending calls
Time Stamp - Log a time stamp
Unit Times - A unit's call/time history

Toolbar: bottom row (status)

E · S · Code 4/OK · UT/2nd Loc · AD/2nd Loc · C · OOS · Clear w/Dispo · More · Units · Blackout Screen

Status (10-codes)

Set your status from the bottom toolbar row, the Status menu, or a keyboard shortcut. Colors are admin-configurable per surface in Admin → Status Codes; the built-in defaults are:

Button Code Status Color
E 10-76 Enroute (ENROUTE) Red
S 10-23 On Scene (SCENE) Blue
OK 10-4 On scene & OK (OK) Green
UT/2nd Loc - Unit Transport (UT) Orange
AD/2nd Loc - At 2nd Location (AD) Light blue
C 10-8 Clear / Available (AVAIL) Black
OOS 10-7 Out of Service (OOS) Gray

Call statuses are gated

E, S, OK, UT, and AD are on-call statuses: you can only set them while you're assigned to an incident. Press one with no active call and the terminal pops a message box and refuses the change. This keeps the board honest. To go enroute you first self-assign or get dispatched to a call.

  • C (Clear) sets you AVAIL. If you were on a call it also clears you off it; if you were the last unit, the call closes and drops off the board.
  • Clear w/Dispo (F12) clears you from your call with a disposition and any comment you type, then sets you AVAIL. If other units are still on the call, only you come off it: your disposition and comment go on the call log and the call stays open for them. The last unit to clear closes the call with their disposition. The list is your community's Law Enforcement dispositions (admin-configurable), the same list Dispatch closes calls with. With none configured it is the built-in set: ADV - ADVISED, ARR - ARREST MADE, CIT - CITATION ISSUED, GOA - GONE ON ARRIVAL, RPT - REPORT TAKEN, SERVE - PAPERS SERVED, TRANS - TRANSPORTED, UNF - UNFOUNDED, UTL - UNABLE TO LOCATE, WARN - WARNING ISSUED and CLR - CLEARED. The list is in alphabetical order and opens at the top, with the first entry selected.
  • OOS requires you to pick a reason code (MEAL, PAPERWORK, COURT, TRAINING, …), which is logged to your unit history. Reason codes are admin-configurable.
  • UT/2nd Loc and AD/2nd Loc log a secondary location onto your active call (unlocking the incident's 2NDRY LOC tab). The form opens whether or not you are on a call; Submit is refused with a message if you are not assigned to an incident. UT/2nd Loc also takes an optional Starting Mileage: enter your odometer reading and it goes onto the call notes as SM: 12345.

The call queue

The Call Queue (++Call Queue++ toolbar button) shows two sections, Active Calls and Pending Calls, sharing one set of columns:

Units / P · Problem · Address · Location · Division · ID · Time

  • Active lists calls with units assigned (your own calls are highlighted); Pending lists calls with no unit yet, showing priority (P1/P2 highlighted).
  • Problem shows CODE - NATURE (e.g. TRAF - TRAFFIC STOP); Division is the jurisdiction (assigned unit's agency).
  • Columns are drag-resizable and persist per user: drag a column edge to resize. Reset via Options → Reset Column Widths or More → Reset Columns.
  • On PulseSquare the two sections fill the screen as separate panels, each scrolling on its own. Drag the divider between them to give one more room; the split is remembered on that device.
  • Click any call to open its incident detail.
  • Call numbers are short and restart each day: 001, 002, 003, so a number is something you can say on the radio. The same daily number is used everywhere: the queue, your status strip, Dispatch and its command line, and the distress banner. A call still open from an earlier day (the day turns over at midnight UTC) shows prev day beside its number, for example 044 prev day; hover it for the full number and the date it was created. Open a call and its detail header shows both - the short CALL number and the full INC#, which is the one a citation records and the one to quote when referring to a call from another day.
  • Time reads H:MM:SS for the first ten hours, then hours and minutes (23h20m), and days and hours past a day (1d 01h). Hover it for the exact time.

