How to Get a Police Report in Arizona (2026): Crash & Incident Reports

Arizona is one of the more unusual states in this cluster, because it has no general investigative-records exemption. Where most states point to a specific statute that lets police withhold an entire investigative file, Arizona's public-records law opens with a single, bare right-to-inspect sentence, and withholding a file as a whole runs on decades of case law instead. Narrower codified rules do exist for witness information, images of minors and victims, victim identifying information, and Department of Public Safety video.

Which agency you contact for a crash report also depends on where the crash happened. The Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) investigates crashes on state highways and interstates; a crash on a city street goes through that city's own police department.

Information last verified on 2026-09-01. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Get an Arizona Crash Report

Which agency investigated your crash determines where you request the report.

State highways and interstates (AZDPS): Go to the AZDPS Public Services Portal at psp.azdps.gov and select 'Request a Report or Records.' AZDPS's own page notes that a separate self-report tool exists for collisions that do not meet trooper-investigation criteria, and that tool does not substitute for the official Arizona Crash Report. Confirm the current fee and processing time directly on the portal; some secondary sources cite roughly $9 for a mailed paper report plus a per-page charge, and a wait of at least 14 days for a trooper-investigated report to become available, but neither figure was independently confirmed on AZDPS's fee page this pass.

Local roads: Contact the police department for the city where the crash happened. Many, including Phoenix, run their own online records-request portals.

Who may obtain a copy: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-667(C)(6) requires the investigating agency, on request, to provide an unredacted copy to a person involved in the crash or the vehicle's owner (or their representative), an insurer investigating the claim, an attorney or licensed private investigator representing an involved person in connection with a legal proceeding, or an insurance support organization.

That entitlement is not unconditional. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-667(E) provides that 'a law enforcement agency may deny a request for a copy of an unredacted accident report if the agency determines that release of the report would be harmful to a criminal investigation.' If you are refused an unredacted report and an investigation is still open, that subsection is the likely reason.

Separately, Arizona Revised Statutes 39-127, confirmed directly on the Legislature's own text, gives a crime victim (or an immediate family member if the victim was killed or incapacitated) the right to 'one copy of the police report, audio recordings and video recordings from the investigating law enforcement agency or charging prosecutorial agency at no charge,' with the same right extended explicitly to domestic violence and sexual-offense victims. That is a victim right; it contains no accident-report cross-reference, so being a crash-report requester under 28-667 does not by itself make a report free.

Commercial-use restriction: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-667(C)(1)-(2) bars an agency from letting anyone examine a report for a 'commercial solicitation purpose' and lets the agency require a written certification, under penalty of perjury, that the request is not for that purpose.

How to Get an Arizona Police Incident Report

Arizona's public-records law is unusual nationally: it carries no exemptions list at all. The entire text of Arizona Revised Statutes 39-121 is one sentence, requiring that public records 'shall be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours.'

That section covers inspection, not copies. The provision that actually governs getting a copy is Arizona Revised Statutes 39-121.01(D), under which any person may 'request to examine or be furnished copies, printouts or photographs of any public record,' the custodian may charge a fee, and the custodian must also furnish an index of records or categories of records that have been withheld and the reasons. Under 39-121.01(E), access is deemed denied if the custodian fails to respond promptly or fails to provide that index, which is the trigger a requester needs before challenging a refusal.

That does not mean Arizona police investigative records are automatically public. What Arizona lacks is a general investigative-records exemption; several narrower withholding rules are codified. Arizona Revised Statutes 39-123.01(A) provides that the personal identifying information of a witness to a crime, contained in a record created or received by a law enforcement or prosecution agency, may not be disclosed unless the witness consents in writing, a court orders disclosure, or the witness's address is the location where the crime occurred. Arizona Revised Statutes 39-121.04(A) puts the burden on the petitioner to establish that the public's interest in disclosure outweighs privacy for law enforcement records that visually depict a minor witness or a victim as defined in Arizona Revised Statutes 13-4401. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-4434 requires victim identifying and locating information to be redacted.

