After a car accident, one of the biggest steps to take in pursuit of compensation is the acquisition of such a police report. Fortunately, the process of finding your California police report is generally straightforward, assuming you are aware of the right procedures.
Police reports are largely considered objective records of an accident and, thus, are some of the most important pieces of evidence for a car accident case. Insurance companies will often turn to this report for the purpose of their investigation, as will other parties looking to protect themselves from liability.
Read on and let our experts at Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys share with you everything you need to know about getting your California police report.
Understanding California Police Reports
Perhaps the most important role a police report can play in an insurance claim is as a determining factor in the investigation into fault. This matters because California uses a pure comparative negligence system wherein the degree of fault you have ultimately determines how much you make back from a car accident claim.
Given that a police report includes details such as witness statements and a general summary of the event, it’s important to familiarize yourself with your police report in order to maximize your claim. This means not just knowing what is on your report but also how to interpret and use it to your advantage.
Definition and Purposes
California accident reports are documents filed either by responding law enforcement officers at the scene of a car accident or, in some cases, by parties involved in the accident. Regardless of who submits it, the purpose remains the same: to provide a clear overview of the event.
The information contained in a police report also serves other purposes, including helping to identify those involved and keep track of damages. Again, this helps with determining fault but also can be used to identify medical procedures or repairs you might need.
Components of a Typical Police Report
A standard police report contains several key sections.
- Date, time, and location of the accident: Your report will provide identifying details that help investigators tell when and where the accident occurred. This prevents any confusion, especially in metropolitan areas which see upwards of 50 accidents a day (including minor ones).
- Details about the vehicles involved: The report will include information about every vehicle involved in the accident. This includes the make and model of each vehicle, the license plate number, etc.
- Identities of the drivers and passengers: Names and contact information of drivers and passengers are included. The report will also include the position of each person in each vehicle, along with notes of what they were doing and what safety precautions were in place.
- Witness statements: Any statements made by witnesses to the accident will be included in the police report. Officers and insurance companies alike will compare and contrast these statements with statements made by drivers and passengers.
- Descriptions of the road and weather conditions: Environmental factors such as the state of the road and/or the weather are noted and accounted for, as these may also influence or contribute to the accident. By extension, such factors also influence any decisions regarding the degree of fault.
- Officer’s preliminary assessment of fault: While far from a final conclusion, a police officer’s initial assessment can still greatly affect insurance claims and legal proceedings. Initial findings are rarely legally binding, however, and can be clarified or contested through addenda or errata (additions and corrections).
Each of these components affects a claim in a different but equally important way.
Legal Entitlements From Your Police Department
A person’s involvement in an accident and the nature of their request are the primary considerations in one’s legal entitlements when it comes to police reports. Generally speaking, however, you will have access to reports, assuming you are directly involved.
These rights are mandated by at least two specific laws:
- California Public Records Act: The CPRA states that police reports are considered public records, but access is restricted to certain parties. Anyone can request a report, but if a party is not directly involved or legally representing such a party, the report will have sensitive information redacted in order to protect privacy.
- California Vehicle Code §20012: Under Section 20012 of the CVC, individuals directly involved in an accident, along with their legal representatives and insurance companies, can access police accident reports.
- Law enforcement agencies may, however, limit access to information during ongoing investigations.
Eligibility Criteria for Requesting a Report
Let’s delve a little deeper into who specifically may request a police report. There are three main groups here, two of which we briefly mentioned in the previous section: involved parties and their representatives.
The third group is comprised of insurance companies and their representatives. Essentially, the companies whose business depends on covering damages.
Involved Parties
While these parties are allowed access to a police report, they may still incur fees to cover the process depending on the method and law enforcement agency in charge. Generally speaking, however, you shouldn’t really have problems acquiring a police report if you were directly affected by the accident.
Representatives and Legal Counsels
Because attorneys serve as legal representation for their clients, they are also authorized to file and claim police accident reports on their behalf. This is especially useful when accident victims suffer injuries and do not have the time or energy to pursue compensation alone.
One additional advantage of having legal counsel acting on your behalf is the possibility of expediting your request for a report. Because they are familiar with the timelines and expected outcomes of the process, good attorneys can usually get you your copy as soon as it is available, which is important when you need to fast-track your claim.
Insurance Companies
Insurance companies are on the opposite side of the negotiating table. They, too, need a copy of a police report for the purpose of investigating your claims request and, in fact, will often secure a copy at their own expense.
