Reporting clearly with SALUTE and the W-questions

What is a SALUTE report?

A SALUTE report is an observation report whose content follows a fixed scheme from US Army training. The scheme is documented in Army manuals from FM 21-75 (1984) to the Ranger Handbook (TC 3-21.76, 2025 edition); the latter requires reporting all information "quickly, completely, and accurately" using the SALUTE format.

In the soldier's manual STP 21-1-SMCT (2017), SALUTE is explicitly described as an aid for the observer, so that they report the essential details. The Army uses it for the Spot Report, a report of observations that are needed immediately.

Outside the military, SALUTE is rarely documented: a flyer on the website of the Riverside County Fire Department in California recommends it for reporting suspicious behaviour to the police – with the addition that you should not put yourself in danger and should not investigate yourself. No Swiss authority using SALUTE is known. The Swiss Army does train in "observe, report, sketch" (translated from German), but a SALUTE scheme is not documented there.

In Swiss Standard German, such a report is also called a Rapport: the Duden dictionary lists "rapportieren", in the sense of "to make a report" (translated from German), as Swiss usage.

A fixed scheme has a practical advantage: the emergency communications guide of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) recommends preformatted messages, because they are transmitted faster and are less prone to error. SALUTE is for reporting what you have observed anyway – not for deliberately watching or investigating.

What do the six letters stand for?

Each of SALUTE's six letters stands for a piece of information with its own guiding question – from the number to the equipment. Already the Army manual FM 21-75 (1984) requires that a report answer the questions who, what, where and when; the manual TC 3-21.75 (2013) assigns a question to each SALUTE line: who, what, where, who, when and how.

On the U, the Army itself is inconsistent: the newest editions – FM 6-99 (2021), ATP 3-21.8 (2024) and the Ranger Handbook (2025) – resolve it as "Unit"; TC 3-21.75 (2013) writes "uniform" in the text but "(U)nit/Who" in its own table. For a civilian report, what counts is what is visible: if the unit is unknown, already FM 21-75 (1984) calls for reporting identifying features, and STP 21-1-SMCT (2017) explicitly names uniforms and vehicle markings.

What a filled-in report looks like is shown by the Ranger Handbook (2025) in table 2-7: six lines with the number of people, direction of movement, a map coordinate, the uniform with insignia, a date-time entry, and the equipment carried. The U line is labelled "UNIT / UNIFORM" there.

The Californian civilian version from the Riverside flyer interprets U as "Unique identification", i.e. as a description of the person, and T as date, time and duration. In Switzerland, the police ask for similar information under the heading of a description; the Thurgau cantonal police, for example, ask for the number and sex of the people, height and build, clothing, distinguishing features such as tattoos or scars, the vehicle and the direction of travel.

For beginners: count instead of describing vaguely – "four people" instead of "a group". If you have to estimate, say so: "about twenty, estimated".

Expert tip: without a map, give the location as a distance and direction from a known point – FM 21-75 gives the example "300 meters south of the Ken River Bridge"; if there is movement, state from where to where. With a map or app, give the Swiss coordinates (LV95): easting and northing, in metres.

Safety first: observe, don't follow

A SALUTE report is built from what you see anyway from a safe distance; it is never a reason to move closer, follow someone, or stay in a dangerous place.

In the case of suspicious observations, the Bern cantonal police advise: "Do not put yourself in danger. Always keep a safe distance." (translated from German) and "Report your observations immediately on number 112 or 117" (translated from German). The Swiss Crime Prevention organisation writes, for the case that someone catches burglars in the act: "Withdraw quickly and call the police (117)" (translated from German). The Basel-Stadt cantonal police write briefly about the 117 emergency number: "Do not intervene – e.g. in the case of a break-in" (translated from German).

In acute danger, the order Run – Hide – Tell applies: you alert the police on 117 as soon as you are safe yourself; fedpol writes on this: "Your own safety always takes priority" (translated from German). Even after a violent incident, witnesses help the police with exactly this kind of information – get safe first, then report. How to behave in such a situation is explained in the guide Protection in terror & violence.

Filming replaces neither withdrawing nor reporting. According to the Basel-Stadt cantonal police, you leave recordings that can help clarify an incident to the police; identifiable people have, according to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), a right to their own image.

For beginners: for vehicles, the Bern cantonal police ask for the licence plate, colour, make, model, anything noticeable and the direction of travel. Memorise the licence plate and direction first.

Expert tip: write down the time of the observation before you phone – what's asked is when something happened, not when you call.

