Security & investigations

How to write a security incident report with AI, straight from CCTV footage

Turn camera exports from an incident window into a timestamped incident report: what happened, in what order, and which clips prove it.

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About 15 minutes after uploadSecurity operations · Loss prevention · Facilities and corporate securityUpdated October 22, 2026

A dated event timeline with video thumbnails on alternating stems, one event highlighted in coral.

Quick answer: how to write a security incident report with AI, straight from CCTV footage

1.Create the "incident-review" index. An index keeps this workflow's footage, searches and reports together.
2.Upload the footage. Upload every camera export that covers the incident window, about 30 minutes either side.
3.Let Ceptory index it. Scenes, objects, speech and on-screen text are mapped onto one timeline.
4.Find the moments in plain language. Search for the entry, the act, and the exit separately, then for any vehicle involved.
5.Generate the incident report with AI. The prompt asks for a summary, a timestamped timeline, people and vehicles, evidence clips, and open questions.
6.Review, export and share. Attach the report and the evidence-clip timestamps to the case or ticket; keep the original exports as the record.

What you'll end up with

What to include in an incident report

A structured incident report with a summary, a timestamped timeline, descriptions of people and vehicles, the evidence clips to review, and what the footage cannot confirm.

01SummaryThree or four sentences on what happened, where, and when.
02TimelineEvery observed action in order, with timestamp and camera.
03People and vehiclesClothing, color and direction of travel, without guessing identities.
04Evidence clipsThe moments an investigator should review, and why each matters.
05Open questionsWhat the footage does not show or cannot confirm.

Free template

Incident report template and AI prompt

Copy the template to fill in by hand, or the prompt to have Ceptory write the report from your footage.

Incident report template

# Incident report

Site / index: ____________   Period covered: ____________   Prepared by: ____________

## 1. Summary
Three or four sentences on what happened, where, and when.

## 2. Timeline
Every observed action in order, with timestamp and camera.

## 3. People and vehicles
Clothing, color and direction of travel, without guessing identities.

## 4. Evidence clips
The moments an investigator should review, and why each matters.

## 5. Open questions
What the footage does not show or cannot confirm.

AI prompt Ceptory runs

You are preparing an incident report for a security investigation. Using the footage in this index, write:

1. Summary: three or four sentences describing what happened, where, and when.
2. Timeline: a table with columns Timestamp (HH:MM:SS), Camera or clip, and Observed action, in chronological order.
3. People and vehicles: describe each distinct person or vehicle by clothing, color, and direction of travel. Do not guess identities.
4. Evidence clips: the moments an investigator should review first, with timestamps and one line on why each matters.
5. Open questions: what the footage does not show or cannot confirm.

Only describe what is visible or audible. Mark anything uncertain as "unconfirmed".

Step by step

How to create an incident report with Ceptory

Step 1
Create the "incident-review" index
- Open New → New index and name it incident-review. The dashboard prefills the name when you start from the guide.
- Add a short description so teammates know what belongs in it: "Camera exports for incident investigations, one incident window per upload."
- Keep one index per workflow or site. Search and analysis run inside a single index, so mixing unrelated footage makes results noisier.
Tip: Already have footage indexed? Pick that index in the guide instead of creating a new one.
Step 2
Upload the footage
- Open New → Upload videos, choose the index, and drop in MP4, MOV or WebM files (4 seconds to 1 hour each, up to 2 GB per file).
- Upload every camera export that covers the incident window, about 30 minutes either side.
- Keep the original file names. Camera names and timestamps in file names make the report easier to trace back to the source.
What to upload
- Every camera that covers the incident location and the routes in and out of it.
- A window of about 30 minutes before and after the reported time, so the lead-up and exit are on record.
- Exports at native resolution, with the camera name and start time in each file name.
Tip: Exporting from an NVR or VMS? Export the native resolution; Ceptory reads 360p to 4K.
Step 3
Let Ceptory index it
- Each video moves from Uploading to Processing to Ready. Indexing usually takes a fraction of the video's running time.
- You can upload more files while earlier ones process. The guide checks this step off as soon as one video is ready.
- Indexed minutes count against your free allowance first, then your prepaid balance.
Step 4
Find the moments in plain language
- Open the index's Search tab and describe what you're looking for the way you'd say it out loud. The guide pre-fills a starter query.
- Search for the entry, the act, and the exit separately, then for any vehicle involved.
- Each result is a time range you can play on the spot. Note the timestamps of the moments that belong in the report.
Searches to start with
“person entering through the rear door”“someone carrying a large box out of the building”“vehicle stopping at the loading dock”“person in a dark hoodie near the gate”
Tip: Search by appearance and action ("person in a dark jacket carrying a box"), not by names or identities.
Step 5
Generate the incident report with AI
- Open the Analyze tab. The guide pre-fills a report prompt that asks for the exact sections below, in a fixed order.
- The prompt asks for a summary, a timestamped timeline, people and vehicles, evidence clips, and open questions.
- Analyze runs on the most recently processed video in the index, so run it once per clip that matters, or upload one combined export of the window you care about.
Tip: Edit the prompt freely: add your site name, shift times, or the format your team already files.
Step 6
Review, export and share
- Read the report against the clips. AI output is a draft for a person to confirm, never a final finding.
- Attach the report and the evidence-clip timestamps to the case or ticket; keep the original exports as the record.
- Use Copy to paste into email or a ticket, or Download to save a Markdown file you can attach or convert to PDF.
- To run this on a schedule, call POST /api/v1/indexes/{indexId}/analyze with the same prompt from your own scripts.

Why use AI

Writing it by hand vs. with Ceptory

The report is the same. What changes is who watches the footage.

	By hand	With Ceptory
Finding the moments	Scrub every camera at speed	Search in plain language across all of it
Timestamps	Noted by hand as you watch	Attached to every result and report row
First draft	Typed from your notes	Written from the footage in the format you set
Consistency	Varies by who writes it	Same prompt, same sections, every time
Your role	Watch, note, write, check	Check and sign off

From the field

Tips that make the report better

Write timestamps in the camera's local time and say which time zone in the summary.
If two cameras disagree on time, note the offset once in the report instead of correcting every line.
Describe, don't identify: clothing, color, direction and behaviour hold up better than names in a report.
Government & security Incident report template

FAQ

Incident report: common questions

Can AI write the whole incident report?

It drafts it. Ceptory turns the footage into a structured first draft with timestamps; an investigator confirms each line against the clips before the report is filed.

How long should the footage window be?

Start with about 30 minutes before and after the reported time on every camera covering the location and its exits. Widen it if the timeline shows activity at the edges.