New York State Police
Pistol/Revolver Permit Recertification — Frequently Asked Questions
The State Police has developed FAQs regarding changes to the Pistol/Revolver License recertification laws that take effect on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.
New Gun Laws — Frequently Asked Questions
The Division of Criminal Justice Services and New York State Police have developed FAQs regarding recent changes to New York State firearm laws that take effect Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.
Minimum Standards for Firearm Safety Training
In consultation with local licensing officials and law enforcement agencies, the Division of Criminal Justice Services and New York State Police have developed minimum standards for firearm safety training that take effect Friday, Sept. 1, 2022.
What Is A Police Report
People file a police report with law enforcement for a wide variety of reasons. For example, domestic disputes, traffic accidents, burglaries, home invasions, fraud, theft, stalking, violence, and many other reasons. To file a report, citizens usually begin by calling 911, or their local police departments non-emergency line, to report the incident.
Once a citizen reports an incident, dispatchers assign it to local officers in the area. The police officers travel to the appropriate location via car, motorcycle, or other police vehicles. Then, the officers evaluate the situation, make observations, interview witnesses, record data, and complete forms and reports required by their local police department.
Police officers also initiate the filing of a report to record the data and gather the details associated with criminal and civil incidents such as car accidents, burglaries, assaults, and robberies, just to name a few.
Officers gather and record a great deal of information and data on a police report. This is to help ensure thorough and accurate investigations and to support criminal proceedings if they become necessary. Also, background verification services may use them in background checks. The information contained in the typical police report may vary from county to county, but most capture very similar information.
I Called About An Incident Why Cant I Find My Incident Listed Here
There are three possible reasons for this.
The incident may not involve one of the four crime types Burglaries, Robberies, Aggravated Assaults, and Homicides being posted online.
The incident involves one of these four crimes, however, there has not been enough time to prepare it for posting. Please check again a little later.
Not all incidents will result in a Seattle Police Report being filed. For example, the incident may involve a location that cannot be found or verified.
If you would like to request a report that is not listed here, you may complete and submit a Public Disclosure Request.
Verification of Crime/Lost Property/Aided Records
375 Pearl Street
Verification of Incident reports are provided by the Criminal Records Section, which stores and maintains crime and lost property reports and provides information from these files to members of the public and authorized agencies, as required by law and department regulations.
You can request a copy of a Verification of Incident by submitting your request online or by mail. The form is available for , or can be picked up at any police precinct, Housing Bureau public service area, or Transit Bureau district. Reports can only be returned through the mail and are NOT available at Police Headquarters.
NYPD/Criminal Records SectionSuite 4, 16th FloorNew York, NY 10038
*Please note: Effective Sunday, May 5, 2019, 7:30 AM, there is NO LONGER any fee assoicated with the Verification of Crime/Lost Property report.*
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Completing The Response To A Request
Once a public employee identified in a public bodys publicly posted procedure receives a records request, the public body must complete its response as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay. How quickly a public body should be able to complete a request under this standard depends on various factors, including the specificity of the request, the volume of records requested, the amount of exempt material, and the ease in determining whether any of the records are exempt from disclosure. In most cases it should be possible to complete the response within ten business days. However, in some cases more timeeven significantly more timemay be required.
a. The 15 Business-Day Deadline
The law establishes a baseline expectation that public bodies will complete their responses no later than 15 business days after receiving the request. However, a public body must still complete its response as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay. That is, requesters who have made particularly straightforward requests can appeal a public bodys inaction even before 15 business days have elapsed. A public body unable to meet the 15 business-day deadline must notify the requester in writing that the request is still being processed and provide the requester with a reasonable estimated date of completion.
A public body completes its response to a records request when it has done all of the following:
b. Exceptions to the Deadlines
c. Failing to Complete a Timely Response
Dealing With Redactions And How To Appeal
An agency cannot charge a fee for the time it takes to redact documents, Tadych said.
As the requester, you do not have to pay for their time to unscramble that which is public from that which is confidential, Tadych said. The law is crystal clear. That is on the public agency.
When a requester doesnt get the records he or she wants there are too many redactions, the agency denies the request or the requester believes there are more records the person seeking the records can always ask the agency to reconsider.
Other than asking nicely or bringing the agencys refusal to cooperate to the attention of the news media, the only other recourse in North Carolina is to sue the agency in court.
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Record Process And Fees
Within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described, we will send you a letter either: making such record available denying such request in writing or furnishing a written acknowledgment of the receipt of such request. If you have not received a letter within five business days, please contact us at .