1. Keep your distance: don't do anything that puts you in danger – not even to read a licence plate better.
2. Don't follow anyone, don't restrain or confront anyone.
3. Report immediately, even if information is still missing: the dispatch centre will ask for what's missing.
4. Better to report once too often than once too rarely – that's how the Bern and Thurgau cantonal police put it.
5. Describe behaviour, not groups of people: what is suspicious is what someone does.
6. Separate observation from assumption: "two people are pressing door handles" is an observation, "burglars" is an interpretation.

Examples: SALUTE in everyday life

Three invented example reports show how SALUTE organises an observation in Switzerland: as a witness report on the phone, as a situation report over PMR446 radio, and as a written message given to a messenger.

Example 1 – witness report to police 117: one Thursday evening you see through the window two people pressing door handles at several houses on your street and then getting back into a van. You stay inside, note the key points, and dial 117. Your note following SALUTE: "S: two people, a van. A: pressing door handles at several entrances, getting back in. L: Lindenweg in Musterwil, first at number 4, then at number 8; the vehicle is heading towards the station. U: one person in a red jacket and cap, one in a dark rain jacket; no markings on the vehicle. T: observed from 21:35 to 21:40. E: white van, licence plate starting with ZH, rest illegible."

On the phone, the dispatch centre leads the conversation: the Basel-Stadt cantonal police, for example, ask on 117 first what happened, then where and when. You answer from your note, in the order you're asked, and also say what you weren't able to identify.

Example 2 – situation report over PMR446 in the neighbourhood: after a thunderstorm, the households of a neighbourhood report in as arranged beforehand on the shared PMR446 channel; Jonas collects the reports. Nora radios: "For Jonas from Nora, report: two trees are lying across Waldstrasse, 100 metres past the turn-off to the sports field, no way through for cars. Observed at 18:10. Birkenweg 7, everyone unhurt, no power. Detour via Bahnhofstrasse, over." Jonas acknowledges: "Jonas, report received, over." Nora closes: "Received, out."

In example 2, S, A, L and T are in the first two sentences; U and E stay empty, because there are neither people nor vehicles to describe. You leave out points without content – the Army soldier's manual STP 21-1-SMCT (2017) also allows lines to be left out in an emergency. The detour suggestion stands separately at the end, just as the Army's SPOTREP form carries the assessment and free text on their own lines after the observations. The acknowledgement "report received" follows the communication rules of the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP). If someone is injured or in danger, the emergency call comes first; neighbourhood radio does not replace it.

Example 3 – written message given to a messenger: the next morning, power and the mobile network are still down on Birkenweg. Nora writes to her sister Sara in the neighbouring village and gives the note to Jonas, who's heading there anyway – with the clear instruction to hand it only to Sara and bring back her reply. The header follows the civil protection message form (recipient, sender, date, time, subject, content, signature); the text gives the times of the events, the header the time it was written. The note:

1. To: Sara Keller, Musterberg
2. From: Nora Keller, Birkenweg 7, Musterwil
3. Date and time: Sunday, 15.03., 08:15
4. Subject: situation on Birkenweg after the storm
5. Message: Waldstrasse blocked since yesterday 18:10 by two fallen trees, detour via Bahnhofstrasse. Birkenweg without power or mobile network since yesterday 18:30. All four of us unhurt, supplies are sufficient.
6. Next contact: today at 17:00 at the agreed meeting point.
7. Signature: Nora Keller

The W-questions: how an emergency call works in Switzerland

The W-questions are six questions for the emergency call: Where? Who? What? When? How many? Anything else? For emergency calls, these six W-questions are the pattern practised in Switzerland: you learn them in the first-aid course, and in the canton of Thurgau, the cantonal emergency call centre and the cantonal police list the same six questions in the same order.

The course is mandatory for anyone registering for the basic theory exam for a learner's permit in categories A, B, A1 or B1 (Road Traffic Admission Ordinance, Art. 10, with exceptions, for example for doctors). The course norm, which courses follow according to the Federal Roads Office, lists the six questions under the German heading "Meldevorgang (gemäss Anweisungen der Notrufzentralen)". The Swiss documents themselves don't speak of "W-questions" (German term: "W-Fragen"): the course norm speaks of Meldevorgang (reporting process), the dispatch centres and Samaritans of Meldeschema or Abfrageschema (reporting pattern or questioning protocol). The course content is being revised; introduction is planned for 1 January 2027 (as of September 2026).

The dispatch centres ask along a similar pattern and lead the conversation: you don't need to recite the questions in the right order, just answer calmly and completely. The city of Zurich speaks of a standardised questioning protocol; the 144 medical emergency service for central Switzerland says it "takes over leading the conversation" (translated from German). In Basel-Stadt, the dispatch centre already triggers the alerting of response resources during the phone call.