This means two things: first, that you need a copy of your own in order to verify the reasoning the insurance company uses to justify the amount they offer you, and second, that in the event you can’t get a copy of the report from the police, they can serve as a backup plan.
How to File Your Police Report Request
The process for filing a police report request is generally the same regardless of jurisdiction, though there will be some variation in procedure depending on the agency. We advise you to familiarize yourself with specific methods according to your locale to avoid delays.
That said, here is a general set of instructions for filing your request.
Identifying the Agency In Charge
The first thing you want to do is to identify what specific law enforcement agency is in charge of the car accident. In California, this is usually going to be a city police department, a county sheriff’s office, or the California Highway Patrol (CHP), depending on where the crash happened.
Note that you will have to initially report to the appropriate agency in the first place in some circumstances. The agency that maintains your report will also be responsible for investigating the event, so make sure that any information between your report and theirs is consistent.
- If the accident results in an injury or death, you will have to report the accident to either the California Highway Patrol or the local law enforcement within the first day.
- In addition, you have to report to the Department of Motor Vehicles within ten days. This is also the case if the accident results in property damage of at least $1000.
Contacting the Records Division
Once you’ve identified the correct agency, you’ll want to contact their Records Division. If the agency is a local police department, you will have to call the appropriate non-emergency number and ask about specific procedures for acquiring a police report.
Take note of any fees and documentation required. This is largely consistent across agencies despite not having any official standardization between them.
- Date and time of the incident
- Police report number provided by the responding officer
- Names of involved parties
The agency will provide you with options for requesting your report. Most will have an online portal and in-person methods available, with some departments allowing mail-in requests.
Methods of Requesting a Report
There are various methods available for obtaining your police report after a car accident in California, each catering to different preferences and circumstances. Whether you choose to request the report online, in person, or via mail, understanding the specific protocols for each method will ensure a smoother experience.
Selecting the right option depends on factors such as access to technology and the urgency of your request. Most importantly, your location affects the availability of methods, as each law enforcement agency has its own different methods you may need to familiarize yourself with.
Online Reporting and Requesting
Online requests are the primary means of acquiring a report in most jurisdictions in California, especially in urban and metropolitan areas where police often face the busiest schedules. Online reports allow quick and convenient access to documents, meaning no need to visit a physical location or wait in queues.
Official Law Enforcement Websites
For the most part, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) as well as local police departments, maintain official websites where you can file requests for accident reports at any time. These portals are largely automated with very little human need for human interference.
The downside to this is that it is completely dependent on software and infrastructure uptime. Server downtimes and maintenance can make it difficult to get a report online, which can be the case when the police department’s website is overwhelmed by traffic.
When they do work, however, you can usually expect official portals to be the quickest way to secure a report.
Third-Party Service Providers
There are also third-party service providers whose websites serve as platforms for police records, including accident reports. You will usually have to pay service charges on top of the standard fees when availing of these services, but the advantage is that they tend to streamline the process for you.
Just be sure that the third-party service you use is legitimate and authorized to access police reports in California. CHP, in particular, has an official partnership with autoaccidentreport.com
In-Person and Mail Request Protocols
Sometimes, people prefer not to use online tools. Sometimes, they prefer to speak directly with law enforcement.
Traditional methods of communication, such as in-person visits or mail-in requests, tend to take longer than online approaches, but they have several advantages of their own. Primarily, these methods tend to be more secure than online methods, but the real upside is that communicating with actual people means a more dynamic conversation where you can have questions answered in real time.
Required Identification Documents
When opting for traditional methods of filing a request, you have to provide supporting documents yourself in order to verify your identity and involvement in the accident. Keep personal identification on standby for this purpose.
Mail Request Checklist
As with an in-person request, you will need to include all necessary documentation together with your letter if you want to avoid processing delays. Typically, you will also have to include your payment with your request.
When opting for a mail-in request, do not send money as payment. Instead, send a check or a money order made payable to the department.
Fees and Processing Times
Obtaining a police report typically involves fees, which vary depending on the law enforcement agency and the method of request. Additionally, processing times can differ based on the complexity of the accident report and the volume of requests the agency is handling.
Understanding these factors will help you plan accordingly when seeking your report.
Fee Structures and Waivers
The amount you have to pay for an accident report varies with each department and the number of pages but typically ranges between $10 and $25. For example, in Los Angeles, the typical report costs $15 flat in most cases, while in Fresno, it’s a flat $12.