An acknowledgment letter will provide you with an estimate of when the records you request will be available, which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request. This date is determined by the number of documents you request, their format, their availability, the time it takes to redact any information that cannot be disclosed pursuant to FOIL, the time it takes to assemble the documents, and other factors.
If the records you request require a fee to be paid, you will be notified prior to the records being released to you. Unless a different fee is otherwise prescribed by statute, Public Officers Law §87 authorizes an agency to charge a fee of 25¢ per page for copies of records up 9x 14 in size, or the actual cost of reproducing a record. In determining the actual cost of producing a record, an agency may include only:
Accordingly, pursuant to Public Officers Law § 87 , the following fee schedule is in effect for records requested from the State Police:
California Public Records Act
In 1968, the California Legislature enacted the California Public Records Act under Government Code sections 6250-6270. In its findings and declarations, mindful of the right of individuals privacy, the Legislature declared it was the publics right to access information concerning the peoples business.
Types of records are available?
The law requires law enforcement agencies to provide information the public has the right to know and at the same time, to withhold information if the release would jeopardize an individuals right to privacy.
Certain records or portions of records are subject to privacy laws and/or other exemptions and are rarely ever available for viewing. All agency records not exempted by law are otherwise available.
Records Exempt from Public Requests
Items that are exempt, subject to Government Code 6254, and will likely be redacted are:
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Law Enforcement Access To Third Party Records
A set of Criminal Justice Standards on Law Enforcement Access to Third Party Records approved by the ABA House of Delegates in February 2012 appears along with commentary in a publication entitled: ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Law Enforcement Access to Third Party Records, 3d ed. To view individual “black letter” standards, see below.
Copyright by the American Bar Association. This work may be used for non-profit educational and training purposes and legal reform without written permission but with a citation to this source. Some specific Standards can be purchased in book format.
How Can I Obtain A Copy Of My Accident Report
Car accident reports are restricted to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. There is no long-term restriction on police accident reports for the individuals involved in the crash.
You can request a copy of your car accident report through the Pennsylvania State Police. There is an application form that should be filed no earlier than 15 days following the collision.
The cost of requesting a collision report is $22.00. The reports can be requested online or by mail.
For a mail-in request, the Pennsylvania State Police will require an SP 7-0015 form. This form is known as the Application to Obtain Copy of Police Crash Report.
The SP 7-0015 form must be mailed to the following address:
Attention: Crash Reports Unit
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How To Get A Police Report
By law, certain police records and violation reports prepared and maintained by the Police Department are accessible to the general public.
If you need to get a copy of a police report, do this. First, begin by researching the requirements of the police department responsible for the jurisdiction in which the incident occurred. Then, follow the departments exact protocol for requesting and receiving those records. Start by checking the police departments website. Expand your search to the city website if you dont find anything on the police departments website.
Obtain and Fill Out Request Forms
Some departments may require that you complete a request form, sometimes called a request for public records. This may also be known as a request for open records. When you check the department website, look to see if you can download the request form from their site. If so, fill out the request form and submit it according to the directions.
Most request forms will require you to provide the first and last name of at least one of the involved parties. In addition, youll need the location, date, and time of the incident, and in some cases, the incident or case number.
Submitting the Request Form
Important Notes Regarding Submitting Requests for Police Reports
- It may take a few days or more to obtain the official documents
- Charges for obtaining copies of the documents may vary by city or jurisdiction
- Very few departments allow access to records online
Whats Available Online Sample Incident Logs
Some police departments put their incident or report logs online.
Here are some examples:
To see San Francisco Bay Area traffic incidents, click on the Communication Centers drop-down menu at the top left and select Golden Gate. To decipher abbreviations used in the incident logs, in the drop-down menu under Resources in the upper right select Glossary.
Berkeley Police Department
Posted daily in pdf format.
Posted daily in pdf format.
Palo Alto Police Department
Posted daily in pdf format.
Davis Police Department
Combines log of arrests and incident log.
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Knowledge & Research Gaps
4.1 Research Gap â Quality of Investigations
There appears to be virtually no case studies of actual investigations of various kinds of PIP, or other related, processes that would allow detailed analysis leading to the establishment of good practice and to assist in discerning bad practice. Furthermore, there is a lack of detailed empirical data and information on PIP and its variations of either a qualitative or quantitative nature. This means that it is difficult to say with any certainty whether one model is more effective than another and why that is the case.
Research Suggestion âPIP Case Studies
Research that can document in detail the investigative dynamics and strategies used in the various factors that affect investigative outcomes would allow for an assessment of the relative merits of different models and some systematic comparative analysis. This would be helpful in providing some empirical basis or evidence about the efficacy of one or another of the PIP models or structures.