Watch List

Your board is filtered to your own agency plus any agencies you add to your Watch List (their units and calls appear). Calls you're assigned to always show. Open it from Watch List on the Call Queue or Units screen.

Incident detail

Opening a call shows its full incident screen: a header grid (PROB / ADDR / LOC / POSTAL / CASE / TIME / DIVISION / INC# / PRI / TYPE / STATUS), an action row, and tabs.

Actions:

Action What it does
SELF ASSIGN Attach yourself and go ENROUTE (shown when you're not on the call). On another agency's call it opens your agency's own linked incident and puts you on that
ADD CMNT Add a comment to the activity log. On a call with a linked incident, untick SHARED to keep the line to your agency
REQUEST FIRE/EMS / REQUEST TOW Open a linked incident for another agency at this location. Only on a call you are attached to
ACK UPDATES (n) Acknowledge new log entries; the count clears when read (persisted per call). Lines you put on the call (your own attach, a query return you attached, a comment you typed) never count; older un-acknowledged updates from dispatch still do
GENERATE CASE # Request a case number (you must be attached; runs a short processing delay)
MSG UNITS Compose a message pre-addressed to all units on the call
MAP IT Center the map on the call

Tabs:

  • INFO: assigned units (status-colored chips) and primary unit, plus the numbered activity log. Entries are numbered chronologically ([1] oldest); unread lines are highlighted until you ACK UPDATES, except lines you wrote yourself, which are never highlighted. Attached query returns and 911 transcripts print in full, right in the log; View opens any line full-screen; on a RECORD ATTACHED line it opens the record itself in Records (a record still awaiting approval is only openable by its author and approvers). Performed By is the unit's callsign (a Fire/EMS rig reads as its full name, e.g. Battalion 10), the dispatcher's ID, or CAD. On a call with a linked incident a LINKED row names the other agencies' incidents, and their shared lines appear in your log tagged [Shared FIRE, …].
  • PRIORS: prior CAD calls at this address (each incident number is a hot-link).
  • CALLER: caller name/phone, or "self-generated" for officer-created calls. Call Back Caller rings the 911 caller and opens a voice window (you don't need the Dispatch role to take the call you placed); Call Recordings for the incident are listed here (recording is Pulse Pro and up).
  • CAUTION: community-wide cautionaries for the location (officer-safety flags). Add your own inline. A caution for a call's postal or address is also written into its log automatically, whether the call came from New Call, a 911, the game, ER:LC or Discord, and again if the location is changed to one with a caution.
  • 2NDRY LOC: secondary locations logged via UT/AD (disabled until one exists).

You can also Change Address / Change Problem on the active call from the MORE grid.

Traffic stops & field events

Two purpose-built quick-start forms create a call, attach you, and set you SCENE in one step:

  • TRS · Traffic Stop (F10): enter a plate and a location, then submit. The stop opens straight away as a TRAFFIC STOP call with you attached and SCENE, and the plate is run once, at that point; nothing comes back while you are typing it. A few seconds later the full NLETS vehicle return and the registered owner land on the call's log and in Queries (F7). The call's division auto-assigns to your agency.
  • FG · Field Generate / On-Site (F4): pick a problem from your community's call types and a location; it creates the incident and puts you on scene.

Type to find the problem

The Problem box on On Site, Change Problem and Add Agency is a search: type any part of a call type's code or name (all words must match, in any order), use the arrow keys and Enter to pick, and Esc to close. Only a type from the list can be chosen, and nothing is picked for you: a new call with no problem chosen is refused.

One call at a time

You can't start a new stop/field event while already on a call; clear your current one first.

Queries (NLETS-style returns)

Run records from the toolbar, the Queries menu, or the MORE grid. All queries produce a formatted PULSECAD QUERY RETURN (teletype layout with an NLETS-style control header).

