The report is the first document an insurer, a city claims desk or a later lawyer will ask for. On the Westside it may have been written by the Los Angeles Police Department or by the California Highway Patrol, and the two agencies do not share a request desk. Getting the right one, with the official fee and the right identifying details, saves a week of returned mail.
Which agency wrote the report
A collision on a city street in Brentwood, on San Vicente, on Sunset or on Wilshire is often an LAPD report. A collision on a freeway, including the 405 through West Los Angeles, is often a CHP report. That pattern is a starting point, not a certainty. The unit that actually investigated the wreck is the unit that can release the report. If you are not sure, the event number on a tow slip, a business card or a follow-up call to non-emergency dispatch is more useful than a guess from the map.
The CHP will not release a report written by another department. Its official collision-report page says so in plain terms. If CHP did not investigate, ask LAPD or the local department that did.
An LAPD traffic collision report
The official request page is LAPD’s traffic-report request page. To request a report through the mail, complete the Traffic Collision Report Request and return it with a $19.00 check or money order payable to the LAPD. Do not send cash. Mail it to the Los Angeles Police Department document-processing unit, P.O. Box 30158, Los Angeles, CA 90030.
The same official page says a written request should include the type of report, your name, address and telephone number, the LAPD report (DR) number or incident number if you know it, your date of birth, the names of people named in the report, the date, time and location, the license plates and registration states, and your interest in the report, such as involved party, authorized representative, insurance company, or parent or guardian. If you are requesting for someone else, include the release the page asks for.
Some reports are also offered through an online process described on that LAPD page. Older reports, and some reports the page says cannot go out online, still have to travel by mail. Use the official page for the current online path rather than a forwarded third-party link from a search result.
A CHP collision report
The official path is CHP’s collision-report page, using form CHP 190, the Application for Release of Information. A proper party of interest, which the page describes as a driver, passenger, property owner, vehicle owner, parent of a minor, or legal guardian, may request a copy without going to the area office that took the report. You may also write a personal letter with the same facts.
Mail or take the form, with a photocopy of a driver license or picture identification, to the CHP office that reported the collision, or to any CHP office if you want that office to obtain the copy. If you do not have that identification, the official page says the form or letter must be certified by a notary. A copy is mailed after the CHP confirms you are a proper party of interest and payment arrives.
The official fee schedule on that page is $10.00 for a report of one through 25 printed sheets, $20.00 for 26 through 50, $30.00 for 51 through 75, $40.00 for 76 through 100, and $10.00 for each added group of 25 printed sheets, or a portion, after 100. There is no extra charge for handling or mailing. A personal check or money order must go with the request, made out to the California Highway Patrol. Put the report number on the check if you know it. The page says not to send cash by mail, and that credit and debit cards are not accepted at this time. An insurer can sometimes obtain the report and share a copy, which the page notes may spare you the fee.
What to do with the report once it arrives
Read it for the location, the time, the parties, the insurance boxes and the officer’s description of the movements. Officers make mistakes, and a narrative that puts you in the wrong lane on San Vicente can be corrected later with photographs, a later witness or a vehicle inspection, but only if you notice the error early. Do not mark up the only copy. Make a working copy and keep the original with the claim file.
Uninsured and unknown-driver coverage can depend on a timely report to the police. INS 11580.2 requires, for an unknown owner or operator, that the injury arose out of physical contact and that the wreck was reported within 24 hours to the police department of the city, or, in unincorporated territory, to the sheriff or the local CHP. The uninsured-driver guide explains that hook. A late request for a copy of the report is not the same thing as a late first report of the wreck itself.
If no officer came
Not every Westside fender-bender produces a full investigation. If you exchanged information and left, you can still make your own diagram, keep photographs and notify your insurer. A later injury that seemed minor at the curb is harder to reconstruct without that file. If an officer did come and you never received a number, start with the date, time, exact street and the other plate, and ask the agency how to locate the event.
The report does not decide the civil claim by itself. Fault can still be compared under official instruction CACI 405, and a lawsuit still has to be lodged with a clerk within two years under CCP 335.1. The report is the starting document, not the last word.
- Party of interest
- The group the CHP page names as able to request a CHP collision report, including a driver, passenger, property owner, vehicle owner, parent of a minor or legal guardian.
- DR number
- The LAPD report number that belongs on a mail request whenever you have it.
- CHP 190
- The official application for release of a CHP collision report or investigation.