Officer Field Guide

For patrol, FTOs, detectives, and fire/EMS crews working in the field. Everything on this page assumes you've already linked your account and gone on duty.

The MDT

There are two in-game MDT surfaces, both signed in as you and both the real Kestrel web app in an overlay — not a separate, cut-down mobile app:

• Mobile MDT — your in-game phone. Open it with /kmdt (your server's configured command name may differ — ask your admin).
• Vehicle MDT — your vehicle's onboard computer. Open it with /kvmdt while in the driver's seat (or front/any seat, depending on your server's configuration).

Press Escape to close either. Both require you to be linked and on duty; if either isn't true yet, they won't open.

Both surfaces share the same set of sections, tabbed across the top:

Tab	What it's for
Home	Self status bar (current status, callsign, current call, one tap to change status)
Calls	Active calls board
Units	On-duty roster
Search	Universal search — look up a person, plate, or property. Probably the control you'll use the most. Results show license/registration status and a safety-flag pill if there's an active warrant or BOLO
Records	Full civilian/vehicle record view, opened straight from a search result
Map	Live positions and your assigned waypoint
BOLO	Active BOLOs — hidden for Fire/EMS, see below
Reports	Start a new report or pick up a draft — see RMS & Incident Reports

The Mobile and Vehicle MDT surfaces additionally get Traffic Stop and Stop & Search tabs (see below); Cases, a read-only case browser, is also device-only. The desktop web app (a plain browser tab) doesn't need either — it already has the full Records and RMS sections a click away.

Fire and EMS get the same shell, with "crew"/apparatus framing in place of enforcement language, but there's no dedicated patient-care data model today — an EMS report uses the same report structure as everyone else. The BOLO tab and the post-close report prompt are both hidden for Fire/EMS, since neither applies to that kind of call.

Traffic stops and field contacts

Starting a Traffic Stop (from the MDT, or automatically if your server runs ERS callouts — see below) creates a CAD call at your location and self-assigns your unit to it, with a live elapsed-time counter. From there you can:

• Look up a subject — the same search you'd use anywhere else, right inside the stop.
• Log a search — a toggle plus a reason and result, for a Stop & Search (a search conducted during the stop, distinct from starting the stop itself).
• Post notes to the call's timeline as things develop.
• Issue Citation or Make Arrest — once you've looked someone up, both open the same forms used from a civilian's record, pre-filled and linked back to this stop.

Ending the stop requires picking an outcome — Warning, Citation, Arrest, No Action, or Other — which closes the underlying call, and (per your department's report policy) may prompt you to start an RMS report.

tip

A field contact doesn't automatically link back to any RMS report you file afterward — if a stop turns into a full case, mention the stop in the report's narrative yourself rather than expecting the two to connect on their own.

Linking people and vehicles to a call

From an active call, you can attach a civilian with a role — Victim, Suspect, Witness, Reporting Party, Person of Interest, or Other — and attach a vehicle (no role concept for vehicles, just a link). Either one shows a flag immediately if it's carrying an active warrant or BOLO, the same safety-flag pill you'd see from a plain search.

Closing a call

Close your active call with a disposition code from your department's list. Depending on your department's report policy, this either lets you close immediately, requires a report to already exist first, or prompts you to start one — see RMS & Incident Reports for what happens next.

Backup and navigation

• Request Backup, from the active call card, alerts dispatch and other units that you need help — it's a real dispatch-visible signal, not just a chat message.
• GPS Navigate / Set Waypoint sends an in-game waypoint to a call or a search result's location, from inside the MDT — this is separate from the automatic waypoint you get when dispatch assigns you a call (below), useful when you want to head somewhere dispatch hasn't sent you.

In-game commands

These work from the chat box while you're linked and on duty (/kestrellink and /kestrelclaim are the exceptions — see below).