Query Returns
Plate / Vehicle (F5) Registration, owner, stolen/expired-reg/no-insurance/BOLO/owner-warrant flags, contacts history
Person (F6) Identity, driver's license + status/points, carry permit (status and permit number), wants/warrants, criminal history, contacts history. Search by name (date of birth optional), SSN, or DL#. Registered firearms are not listed; run the Gun query for those
Gun Firearm serial → registered owner + stolen / owner-warrant flags
Boat Watercraft/hull registration → owner + flags
Find Address All CAD calls at a location (each INC# hot-links to the incident)
Incident Search Look up an incident by number, case #, and/or date

Searching by name

The date of birth is optional. With one, the search narrows to that person; without one, it returns everyone with that name, each as a separate match, so confirm which one you have.

All dates are MM/DD/YYYY. You can type the digits alone (04151989) and the slashes are added for you. A DOB that can't be read is refused rather than ignored.

Dashes are optional

An SSN can be typed with or without dashes (123456789, 123-45-6789 and 123 45 6789 all find the same person). A plate can be typed without its dash or space: AB1234 finds a car registered as AB-1234, and the return prints the plate as it is registered. A plate typed exactly as registered, dash and all, always finds that plate first, so a vanity plate like GO-4IT is found by its exact spelling before any look-alike.

How returns behave:

  • Returns read like a real teletype. Critical flags are printed in the text, not color-coded: a licence that is not valid shows as DL STATUS: *** SUSPENDED *** (or *** REVOKED *** / *** EXPIRED ***), with the reason, who ordered it and when on the line below. Other permits are flagged the same way under LICENSES / PERMITS, and stolen property, warrants, BOLOs and insurance problems each get their own *** line. A person's red flags are also gathered in the CAUTIONARY box under the identity block.
  • Include checkboxes on the plate/person forms let you omit sections (registration, DL status, warrants, criminal history, contacts, etc.); unchecked sections are left out of the return.
  • A section you didn't ask for says NOT REQUESTED, never "none on file". An unrun search is not a clean record, and the return will not imply that it is.
  • CONTACTS / CAD history lists all calls the person or plate is tied to and what happened (warning/citation/arrest); each [INC#] is a clickable hot-link.
  • A name can match more than one person. When it does the return opens with a response count and each subject is labeled MATCH 1 OF 2, MATCH 2 OF 2. Each block is a full return with its own wants, criminal history, contacts and CAUTIONARY box. Read past the first one: the second subject's warrant is not in the first subject's block.
  • POSSIBLE MATCH. Run a name with a date of birth and the CAD also checks for people the subject could be confused with: someone with the same name and a different DOB, or the same DOB and the same first or last name. Any of them with an active warrant, a BOLO, a suspended or revoked licence, or a missing-person flag comes back as a separate return titled POSSIBLE MATCH, listed right under the subject's. The subject's own return says one exists, even when it is NO RECORD FOUND. A possible match is not the person you ran: confirm identity (licence photo, description) before acting on it. Clean records and a shared birthday alone never show up, and a search without a DOB doesn't run this check (it already lists everyone with that name).
  • Running a plate auto-runs the registered owner as a second return.
  • DL Photo (a box on the person form, off by default) sends the licence photo as its own return under the person's, one per person found. With no photo on file it says *** NO LICENSE PHOTO ON FILE ***.
  • Each return sounds the return tone once, so a plate with a registered owner tones twice and a name that matches three people tones three times (a red-flag return plays the hit tone instead).
  • Field queries don't yank you off your screen; they post to Queries (F7, the button flashes) so you open them when ready.
  • Attach to Incident posts a return into your active call's log; a CALL return offers Reopen & Self-Assign (closed call) or Go to Call.

Query history is kept per session (up to 40 returns), survives a page refresh, and is cleared only when you log out. Unread returns show a dot; F7 jumps to the newest unread, else the list.

