What is a guard logbook (Wachbuch)?

A guard logbook contains fixed entries per shift: start and end of duty with names, handover to the relief, patrols with time and checkpoints, irregularities such as open doors, alarms, unauthorised persons or damage, and instructions from the client. Towards the client it proves that the contracted service was delivered; in tenders and insurance claims it is the evidence. At sites with several posts, each post keeps its own book or section.

Paper logbooks have three weaknesses: they can be altered afterwards, they sit at the site rather than at head office, and they cannot be analysed. Digital logbooks with NFC or QR checkpoints create timestamps automatically, make patrols visible to the client and keep entries tamper-proof. The industry is following: according to the Lünendonk study 2026, 86 % of security providers expect AI to be standard within two to three years, with quality assurance and workforce scheduling named as fields of use (rationell reinigen, 30 Sept 2026, as of 10/2026). Clients, too, increasingly ask for digital evidence, such as patrol reports in a portal instead of by fax.

Incidents are the heart of the record. An incident entry needs time, place, people involved, description, action taken and the report to the client. The more complete the entry, the more robust it is when questions arise. Gaps usually appear where a report comes in by phone, for instance to the dispatcher on call, and is only written up from memory hours later. Clients often check entries weeks later, when a loss is reported; then what counts is what was documented promptly.

This is where automated first-line intake helps. When an employee, client or passer-by reports an incident by phone, Empfango answers the call, records site, location, type of incident and callback number and notifies the on-call team via WhatsApp or Telegram. Transcript and summary are in the dashboard and can be carried over into the incident record. With the partner product LiteLog, reports land directly in the LiteLog portal next to the patrol data; Empfango also works without LiteLog. Every conversation starts with a fixed AI announcement, and audio is not stored permanently.

For clients this means they can ask by phone whether the patrol has been completed without disturbing the dispatcher, see client information line. Which evidence a client may demand depends on the transferred operator obligations. Everything about use in guarding: AI phone assistant for security services. Which details Empfango asks for in an incident is something you define per assistant.