ROOK 1.2.59

Officer and administrator user guide

This guide describes the current Microsoft-signed ROOK application and its connected organization portal. Agency policy and approved training always control local use.

Start with the officer guide

APPLICATION

Windows field workspace

Agency references, offline GIS assistance, selectable location sources, notices, officer access, and Citizen Encounter submission.

PORTAL

Organization control

Content releases, protected distribution, computers, officers, delegated access, records, exports, readiness, and support.

AVAILABILITY

Controlled agency testing

Public purchasing remains closed. Licensed and approved testing organizations receive protected access.

OFFICER APPLICATION

Using ROOK during a shift

Follow these steps on an agency-enrolled computer. Controls and visible packages reflect the organization’s current approved configuration.

Start and sign in

Open the agency-provided ROOK application on an enrolled Windows 10 or Windows 11 64-bit computer.
Sign in with your badge number only and the six-digit PIN you created. Do not add a district, agency prefix, or leading identifier unless it is part of the badge number recorded by your agency.
ROOK locks the officer session after the agency's inactivity period. Lock ROOK returns to officer sign-in; Close ROOK exits the application.

Find agency references

Use the dashboard or left navigation to open an agency-published section. Empty and unpublished sections do not appear.
Dashboard navigation cards show only the section title. Standard references and agency-created sections use the same title-only format.
Every uploaded Map / Image Set shows one entry per map with its administrator-provided title and optional notes. Select the map, then select Open Map Full Screen. Images and PDFs open inside ROOK; managed offline GIS uses its separate Map & Location tools.
Every portal-created Link List uses the same link view. Select Open Website to launch a valid HTTP or HTTPS address in the Windows default browser; unsafe or unavailable addresses cannot be opened.
Use the main search field to search all available references, or use the search inside a section to narrow that package.
ROOK keeps the last verified agency release available when a temporary connection problem prevents synchronization. Always follow current agency policy and verify time-sensitive material.

Review notices

ROOK uses one notice control whose label changes with its status: Check notices when no notice is stored, an unread-notice count when a new notice arrives, and Notification archive after received notices are read.
Select Check notices when that label is shown to request an immediate authenticated check. ROOK also checks at startup and every 15 minutes while it is running.
Select the unread-notice or Notification archive control to review notices already received. Expired or withdrawn notices are handled by the portal-controlled notice lifecycle.

Choose a location source

Location is off every time ROOK starts. Open Location Source and scan the computer before enabling location.
A scan lists Windows Location, USB or serial interfaces, available USB identity details, and the UDP 10110 NMEA listener without opening or connecting to a source.
Select one available source, save it, and then select Enable. Serial GPS access is read-only; known management, modem, diagnostic, firmware, SOL, and AT-command ports remain blocked.
When approved offline GIS data is installed, ROOK shows a cross street only when it physically connects to the GPS-matched road and is within the accuracy and along-road distance limits. On long road stretches it uses same-road address context when available. This is a reference aid, not CAD, dispatch, turn-by-turn road navigation, or certified location equipment.
Map & Location opens as a dedicated full-width GIS workspace. ROOK temporarily hides its normal navigation, encounter actions, location header, and status bar so the map receives the largest practical view. Select Back to panel to restore the standard ROOK workspace.
The GIS layer controls remain in one compact row. Select a searched parcel address, then select Start destination guidance to show local straight-line distance, bearing, destination overview, and Near, Standard, or Wide follow zoom. Stop guidance ends the destination view without changing the existing search tools.
Destination guidance is calculated locally from the mapped parcel center and the selected position source. It is not turn-by-turn road routing and does not account for one-way rules, closures, access restrictions, or safe/legal routing; confirm the route through agency-approved sources.

Submit a citizen encounter

Select Submit Encounter and choose Motor vehicle stop, Pedestrian stop, Ordinance, or General citizen contact.
Complete the date, time, required reason category, location, race or ethnicity, gender, age, disposition, and applicable stop actions. Title 39 or other detail, vehicle registration and state, and incident number are optional when they do not apply.
Select Perceived race/ethnicity and Actual race/ethnicity separately. Both use the same choices, including Unknown. ROOK does not automatically copy one selection into the other; both are preserved in drafts and corrections.
For location, select two roads from the agency GIS suggestions or choose Enter a custom address. After selecting the first road, type at least three letters of the second road to see verified intersecting-road suggestions. A reliable current GPS fix or exact offline GIS match supplies coordinates when available; an encounter can still be submitted as Not mapped when no safe coordinate resolves.
Dispositions are Community caretaking, Verbal warning, Summons, and Arrest. ROOK 1.2.47 saves encrypted drafts and queued stops on the MDT. My Stops shows unsent records and up to 100 cached submitted stops. Only portal-confirmed uploads become part of the organization's online Citizen Encounter Log.
If an administrator returns a record, open Corrections, review the note, and submit a corrected replacement. The original remains permanent and the portal records what changed.

My Stops: drafts, pending uploads, and your log

Open My Stops beneath Feedback. Drafts lets you resume or discard unfinished entries; Awaiting upload shows completed stops awaiting portal confirmation; My submitted log shows your own cached records. Use Close to return to ROOK.
A valid officer unlock permits offline entry. Upload requires the original officer's valid online session. If you signed in offline, reconnect, lock ROOK, and unlock with your PIN, then use Upload pending. Queued records are read-only and retry without duplicating an accepted submission.
Use Refresh my log while connected and Load older for earlier records. Up to 100 submitted stops are cached for offline viewing; the cache may be stale until refreshed.
Do not delete ROOK's data folder or re-enroll the MDT with stops pending. Unsent records cannot be recovered from the portal if the device or encryption key is lost. Device revocation also removes this local workspace.
ROOK 1.2.49 shows separate awaiting-upload and draft counts and reminds you before a manual lock or exit. Automatic security locks are never delayed. Review the oldest saved stop and any Needs attention records in My Stops.