Criminal history

Tick Criminal History on the person form and the return includes a CRIMINAL HISTORY block:

  • Convictions: each charge with its class, the court's disposition (GUILTY / REDUCED), the date and the originating report, plus felony / misdemeanour / infraction counts.
  • ** CONVICTED FELON ** when there is a felony conviction on file.
  • Pending charges: filed but not yet adjudicated.
  • Dismissed / acquitted: shown, not hidden. "Charged and cleared" is a different fact from "never charged", and you can see which one you are looking at.
  • Active sentences, including probation and community service. A subject under court supervision is also called out with ** SUBJECT IS ON PROBATION **.
  • With data sharing on, shared-network priors from partner communities (labelled as such).

Click a [#report] to read the report behind a charge. All charges that came from an approved report carry a clickable reference; it opens that report read-only, exactly as filed. A charge whose report has not been approved yet prints REF <number> (UNAPPROVED) as plain text instead and cannot be opened: an unapproved report is visible only to its author and to a supervisor who can approve it, so nobody reads a narrative before the supervisor has signed it off. The same applies to the warrant references in the WANTS / WARRANTS block.

If the court-records lookup fails, the block says COURT RECORDS UNAVAILABLE - RESULT UNKNOWN. That is not a clear record; confirm with dispatch.

Expunged cases never appear here.

Entering property as stolen

A plate, gun or boat return carries records-entry buttons:

  • Enter as Stolen: confirms the property into the CAD. This is what makes a return read STOLEN, flags it red for the next officer, alerts dispatch and lights up ALPR. A BOLO is raised automatically (see Admin).
  • Reject Report: appears when the owner has filed an unconfirmed report; declines it without entering.
  • Clear Stolen Entry: recovered or unfounded. Retires the BOLO the entry raised.

An owner's own report from the civilian portal shows as REPORTED STOLEN BY OWNER - UNCONFIRMED, NOT AN NCIC HIT until an officer confirms it. Treat it as information, not a hit.

Cross-community hits

With data sharing on, returns include out-of-city records, tagged with their source community.

Records Console & eCharging

The Reporting button opens the front door to everything you file, and it offers three destinations:

  • Citation Writer for citations, written warnings and impounds.
  • Crash Writer for collision reports and scene diagrams.
  • Forms for all other report types. This is the Records Console embedded in the MDT: arrests, incidents, DUIs, field interviews, use of force, warrants, supplements and the rest. On an arrest, an arrest or bench warrant, a protection order or a license suspension request, a typed first and last name finds the person the same way the Citation Writer does, so the warrant or order lands on their record.

Citations, written warnings and crashes are not in the Forms list, because the two writers own them. That is deliberate: one purpose-built screen per report type beats the same report filed two different ways.

How the front door looks follows your terminal look:

  • PulseSquare: a Pulse Reporting screen with three buttons, CITATIONWRITER, FORMS and CRASHWRITER. The red close box in the corner is Exit. The writers open as PulseCAD CitationWriter / PulseCAD CrashWriter windows with a row of large command buttons (red Submit), section boxes you can collapse, and required fields tinted pink while they are empty. Forms open in a PulseCAD Forms window with Save, red Save & Submit, Delete Form, Records Console and Exit.
  • PulseMin: a Choose a form: list of links (Citation and Crash Report, then all other forms), with Records Console at the bottom. Writers and forms open as one scrolling form with the labels on the left and a red asterisk on required fields. A blue label is a drop-down that imports a value: a last name or plate from this session's query returns, a location from the call, or the charges picker.
  • PulseField: a Reporting page listing Citation Writer, Crash Writer and Forms, each with an Open button. The writers open in their PulseSquare layout; Forms uses the PulseField reporting look.

In dark mode the PulseSquare and PulseMin writers, the Forms window and the launchers all go dark too. The filed record and its print stay the light paper document.

