Starting Wednesday April 21, 2010 the public will be able to purchase accident reports prepared by the State Police through their website. You simply need to log on to their website and click on the Crash Report Req link on their homepage’s menu bar and this in turn will take you to the . This will take you to their Statewide Crash Report website where you will need to input the name of the driver or pedestrian, parish where the accident occurred and the date of the accident. The costs of the accident report will be $8.50 and you can purchase it with a credit card and then you will be able to print a PDF copy of the report.
This is a welcomed change to the way we have previously requested State Police accident reports where we would have to mail a check along with a request to the State Police headquarters in Baton Rouge or to one of the local troop locations in the parish where the accident occurred. Often times there is confusion among what agency wrote the report and you would have to send requests and checks to the various agencies such as City Police, Sheriff, ect. Now, with the new system in place one can preview the report to ensure it is the correct report.
This is another example of computers working to make us more efficient and our State government willing and able to take the necessary steps to make it happen.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