Order and number of the questions differ by dispatch centre; the location comes first almost every time. The Rega (1414) asks for the location, who is reachable, what happened, the number of people affected, the situation on site and the weather. The Basel-Stadt cantonal police name, for 117, first what happened, then the location and time; for 118 and 144 they ask for the location, the callback number and the event. The Swiss Samaritans understand "anything else" (translated from German) as the question about particular hazards.

Only hang up once the dispatch centre ends the call. Rettung St. Gallen explains this by the fact that this way all information important for the response is available, and advises deactivating the voicemail on your mobile phone so the dispatch centre can call back. The Swiss Samaritans write: "Only end the call once you have been confirmed to have been understood" (translated from German).

Switzerland's emergency numbers are 117 (police), 118 (fire brigade), 144 (ambulance) and 1414 (Rega); in the canton of Valais you alert via 144 for mountain emergencies. The European emergency number 112 connects, according to ch.ch, to the police alarm centre. The organisation Notrufe Schweiz states that 117, 118 and 144 are to be used for police, fire brigade and ambulance service; a call to 112 is forwarded to the responsible dispatch centre, with any resulting delay accepted.

Example – the same storm as an emergency call to 144: on Waldstrasse a branch has struck a cyclist; he has fallen and is responsive. Luca arrives, stays outside the area where further branches might fall, dials 144 and answers the dispatch centre's questions, roughly in this order:

For beginners: remember above all "location first" – the dispatch centre will ask for the rest.

Expert tip: in the mountains, give the Rega the location with coordinates, canton, locality, place name and prominent landmarks – that's what the Rega's alerting fact sheet states.

1. Where? – "Waldstrasse in Musterwil, 100 metres past the turn-off to the sports field."
2. Who? – "Luca Meier, I can be reached at this mobile number."
3. What? – "A branch has struck a cyclist, he's fallen and has severe pain in his leg."
4. When? – "About five minutes ago, at 18:20."
5. How many? – "One injured person."
6. Anything else? – "Two trees are lying across the road, no car can get through from the village side."
7. After that, follow the dispatch centre's instructions and only hang up once it ends the call.

SALUTE or W-questions – when do you use which?

SALUTE and the W-questions aren't mutually exclusive: the W-questions carry you through an emergency call where the dispatch centre asks; SALUTE organises an observation you have to formulate yourself – on the radio, on a note, or as a memo before calling.

On the radio, every transmission starts with who you're calling and who you are; the Rega's example for emergency radio is "Rega from Urs, mountain accident, 900 metres south of the Mattstock, over" (translated from German). That's why, on the radio, the who comes first, while on the phone the dispatch centre usually asks for the location first.

Civil protection also works with a questioning pattern: the message form in the FOCP's Command Support manual asks "Wann? Wer? Was? Wie? Wo? Wie ist die Umwelt?" (When? Who? What? How? Where? What is the environment like?) – in a different order from the first-aid course, and for work at the command centre, not for callers.

Expert tip: in the Army's SPOTREP form (FM 6-99, 2021 edition), lines 3 to 8 carry the names of the six SALUTE points, without the word SALUTE appearing on the form; the report time is on line 1, the observation time on line 7, the assessment follows on line 9. This separation of observation, timing and interpretation is worthwhile for civilian reports too.

1. You dial 117, 118, 144 or 1414: answer the dispatch centre's questions; a note following SALUTE helps you not to forget anything.
2. You're reporting without a dispatch centre – by radio, note or messenger: build the report following SALUTE and leave out empty points.
3. You're passing on someone else's report: change nothing, but pass it on word for word, with sender and time.

Passing on a report without distorting it

Passing on a report means delivering it to the next recipient exactly as you received it – complete, word for word, and with its origin. In experiments on oral transmission, around 70 percent of the details were lost after five to six stages; names of people and places almost always dropped out or were distorted (Allport and Postman, 1947). In experiments on written transmission from memory, the content changed substantially, while participants were sometimes convinced they had passed on the essentials almost unchanged (Bartlett, 1932).

What matters is where a piece of information comes from. The Federal Office for Civil Protection rates information, in its situation aid, on four levels: confirmed, observed by the source, heard and confirmed, heard but not confirmed. So when passing something on, say whether the sender saw it themselves or only heard about it.

You don't pass on rumours as fact. The IARU's emergency communications guide warns against becoming the source of a rumour yourself, and requires that estimates be clearly marked as estimates – for example "an estimated twelve houses damaged".