Printing is in the Records Console

The writers and the forms window have no Print button, in any look: printing from in game causes problems. Open the filed record in the Records Console to print it.

Reporting runs full-screen

While you are in reporting (the launcher, the Records Console, or a writer) the MDT's menu bar, status strip and toolbar rows are hidden so the form gets the whole screen. This matters most on the in-game tablet, where the CAD is a small window. All F-keys still work, and Exit (top of the surface) closes reporting and returns you to the console.

  • Investigation and Probation Record are among the built-in forms. An Investigation is a case file for the work that happens after an incident (status, lead investigator, steps taken, evidence, interviews, findings), kept separate from the incident report itself; it never appears on a person's priors, because its subject is a person of interest rather than someone charged. A Probation Record holds the court's conditions, the check-ins against them and any violations. If neither fits, build your own report type in Admin → Report Forms.
  • New Form launches the report you want and opens the full form editor (real form fields, penal-code charge picker, narrative). Traffic-stop forms pre-fill the vehicle. Add charges from the penal code and fines/points/consequences are computed for you.
  • Drafts are auto-saved and persist ~24 hours across logout, so an unfinished report is still there when you return. A Drafts button shows the count. An open draft's tab is named after the form and the subject's last name once you have one (Arrest - TESTER), otherwise Arrest (2); hover the tab to see when the draft was started.
  • Numbers the server assigns (report, booking, crash, citation and warrant numbers) are not shown on a draft at all. The field appears once the report is filed and the number exists.

Citation Writer and Crash Writer keep what you have typed while you go and do something else. Step out to run another name and come back and the ticket is exactly as you left it, through a page refresh too. It is cleared by three things and only three: filing it, pressing New Ticket / New Report, and signing out, so a filed ticket never seeds the next one, and nothing of yours is waiting for whoever signs in after you.

  • New Ticket / New Report (first button on the toolbar) clears the form and starts a fresh one, re-filling from the call you are on now.
  • Pick Subject and Pick Vehicle sit at the top of the subject, vehicle and registered-owner blocks: they pull a person or a plate straight off one of your recent lookups instead of retyping it.
  • Typing the subject's name works too. When you file, the CAD looks the name up and puts the ticket on that person, so it reaches their portal, their license and the court the same as a picked subject. A date of birth, if you enter one, settles which person it is. If more than one person has the name, nothing is filed and you are asked to choose with Pick Subject. If nobody has it (an NPC, for example), the ticket still files and the confirmation says it is not on anyone's record.
  • Import Call pulls the call you are on onto the report.
  • Officer information is stamped for you: your officer name, callsign and agency, from the unit you are on duty as. It is not editable: the filed record is stamped from your session either way. On a community's own citation or crash template, a section made only of officer fields (Officer Name, Badge / ID, Agency) is shown as this same stamped block rather than as empty boxes.
  • Required fields are tinted while they are empty and carry an asterisk, so you can see what is outstanding before you press Submit.

Citation types. The Citation Type field decides what the document becomes:

Type Fine and points Court date Where it shows up
Citation Applied Yes Priors, criminal history, the defendant's portal for a plea (when court is on)
Fix-It Ticket None No Prior warnings on a lookup, counted as FIX-IT
Written Warning None No Prior warnings on a lookup
Verbal Warning None No Prior warnings on a lookup

A verbal warning is written up in full and kept, but nothing leaves the department: no fine, no points, no licence action, no court. Its value is the next stop: a person lookup with Criminal History ticked shows a PRIOR WARNINGS line with the count, the split between verbal and written, and the date of the last one, so the next officer can see this person has already been warned.

A Fix-It Ticket is for a problem the driver must repair rather than pay for, such as a broken light or expired plates. It always needs the license plate (or VIN), and it has no fine, no points and no court date. It files as a warning, so nothing is enforced. On a person lookup it is counted in the PRIOR WARNINGS line as FIX-IT, next to the verbal and written ones, for example PRIOR WARNINGS: 3 (1 VERBAL, 1 FIX-IT, 1 WRITTEN).