Beyond those, withholding an investigative file as a whole runs on case law. The controlling framework comes from Cox Arizona Publications, Inc. v. Collins, 175 Ariz. 11 (1993), and Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48 v. KPNX Broadcasting Co., 191 Ariz. 297 (1998): an agency must specifically demonstrate how releasing a record would violate someone's privacy or confidentiality, or would be detrimental to the 'best interests of the state,' rather than withholding an entire investigative file by category. In practice, contact the records unit of the agency that investigated (a city police department for a local incident, AZDPS for a state matter) to request a copy, and expect the agency to apply this case-by-case balancing test rather than a fixed exemptions schedule.

Arizona Police Bodycam Footage

Arizona has no statewide law requiring departments to use body cameras. It does, however, have statutes squarely aimed at video access, so a bodycam request is not governed by the general records law alone.

Department of Public Safety video: Arizona Revised Statutes 41-1734, titled 'Video recordings; release; consent; redactions; request requirements; fee,' is a dedicated release statute for DPS video. The department may release a recording where every person shown other than a peace officer consents, or where identifying information is redacted, or where the department reasonably determines there is an 'important public purpose' for release, a standard the statute ties to recordings showing an arrest, a use of physical force, or alleged misconduct. The department must redact information that may identify persons shown where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, and it may withhold recordings to protect victims' rights. The section also imposes request requirements: a requester must give the date and approximate time, the specific location, and the name of at least one person who is a subject of the recording, and, notwithstanding title 39, chapter 1, article 2, the department shall deny a request that does not comply. Fees are set by the department based on review, copying, redaction and staff costs.

City, county and town video: Arizona Revised Statutes 39-129, titled 'Local law enforcement; video recordings; fee,' lets a county, city, town or other political subdivision charge a onetime fee per copy 'not to exceed $46 per video-hour reviewed' on a public-records request to a local law enforcement agency for a copy of a video recording, taking into account the reasonable costs of reviewing, transmitting, copying and redacting. So a statutory fee ceiling does apply to local bodycam requests, even though Arizona sets no statewide portal or response deadline for them.

Related provisions: Arizona Revised Statutes 38-1116 ('Use of force incident investigation; right to view recorded video; statement') gives an officer the right to view recorded video of a use-of-force incident, and provides that the administrative investigation is not complete until the officer has had that opportunity and can respond to the footage. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-4434 requires victim identifying information to be redacted.

Outside DPS video, a bodycam footage request runs through the general framework: the right to inspect under Arizona Revised Statutes 39-121, copies, fees and the index of withheld records under 39-121.01(D) and (E), the 39-129 fee ceiling, and the Cox/Scottsdale balancing test described above. Contact the individual agency's records unit. See Arizona Police Bodycam Laws and our guide to requesting body camera footage for more.

Corrections and Practical Notes

No Arizona-specific statutory process for correcting a factual error on a report was found; contact the investigating agency directly.

Arizona Revised Statutes 28-667 itself combines the officer's report-filing duty with the disclosure and redaction rules in one section, unlike states that separate a free 'exchange of information' form from the paid full report. Arizona does not appear to run that same fee-tier trap; a single accident report, subject to the eligibility rules above, is the operative document.

If a crash report indicates a criminal complaint has been issued, Arizona Revised Statutes 28-667(D) requires personal identifying information about any victim to be redacted before release, under Arizona Revised Statutes 13-4434.

For the aftermath of a crash beyond the report itself, see Arizona Car Accident Laws. For the broader public-records framework, see Arizona Public Records Laws and Arizona Court Records. For the general process of filing or reading a report, see How to File a Police Report and How to Read a Police Report.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about how to obtain a police crash report, incident report, or body camera footage in Arizona as verified on 2026-09-01. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Readers with a specific records dispute, or who need advice about a specific incident, should consult a lawyer licensed in Arizona.

Last updated: 2026-09-01. Fees and portals reflect their published status as of September 2026.