Command	Does
/runplate <plate> (alias /10-28)	Vehicle lookup, printed to chat.
/runid <firstname> <lastname> (alias /10-27)	Person lookup, printed to chat — may return more than one match for a common name.
/warrantcheck <firstname> <lastname> [dob] (alias /10-29)	Check a person for an active warrant, printed to chat.
/citation <plate|-> <firstname> <lastname> <dob:YYYY-MM-DD> <statutecode> <description...>	Issue a citation. Use - for plate if it isn't vehicle-related.
/arrest <firstname> <lastname> <dob:YYYY-MM-DD> <statutecode> <description...> (alias /10-95)	Book an arrest (single charge per call).
/bolo <plate|-> <firstname|-> <lastname|-> <dob:YYYY-MM-DD|-> <severity> <scope> <description...>	Issue a BOLO. severity is LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, or ARMED_DANGEROUS; scope is DEPARTMENT or COMMUNITY. Give a plate, a full name+DOB, or both — - for whichever half you're skipping.
/bolocheck <plate|-> <firstname|-> <lastname|->	Check for an active BOLO matching a plate and/or name, printed to chat.
/kestrelclaim	Links your own auto-created civilian record to your account so it shows up in your Civilian Portal. Doesn't require on-duty — your civilian record already exists the moment your character loads, this just claims it.

tip

Your server's admin can rename the MDT commands (/kmdt//kvmdt above) via configuration, but the rest of this table is fixed — if a command here doesn't respond at all, check FAQ & Troubleshooting before assuming it's been renamed.

Things that happen without a command

• Live position — reported automatically every few seconds while you're linked and on duty, and shows up as a live marker on the dispatcher's map. Stops the moment you go off duty.
• GPS waypoint on assignment — when dispatch assigns you to a call (or moves the pin on one you're already on), you get a chat message and an in-game waypoint automatically. Clearing your assignment clears the waypoint too. This needs your community's map configured for real in-game coordinates — ask your admin if you're not seeing it.
• Radio signal readout — a small corner HUD (RADIO: 82% GOOD) shows your current signal quality against your community's tower/zone setup, appearing whenever it drops below excellent. This is a signal-quality simulation only — it doesn't touch your actual voice audio. Real two-way voice radio is a separate resource (kestrel-radio); ask your admin whether your server runs it.

If your server runs ERS callouts

Communities running night_ers callouts alongside Kestrel get some of this handled for you automatically:

• Accepting a callout creates a 911 call at the callout's location and attaches your unit to it — the call moves straight to active and you to en route, no extra step needed.
• Turning your lights/siren on during a routine stop creates a traffic-stop call too, so dispatch and other units can see you're occupied even if it never turns into anything bigger.
• A stop that turns into a pursuit automatically appends a note to that call (e.g. "Subject making off on foot") as it escalates.
• The first ped or vehicle you interact with on a stop or pursuit gets automatically checked against active warrants and BOLOs — you'll get a chat message if there's a hit, the same as if you'd run /bolocheck yourself.
• When a flagged ped/vehicle is involved, a BOLO is issued for you automatically (severity follows the flag — an armed_and_dangerous ped becomes ARMED_DANGEROUS, a stolen vehicle becomes HIGH, and so on). A fleeing but otherwise-unflagged subject still gets one, just at your server's configured fallback severity.
• Ending the callout resolves any BOLOs it created for you along the way.

For quick citations/arrests tied to whoever you just interacted with in-game, without needing to type out their name and DOB yourself:

/erscite <statute code>
/ersarrest <statute code> [statute code...]

These attach to the ped or vehicle you most recently interacted with in night_ers (within a couple of minutes) — you only supply the statute code(s). Ask your admin for your department's actual statute codebook if you're not sure what to use.

If your server runs ANPR cameras

If your community runs the ANPR camera network, you won't interact with it directly — it's an automated system, not something you command. Just know that any vehicle on an active BOLO gets flagged the moment it passes a camera, reporting straight to dispatch's map and alert feed. It's one more reason a BOLO you issue with an accurate plate is worth getting right.