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Getting started

The Portal and choosing a view

The Portal is where you choose Patrol CAD, Dispatch, Civilian or Community Panel and switch between communities.

Every signed in session starts on the Portal. The Portal displays only the views available to your account.

The four cards

PATROL CAD is the unit view, covering callsign, department, subdivision and status, the call list, queries and Signal 100. A SUPERVISOR badge appears for accounts with supervisor standing.

DISPATCH opens the dispatcher workspace, with Query, BOLOs, Reports, History and the radio console.

CIVILIAN manages civilian records and submits emergency calls.

COMMUNITY PANEL manages users, permissions, departments and access codes. The badge shows OWNER or MANAGEMENT.

Choosing a card sets your active view for the session.

Switching between Patrol and Dispatch

You cannot hold both at once. Entering Dispatch detaches you from your calls and changes what units can do. See Dispatch.

The community switcher

Accounts belonging to more than one community get a Community dropdown above the cards. Changing it reloads the Portal in that community, along with your callsign, department and permissions.

Characters, vehicles, records, calls, reports and BOLOs belong to one community.

The header

The header shows COMMUNITY for the community you are working in, and UNIT for your callsign, or your display name if you have not set one.

Navigation changes with the view. Patrol and dispatch show PORTAL, then CAD or DISPATCH, then QUERY, BOLOS, REPORTS and HISTORY. The civilian view shows PORTAL and CIVILIAN. The management view shows PORTAL and COMMUNITY PANEL.

PORTAL is in every view and is how you change views.

No membership

An account with no community shows "No community membership was found." with a link to redeem an access code.

Related pages

  • Getting started with PlateNetWhat you need before your first sign in, how access codes decide what you can open, and where each of the four views lives.
  • Manage your accountThe MANAGE ACCOUNT panel covers display name, password, interface themes, joining another community and account deletion.
  • Patrol CADThe three panel patrol screen, the toolbar, the banner that follows you onto other pages, and what the unit roster shows.
  • DispatchThe dispatcher workspace, the two tabs, what changes when you enter the dispatch view, and what happens with two dispatchers on at once.
  • The civilian sideCharacters, vehicles, firearms and emergency calls live in the civilian view, and everything units can look up starts here.
  • Community administrationThe Community Panel holds departments, access codes and users, and is where a new community is set up.

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