Warnings never show a fine. On a Written Warning, Verbal Warning or Fix-It Ticket the Citation Writer draws no Fine cell and no fine or points totals, and the filed document, the Records viewer and the print show none either. The defendant's portal shows the row as a warning with no amount, and it cannot be pleaded or paid. No points, licence suspension or penalty modifier is applied.

Impounding the vehicle. Tick Vehicle Impounded (on the built-in citation or a community's own template) and the Impound tab opens for the reason, location and fee. The impound is created as soon as the ticket is filed (not when a supervisor approves it), and only when the plate or VIN matches a vehicle registered in your community. A vehicle that is already impounded is not impounded a second time. If a supervisor kicks the ticket back, its impound is removed and filing it again creates it from the corrected tab; voiding the ticket leaves the vehicle impounded. The owner releases it from the Vehicles page of the Civilian Portal.

Voiding a citation also cancels its in-game fine if the game has not collected it yet. Money already taken in game is not refunded. - eCharging (MORE grid) is a fast path to file a citation: find the person, tick charges, add a narrative, file. Points and license actions apply automatically. - PREBOOK / start arrest deep-links open the editor straight onto an Arrest form.

Console tabs:

  • My Reports / All Records: searchable, filterable by type and status.
  • Supervisor Queue: supervisors/admins Approve or Kick Back (with feedback) reports pending approval.
  • Court / Judicial: sign/deny/activate/recall/expunge warrants and adjudicate charges (court-staff roles; usually handled in the unified Court surface).

Signatures: the citation's Delivery Method decides what happens when you file it:

  • In Person, to someone a player controls: the button reads Send for Signature. The defendant signs or refuses on the civilian portal, and the writer shows the answer live (Signed or Refused); press Submit to file it. Officers never sign for the defendant.
  • While you wait, File unsigned stops waiting and files the citation without a signature.
  • In Person to someone no player controls (an NPC, or a record an officer made) simply shows Submit, since nobody could sign it.
  • Mail files straight away and marks the citation MAILED.

On PulseMin the bottom of the form spells out the state: Defendant signature: Waiting for the defendant, the delivery method and the officer.

Warrants auto-file

Filing a warrant report creates the warrant automatically, with no separate request step. Until the court rules on it, the record reads Pending Court, then Signed / Denied. Court is Pulse Pro and up. On a plan without court there is no court step: the warrant is active once its report is approved, or as soon as it is filed if your community has report approval switched off for warrant reports.

Rap sheet & serve-warrant are also reachable straight from a person query return (see above).

Messages

The Msgs inbox (F11) holds direct messages, broadcasts, and query responses; the button flashes on unread and F11 jumps to the newest unread.

Compose lets you address a message several ways at once:

  • To… opens a recipient picker listing all community members, online and offline (offline members receive it on their next login).
  • Type space-separated tokens in the To field: callsigns, a department abbreviation (e.g. BCSO → all on-duty in that agency), or a dispatch zone code. Each resolves to a chip; unknown ones are flagged.
  • Leave addressing blank to broadcast to the whole community.

Replies keep the quoted history and prepend RE: once. High-priority messages are flagged as officer-safety. Send with the button or Alt+Enter.

Unit tools

  • Unit Times: pick a unit to pull its previous calls and time stamps (posts as a query return).
  • Time Stamp: log a timestamped note (foot patrol, meal, report writing…) to your own unit history.
  • Equip Info (MORE grid): look up any unit's capabilities, assignment, and on-foot status.
  • Unit Status summary: all on-duty units with status, location, problem, and call; click a callsign to locate it on the map.

The live map

The map (F1) is a real GTA5 minimap with live units and call pins.

