-->

Free Police Records Resources Can Be Found Online

By Claire Dowell


The US police records are considered public property and are accessible by the public. Police records contain vital information such as the case filed against the party, the party's name, the officer who reported the incident as well as some other information. The records are divided into 3 categories - Criminal case, administrative and Traffic/incident report. Criminal cases or reports include those reports that are categorized to be criminal or felony in nature. Records are available to the public once the judge has rendered his decision or the case reaches conviction. Access to on-going criminal cases is restricted especially if the case involves juveniles or is a sexual offense. Some parts of the record, which are tagged as "public information", are public records. The report includes the summary of the case as well as the suspects if an arrest has been made.

Administrative records, on the other hand, are reports that deal with violations and crimes committed by the police department or those in the government that might be guilty of misconduct or where the officer has committed violation(s) of the department's policies. Traffic reports on the other hand deal with incident reports, traffic altercations and citations. Traffic reports contain the infraction or case, the driver's name and license number as well as the license plate of the vehicle.

Requesting for information or report copies is easy. One needs to only know the case number to request for a copy. Other information might also come in handy to make the searching faster. Defendants or the accused have the right to access the file and the police give a copy to them. Those who are interested but do not have any interest in the case can obtain copies of the record by requesting for the public information copy. Full details of the case can only be obtained once the case reaches conviction. One can request the records via e-mail, online or by in person.

For those who are in Austin and want to obtain a copy of the public portion of the police record, they can check the APD incident report database. Searches can be done based on the police area, zip code, as well as districts. Reports cost about 10 cents a copy and can be requested from Austin report sales office. It is best to check the business hours of the unit, as it is not open daily.

On the other hand, those who want a copy of the reports in Houston can obtain copies in several ways. They can email the Houston police open records division, in person request and through fax. One can obtain a copy of an open case by submitting an ''open records request" to the Attorney General's office. Processing time would take about 60 days. To obtain public copies of the report, one can send in a request through mail, attach a US$6 with a self-stamped envelope. For walk in persons, crash reports cost about$6 and are payable through cash, money order or cashier cheques only.

For those who are only after police report(s) for public information, one can check out several online sites that offer free public searches. One can easily get the information that one needs without having to wait and pay much at the same time.




About the Author:



Related Posts

There is no other posts in this category.

Post a Comment