4.2 Research Gap â Unclear Investigative Skills
Though civilian investigators or investigations are argued by some to be a more desirable substitute for PIP approaches, there is currently no available evidence or research to either support this assertion or clarify the necessary investigative skills required for this function. Reliance on civilian investigations should be based on evidence that this is a valid hypothesis.
4.3 Research Gap â Uncertain Impact of Police Culture
New Jersey Launches Website With Data From Police Internal Affairs Records
By: Sophie Nieto-Munoz– September 9, 2022 7:12 am
The site gives members of the public the most comprehensive peek yet at normally secret internal affairs cases.
Officials are lauding New Jerseys newly launched website detailing police internal affairs complaints as a big step toward improving accountability, with criminal justice experts stressing the states move falls short of the kind of transparency reformers have sought.
The new website launched Wednesday, displaying data of internal affairs investigations from New Jerseys 500-plus police departments and giving residents, activists, and policymakers the most comprehensive peek yet into investigations that are typically hidden from the public eye.
Keith Taylor, adjunct associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, called the site really impressive.
This is important, useful information they are providing. They give a way to visualize the information that was previously hard to analyze. Its an easy-to-understand interface, Taylor said.
Prior to the websites launch, internal affairs data had not been collected in a consistent way, was kept on paper, and was tracked only by individual departments, activists, or county prosecutors.
For years, criminal justice reformers have called on police to be more transparent with how cops are investigated and disciplined, but they have not received enough support from legislators to open up internal affairs records for public review.
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Prepared Owned Used Or Retained
Records need not have been prepared originally by the public body to qualify as public records. If records prepared outside the government contain information relating to the conduct of the publics business, and are owned, used or retained by the public body, the records are within the scope of the Public Records Law. For example, records obtained by a public body from private parties in the course of fulfilling its statutory duties are public records if owned, used, or retained by the public body. And records created by and in the possession of a private contractor are public records if the public body owns the records by contract.
However, a document prepared by a private entity does not become a public record merely because a public official reviews the document in the course of official business so long as the official neither uses nor retains the document. Moreover, documents in the possession of a public officer or employee in a personal capacity are not public records.
Is A Police Report Regarding A Suicide Call Considered Public Record
- on Dec 21, 2011
- Selected as best answer
Assuming you’d like to avoid the potential cost of hiring an attorney, I would first suggest that you/father contact the attorney for the municipality and tell them you believe the police are in violation of WI Open records law, and if the problem is not corrected, an attorney will be hired/lawsuit commenced. As that attorny will have to likely defend such a claim, they will probably take a very close look at what police provided and either correct it or tell you precisely why you are only getting what you are getting. I would very much doubt that the police obtained HIPPA protected info and have a legitimate basis to withhold on that claim.
The above is general legal information that may or may not apply in your state. You should use this information only as a general guideline in determining what the laws and regulations of your state or jurisdiction require or allow.
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Law Enforcement Records Under The Right
In 1978 the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that since there were no legislative standards governing police investigatory files in the Right-to-Know Law, RSA 91-A, the Court would implement exemptions found in the federal Freedom of Information Act . The Court adopted 5 U.S.C §552 which permits the withholding of records compiled for law enforcement purposes if that disclosure would have one of six adverse consequences. This FAQ will address those FOIA exemptions for police investigatory records.
Q: What types of enforcement agencies are permitted to use the FOIA exemptions?
A: The governmental entity that is seeking to avoid disclosure of a governmental record must establish that the requested materials were compiled for law enforcement purposes. The exemption does not apply exclusively to law enforcement officers or agencies, but rather applies to all records and information compiled, by any type of agency, for law enforcement purposes, and the phrase law enforcement purposes includes both civil and criminal matters.
Q: Could the FOIA exemptions apply to offices of a municipality other than the police department?
Q: Once it has been established that the governmental record was compiled for law enforcement purposes what also must be demonstrated to exempt the record from disclosure?
A: Under the FOIA test, law enforcement records may be withheld if releasing the material would have one of the following adverse consequences:
How Do I Submit A Request For Information
To submit a request send the request via mail, fax, or email to the agency. Some agencies list specific departments or people whose job it is to respond to PRA requests, so check their websites or call them for further info. Always keep a copy of your request so that you can show what you submitted and when.
Templates for Sample Requests
Incident Based Request: Use this template if you want records related to a particular incident, like the investigative record for a specific police shooting, an arrest where you believe an officer may have been found to have filed a false report, or to find out whether complaint that an officer committed sexual assault was sustained.
The First Amendment Coalition also has some useful information to help explain the PRA process.
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