  • Live units move in real time from FiveM GPS. Your own unit is a blue disc in a faint ring, with an arrow that turns with your heading (Fire shows a truck, Tow a hook). Other units are blue: a dot on foot, or a small top-down car, plane, helicopter or boat turned the way it is heading. Each unit's callsign sits in a square tag in its status color, set just off the marker.
  • Units in the same place stay readable. Each dot sits on its unit's real position, even when units are on top of each other (a scene, a station lot, two officers in one car). Only the callsign tags move: each tag takes a free side of its dot (right, left, the corners, then above or below), so a group of units is ringed by their callsigns. Markers also scale with the zoom level, so zooming out shrinks them rather than letting a few units cover a district.
  • Call pins are teardrop pins placed by the call's postal (falling back to stored coordinates) and colored by assignment status: red needs a unit, blue is covered by someone else, green is yours; click one to open the call.
  • Go to postal # search jumps to and drops a pin on any postal.
  • Base layers: the base maps your admins turned on in Admin → Maps (a Pulse Max setting): Los Santos views (Satellite, Atlas, Grid) and Cayo Perico. Only the enabled maps show in the switcher, and the admin's default map view decides which one opens first. A toggleable Postals label overlay (your community's postal pack) sits on top, and a Traffic data DOT overlay is on by default. Your choice is remembered.
  • On PulseSquare the map has a frame: a tool strip down the right edge holds the layers button (shows or hides the layer list) and zoom in / zoom out, and a status bar along the bottom shows your current location (click it to center the map on your unit) and your unit.
  • Opening the map with an active call centers on it; "locate on map" from the Units screen zooms in on a unit.
  • Disconnected or stale units drop off automatically: the blip is hidden after 60 seconds without a position, and the unit is marked disconnected at 90 seconds. When a unit leaves the board without going off duty itself (its game crashed, its console was closed, dispatch logged it off, or it went on duty somewhere else), a call it was the only unit on goes back to pending. Pressing Off Duty yourself still closes a call you were the last unit on.

See Live Map and ALPR.

Right-click menus

Right-click a row on the call queue (F9) or the unit board for its common actions, rather than hunting for the button. It works the same in PulseSquare and PulseMin.

  • On a call: Call Information, Self Assign (or Assist, when another unit is already on it), Make My Unit Responsible, Add Comment, Show on Map, Copy Call Number, Copy Incident Number, Clear With Disposition.
  • On a unit: Message Unit, Unit Times, open the call they are on, Show on Map, Copy Callsign, Copy Phone.

Entries grey out when they do not apply right now (nothing selected, not your call) instead of disappearing, so the menu keeps the same shape. Everything in it is also reachable from a button or a key - the menu is a shortcut, never the only way to do something.

Terminal looks: PulseField and PulseMin

Besides PulseSquare, the MDT comes in two more looks. Pick one under More → Terminal Look, or your department's admins set the default in Admin → Departments. The login screen and Reporting follow the look you are on.

PulseField wears police navy. Across the top are More, Back, a big tile with your status code and call number, then Map (F1), Display Call (F8), Traffic Stop (F10), FG (F4), Plate (F5), Person (F6), Queries (F7), Msgs (F11), Reporting (F3), Call Queue (F9) and PANIC (with Ctrl+Shift+P printed under it). Your statuses run down the left as full-width bars with their codes (Enroute, On Scene, Code 4 / OK on F2, Transport, 2nd Location, Clear, Out of Service, Clear w/Dispo on F12), with Units and Blackout Screen under them. The map screen puts Events and Units cards beside the live map, and a call opens as a Dispatch Report with Plate Lookup and Person Lookup on it. More holds all More grid actions with their Ctrl/Shift/Alt key shown, plus the menu bar's items. Reporting (F3) opens a list of Citation Writer, Crash Writer and Forms, each with Open; the writers keep their PulseSquare layout.

