Thursday, February 19, 2015

Tips In Finding Free Police Records Online

By Claire Dowell


Incidence reports or what one would call police reports are made available by the State to the people; however, the amount of information is limited to what is termed as "public information report" which includes a brief summary of the report. Information after the first initial reports are restricted from the public until such time when the case receives a conviction, a grant or someone is arrested. The State of Texas police reports are examples of these records, which are made available through the Texas Public Information Act and can be requested from the city or town where the case was filed.

To request for public information report such as incidence or police report, the person requesting the information should follow the guidelines set forth by each county or city. In Houston, Texas for example, all requests should be made through email or fax. The Open Records Office of Houston will not send the request through fax or email and will only send the information requested to the person's mailing address.

For people who want to look for the records themselves, they may do so by visiting the Records Division in person. The person requesting should include all pertinent details of the case to make the search faster. One must specify that the records they want is for public information only as not indicating this especially for ongoing cases will cause the request to be sent to the Office of the Attorney General for clearance. The processing for such request would then take about two months.

For those who want to request for police reports in El Paso Texas, they may do so by visiting or mailing the Records Division. The record division is open seven days a week, from six in the morning until midnight and they can handle requests of walk-in persons. Requests for reports should be in writing and sent through email or standard mail. Cost for each page of the report is about $.10 for the first 50 pages. Additional fees also apply for more than fifty pages. The office accepts checks or money orders and walk-ins can pay in cash.

For Texas City, police reports are made available from the Texas City Criminal records and Identification Division. Fees for basic public information offense report are about $4 as well as accident and background or arrest report. Provide the case or incident report number as well as the parties involved. Page one or public release reports are available and can be ordered directly in person from the Records Division. The report contains basic information on the case. Requests for full report depend on the status of the case and might not be available for the public.

All cities in the US are bound by the Public Information Act and as such would provide all the necessary reports that the public wants. There are some exemptions as well. Examples are reports that involve juveniles, sealed and expunged reports as well as cases that have yet to reach convictions. For those who are looking for basic police reports online, some sites do offer the information free.




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