Not every report is read back: under the civil protection communication rules, the recipient of an ordinary report acknowledges with "understood" (translated from German); anyone relaying a report via an intermediate station (transit) repeats it in full and receives "correct" (translated from German) before passing it on. For everyday use, that means: whoever is to pass on a report reads it back to the sender.

1. Receive: listen or read the note while the sender is still there, and ask immediately if anything is unclear.
2. Write it down: note the report immediately – with date, time, who it's from and, if stated, when what was observed happened.
3. Read it back: read the note back to the sender in full and only pass it on once they confirm it with "correct"; if there's an error, they say "wrong, I repeat" and repeat the part concerned.
4. State the origin: start the handover with the sender and time, for example "Report from Nora Keller, observed at 18:10: …", and say whether she saw it herself or only heard about it.
5. Pass it on word for word: leave nothing out, embellish nothing, "correct" nothing; only the sender can clarify what seems wrong.
6. Note it down: record on the note when and to whom you passed on the report, and keep the note.

Common mistakes

Typical mistakes when reporting and passing things on concern time, number, location, interpretation, ending the call, and origin; each can be avoided with a simple rule.

1. Giving the time of the report instead of the observation: what's being asked is when you saw something.
2. Describing vaguely instead of counting: "a group" or "lots" says little; "four people" or "about ten, estimated" helps more.
3. Reporting an assumption as fact: describe what someone is doing, and mark assumptions as assumptions.
4. Naming the location without a reference point: "near the forest" won't help anyone find it; give distance and direction from a known point, or coordinates.
5. Waiting until everything is clear: report immediately – the dispatch centre will ask about what's missing.
6. Hanging up too soon: the dispatch centre ends the call, not you.
7. Following someone or filming to see more: distance comes before completeness.
8. Shortening or embellishing when passing something on: pass it on word for word, with sender and time.
9. Presenting hearsay as your own observation: always say whether you saw or heard it.

Practise: how the scheme becomes a habit

A reporting scheme can be practised in everyday life, without equipment and in a few minutes – with the family, in the neighbourhood, or alone.

For beginners: put a note with the six W-questions and the six SALUTE points next to the phone and in the emergency bag.

Expert tip: check your reporting chain from time to time with a test message that loops back to the sender. According to the guidelines of the American amateur radio message network (ARRL National Traffic System), such a test can be worthwhile, because retransmission introduces errors that hardly anyone would otherwise notice.

1. Describe a scene: one person describes an everyday scene in one minute following SALUTE, for example a building site – how many people, what they're doing, where exactly, how they're identifiable, since when, which machines.
2. Chinese-whispers test: a short report is passed on orally through three or four people; then compare the result with the original. Then do the same with a note and reading it back.
3. Radio test in the neighbourhood: pass on a made-up situation report on the agreed PMR446 channel and have it acknowledged with "report received".
4. Practise the emergency call dry: for a made-up situation, run through the six W-questions – without dialling a number.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Radio: Sending an emergency call by radio Mayday and Pan-Pan, when there's no phone
• Radio: Meeting points & messengers Handing a message to a messenger, agreeing meeting points
• Radio: PMR446 & CB Licence-free radio for family and neighbourhood
• First aid: Accident Look – Think – Act and the 144 emergency call
• Guide: Alert in mountain emergencies Rega 1414, coordinates and what you report
• Guide: Protection in terror & violence Run – Hide – Tell
• Scenario: Terror & violence Warning signs and assessing the threat
• Guide: Map and compass Giving your position as an LV95 coordinate
• Guide: Spotting disinformation Checking rumours before you pass them on
• Guide: Family emergency plan Agreeing reporting routes and meeting points in advance
• Emergency contacts All of Switzerland's emergency numbers at a glance
• US Army: Ranger Handbook (TC 3-21.76, 2025) SALUTE format in para 2-16 and table 2-7 (archived original file)
• US Army: FM 21-75 (1984), chapter 6 "What to Report": the six points explained (transcript)
• ASTRA First-aid course norm: the six W-questions
• Bern cantonal police Reporting suspicious behaviour: safe distance, 117 or 112
• Canton of Basel-Stadt Emergency calls 117, 118 and 144: what the dispatch centre asks
• Rettung St. Gallen Emergency call 144: location first, the dispatch centre ends the call
• Rega Alerting fact sheet 1414: where, who, what, how many, situation, weather
• ch.ch Switzerland's emergency numbers and the 112
• FOCP Radio communication rules aid: understood, correct, transit
• FOCP Deployment situation aid: seen or only heard?
• IARU Emergency communications guide (2016): pass on messages verbatim