PulseMin is not just a repaint: the call queue and unit board are its home screen, and calls, queries, messages and reports open as screens in their place, one at a time. Back (or Esc) returns to the call queue and unit board.

Everything you can do on the PulseSquare console you can do here - the F-keys are unchanged, MORE is still available, and nothing about a call, a status or a report is recorded differently. See Customization.

Ride along

Two or more officers in one car can all work the CAD for that car. Everyone goes on duty as normal, as their own unit, then the units are combined into one.

  1. In the car you are driving, open More and press Ride Along (PERSONNEL/UNIT).
  2. Pick your partner's unit. Only units from your own department are listed.
  3. Optionally type a callsign for the car (for example UNION 1). Leave it blank to keep yours.
  4. Press Request. Your partner gets an Accept / Decline prompt on their MDT. If they don't answer within 60 seconds it declines on its own. If they decline, nothing changes and you both keep your own callsigns.

Once combined:

  • Your partner's unit leaves the board, but they stay signed in. Dispatch sees one unit with both names.
  • Both MDTs show the same car: same callsign, status and call. The status strip reads Unit: UNION 1 +1; tap +1 to see who is in the car.
  • Either of you can change the car's status, add notes and run queries. Everything is logged as the car.
  • In-game panic, traffic stops and call blips act on the car too.

To split up, open More and press Split Unit (the Ride Along tile changes to this while you are combined). Everyone goes back to their own callsign, and the call stays with the car. If the driver goes off duty first, the car carries on with the partner, still on its call.

A partner who is on a different call has to clear it before you can combine. Dispatch can also combine and split units from the board (see Dispatch).

MORE grid, dark mode & blackout

  • More opens a grid of extra actions grouped as LINKS (Reporting), MISCELLANEOUS (Find Address, Modify Login, Dark Mode, Reset Columns, Out of Vehicle, Logout), PERSONNEL/UNIT (Vehicle/Personnel Search, Unit Times, Unit Status, Activity Log Entry, Ride Along), INCIDENT (Primary Unit, Generate Case #, Incident Search, Change Address, Change Problem), QUERY (Boat Check, GUN), REFERENCE (Penal Code, Road Conditions), LOOK (PulseSquare, PulseField or PulseMin, with your department's default marked) and MY LINKS. Small groups run as a single column so the panel stays narrow.
  • Night (MORE grid) or the title-bar toggle switches the terminal between light and dark mode.
  • Blackout Screen darkens the whole terminal ("tap anywhere to wake"), handy to hide the CAD without logging off.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts fire the on-screen buttons (they're ignored while you're typing in a field, except Escape).

Key Action
F1 Map
F2 OK / Code 4 (OK)
F3 Reporting
F4 Field Generate (FG)
F5 Plate query
F6 Person query
F7 Queries / latest return
F8 Display current call
F9 Call Queue
F10 Traffic Stop (TRS)
F11 Messages / latest unread
F12 Clear w/ Disposition
Esc Close the top modal / MORE grid

Status shortcuts are still gated

F2 (OK, an on-call status) only takes effect when you're assigned to an incident, the same rule as the toolbar buttons. On Scene is auto-set on arrival, so it keeps no hotkey of its own.

Officer distress (panic)

If an officer triggers panic (in game with the panic key or /panic, from the PANIC button on the MDT's status bar, or with Ctrl+Shift+P), all MDTs show a flashing red OFFICER DISTRESS banner with the callsign, location and the call's daily number until acknowledged (ACK), and plays a tone. The banner survives a page refresh: it is rebuilt from the units still in panic, and stays acknowledged once you have pressed ACK unless that unit raises panic again. A dispatcher can also request a status check, and you'll get a banner with a CODE 4 · I'M OK button that clears it and notifies dispatch.

In-game link

In-game panic, live GPS, and ALPR (a Pulse Pro plugin) all flow from the in-game resource once your character is linked (see Going on duty). Full details in FiveM Integration.