There are cases where you do not have to pay a fee, such as if the report has fewer than a specified number of pages or if you opt to claim the report in person at the records division. Clarify with the appropriate law enforcement agency the policy surrounding the cost of your report.
Expected Timeframes for Report Release
Again, the amount of time between filing a request and obtaining a report varies with location. As a rule of thumb, urban areas take longer to process reports than suburban or rural zones because of the sheer volume of accidents that occur in urban areas.
For reference, you can check the CHP’s feed for a live update of accidents in the state of California. You’ll notice that cities like LA can have upwards of 13 incidents an hour, while places like Redding typically have fewer than one.
Utilizing the Police Report
Great, you got your report. Now what?
All the information at your fingertips is useless if you can’t figure out what to do with it or how it can be turned into an advantage. So now, you find a way to utilize the contents of the report to benefit legal proceedings and insurance claims.
Legal Proceedings and Insurance Claims
For the purpose of legal matters, police reports establish a narrative of how the accident occurred. This makes it easier to establish who is at fault and to what degree, and if the case is a criminal one, what repercussions the defendant would face.
But that is not usually what such reports are used for. Most of the time, accident reports find purpose in the assessment of damages necessary for determining a payout of an insurance claim.
If we’re being honest, however, accomplishing these tasks takes a lot of time and effort spent going through documents, mixing and matching details until they make the most sense. This is not something a recovering accident victim should face themselves, which is why most opt for legal assistance.
Challenges and Resolutions
Despite how straightforward it all seems, that does not mean there are no challenges with obtaining an accident report. Several factors may lead to delays in processing or, in the worst of cases, outright denials.
Setbacks are not always avoidable, but understanding what they are and how to resolve them can go a long way to getting your claim on track.
Common Issues When Requesting Reports
Perhaps the most common issue people face when requesting a report from the police is incomplete or incorrect information on the request form. This is an error that can be easily solved by paying attention when filing your request.
More difficult to address than an error on the part of the claimant is an error on the part of the officer or the police department. What makes these hard to fix is that the odds of getting an errata done are largely at the officer’s discretion.
This is part of the reason why lawyers always advise their clients to remain calm and civil, no matter how stressful the aftermath of a car crash is. If you come off as emotional or hostile to the responding officer, there is a good chance they will be less amenable to hearing you out when you need them to make a correction.
Troubleshooting Delays and Difficulties
Some law enforcement departments may have specific procedures in dealing with corrections to reports. As with when you contacted them to file the report, you might want to call the non-emergency number of the department to clarify what these procedures are, if any exist.
Also, remember that not all information can be contested. If, for example, a report contains conflicting or disputed information, such as differing accounts of the accident, the police may opt to include a supplemental statement instead of correcting the existing one.
In general, you will not be able to push for changes in the report that are objectively verifiable.
As far as denials go, these rarely happen outside of legal restrictions due to active criminal investigations. If your request for a report is denied and this isn’t the case, your car crash attorney in California might be able to identify the reason why and file an appeal for you.
Privacy Concerns and Data Security
As police reports typically include a wide range of personal information, such as names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and details about the vehicles involved, the state of California imposes strict regulations to ensure that sensitive information within these reports is handled securely.
Request Confidentiality
It is possible to request confidentiality in certain accident cases, usually when the event involves a crime or is tied to an ongoing investigation. In fact, police will often default to redacting information in order to protect identities in such instances.
Examples of information that can be redacted from your copy of a report include social security numbers and medical information besides your own so as to prevent identity theft or other violations.
Thankfully, this normally does not affect a claim, as even with redacted personal information, an insurance company will still trust the contents of the police report for the purpose of your case.
Still, it always helps to ask law enforcement about their specific confidentiality policies if you feel concerned about your request being disclosed to others. If you have legal counsel, they may also be able to help minimize your exposure to unnecessary parties.
Choose Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys to Secure Your California Police Report
Everything we’ve discussed so far might be a lot to absorb. It definitely might seem a little daunting, especially if you need to make your claim right away. But that’s why we at Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys stand ready to help.
At Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys, we train our team of attorneys to assist our clients through each step of the claims process, and that includes securing a police report. We know how important these documents are for protecting your right to compensation, and we ensure you get them.
If you need to face an uncooperative insurance company, if you need to handle a claim denial, or if you just need to understand what you can do in the wake of a car accident, call our experts at (855) 604-4641. Consultations are free, and if we work together, we don’t get paid until we win.
Call Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys today.