Protect and recover unsent stops

Normal upload remains the simplest option. For an extended outage or planned maintenance, open My Stops > Export recovery copy. Reveal the generated recovery key and store it separately with your department, then save the encrypted .rookstops file to department-approved storage outside the MDT.
The file is a snapshot, not a continuous backup or portal submission. New or changed stops need a new export and its new key. Anyone holding both the file and key can decrypt the copy. Do not send them to AI support or keep the key beside the file. Canis Viae cannot recover a lost key.
To restore, the original officer signs in online to an authorized MDT in the same department, opens My Stops > Restore recovery copy, selects the file, enters its recovery key, and confirms. Existing conflicting records are not overwritten. Drafts remain drafts; queued stops keep their IDs to prevent duplicate portal records.
Confirm delivery in My Stops after recovery. Archived or revoked access is not bypassed. Resolve pending stops before planned offboarding or device revocation; exported copies are separately controlled records and are not remotely erased by revoking the source MDT.
ROOK pauses automatic re-enrollment when saved-stop safety cannot be verified. Contact department support instead of deleting data. Direct folder deletion, reimaging, or loss of the MDT can still destroy unsent work unless an off-device copy and its separate key were preserved.

Appearance and updates

Settings provides Neutral Day, Neutral Night, Red Light, and Custom. Custom controls lettering, navigation, background, panels, and accents and rejects unreadable contrast.
Choose the text size that is comfortable for the computer. ROOK adapts to Windows display and text scaling and uses a vertical fallback only when a complete settings page cannot fit.
ROOK checks for newer approved application and agency-data releases. A newer verified Microsoft-signed stable application update installs at startup before officer access; officers cannot bypass signature or publisher checks.

ORGANIZATION PORTAL

Administering ROOK

Owners and delegated administrators see only the workspaces and actions authorized for their role and explicit permissions.

Administration and access

The license owner controls ownership, billing, license keys, and delegated-administrator access.
There is no commercial administrator-seat cap. Each delegated administrator receives only the explicit ROOK permissions assigned by the owner and must use Microsoft Authenticator-compatible MFA.
A delegated-administrator invitation is complete only after the recipient uses the exact invited email, verifies the account, configures MFA, returns to the secure invitation, and explicitly accepts portal access. Creating an account alone does not create organization membership.
Officer enrollment requires first name, last name, badge number, and a six-digit PIN. The badge number is the ROOK username. Administrators may suspend an officer or suspend and remove portal access without deleting permanent Citizen Encounter records.

Distribution and computers

Use the protected organization portal download, managed IT enrollment file, or optional officer invitation link. Officer download invitations expire after two weeks; officer registration invitations expire after one week.
Preserve the agency-bound filename for a direct first launch, or place rook-enrollment.dat beside the executable for managed deployment. Do not clone an already enrolled installation.
Confirm Canis Viae Systems and Technologies is the valid Microsoft signer and compare the portal SHA-256 before deployment. Monitor enrolled computers, last contact, reported version, and rollout status from Devices & distribution.

Content, maps, and releases

Create and review organization-owned packages, select the packages for the next release, validate the draft, and publish one versioned snapshot. Another organization's packages and maps remain separate.
The same package and GIS templates work across departments. Only the department's approved content, maps, labels, and permissions should differ.
Open any saved record to change its required officer-facing title and its available standard fields. A title change remains a draft edit until the next release is deliberately published.
For a Map / Image Set, upload each PNG, JPEG, WebP, or passive PDF directly, give it a clear title, and optionally add officer-facing notes. The portal hard-links the entry to that exact file; no separate file path is required.
Static Map / Image Set packages and the managed offline GIS package are intentionally separate. Static maps open full screen; GIS provides roadway, parcel, search, location, and jurisdiction functions under its own rules.
Published references and maps are encrypted for the enrolled computer. ROOK stages and validates a complete release before replacing the last verified local release.

Notices, records, and continuity

Publish time-limited operational notices and withdraw them from the portal when needed.
Use Citizen Encounter Log filters, officer and organization statistics, PDF and CSV exports, heat mapping, permanent-record views, and correction requests without editing or deleting an original submission.
The organization owner selects one or more served Burlington County municipalities under Heat map jurisdiction. Reports use that confirmed, versioned boundary snapshot; outside-jurisdiction stops and stops without coordinates remain counted separately.
Configure the agency's preferred record-continuity method: manual PDF or CSV, custody archive, or scheduled delivery to an agency-controlled folder. ROOK does not require a specific storage vendor.
Review readiness, support, activity, license, and Security center information appropriate to the signed-in role. Owner-only controls remain unavailable to delegated administrators.

PRODUCT BOUNDARY

What ROOK is—and is not

ROOK is a managed field-reference, location-context, notification, officer-access, Citizen Encounter Log, and Windows deployment system.
ROOK does not replace agency policy, current law, training, CAD, RMS, dispatch, certified location equipment, turn-by-turn road navigation, records-retention direction, or professional judgment.
Routine location fixes and local map searches remain on the computer. Citizen Encounter submissions, notices, access checks, and update checks use the connected organization service.
Public purchasing is not open. ROOK remains available only to authorized licensed and controlled-testing organizations.

HELP AND ACCESS

Use your organization’s approved support path

For account, content, device, location-source, or Citizen Encounter questions, contact the ROOK administrator for your organization. Canis Viae support is available through the connected portal and public support page.

Return to ROOK Open support