Thursday, February 26, 2015

Free Police Records Resources Can Be Found Online

By Claire Dowell


Police records in Texas are public records and made available through several channels. Police records are reports made by the local enforcement agency, which contain information on the case including the type of case, the parties involved as well as the report of the officer who filed the case. Police records are divided into 3 types - criminal, traffic and administrative cases. The first and most common are criminal records. These records include those cases that have felony or are criminal by nature. Access to these records are restricted especially those that are still under investigation or have juveniles as suspect(s). Those records that have reached conviction though are open to the public.

Those who have altercations with government officials especially with police enforcers or want to obtain records pertaining to those similar in nature can do so by checking out administrative record cases. These cases deal with local enforcers who have cases filed against them or have committed violations of police policy. Traffic or incident reports on the other hand contain reports of incidents or accidents that happened in traffic. These also include infractions and police citation reports. Traffic cases include the name of the driver as well as the license plate of the vehicle(s) involved and the driver's license number.

To obtain a copy of the police report, it is important that one knows the case number or file number of the case. A person named as defendant can get a copy from the police department where the case was filed. Third party individuals who are interested in obtaining a copy of the police record can only do so once the case has already reached a decision or the case was closed. Different ways to obtain police reports include going to the Police department record division, email request, and walk in or through accessing the police records online.

Those who want to obtain a copy of the records in Austin can do so by first checking the APD incident reports database. Reports that are less than seven pages are free; however, charges will apply for more than 10 pages. Each page costs about $.10. All requests should be directed to the Austin Report Sales unit. The Sales unit is not open daily and as such, one should call first if one intends to visit the office.

If you, on the other hand, want to get a copy of the police record in Houston, Texas, you can email, fax or visit the records division of the Houston police department. For open cases requests, one can request a report from the Attorney General's Office. Depending on the volume that the office receives, processing time can take more than 2 months. On the other hand, records that are made public are available from the local police department. To make a request through mail, send in the request form, self-stamped envelope as well as US$6. Payments are made through money order, cashier checks and cash.

To make access to public records easier, one can also access some of the information online. Aside from the government site, there are online commercial sites that offer free police report(s) and other public record searches. This is by far the easiest and most convenient way to obtain records.




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