Hawaii Police Reports: How to Get a Copy From HPD or County Police

Hawaii does not run a single statewide system for police reports. Instead, each county police department handles its own requests, for a crash report and for any other kind of incident report alike. This guide covers the two largest departments most readers will deal with, Honolulu Police Department on Oahu and Hawaii Police Department on the Big Island, along with the separate statute that limits who can get a crash report and why Hawaii has no body camera access statute at all.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Get a Copy of a Hawaii Crash Report

Hawaii does not run a single statewide crash report portal the way most states do; each county police department handles its own reports. On Oahu, Honolulu Police Department's Records Division processes Motor Vehicle Collision report requests, charging $0.50 for the first page and $0.25 for each additional page of a standard copy, $0.65 per page for a colored copy, and $1.00 for the first page plus $0.25 per page for a verification letter. HPD completes most online report requests within two business days, though anything over 10 pages may take longer. On the island of Hawaii, the Hawaii Police Department's Records and Identification Section charges $1 for the first page and 10 cents for each additional page, cash only, and targets a response within 10 business days.

Who Can Get a Hawaii Crash Report

A Hawaii traffic collision report is not a record that anyone can walk in and request. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 291C-20(a) makes any traffic collision report required under chapter 291C "for the confidential use of the police department," and requires the department to disclose it on request only to "any person directly concerned in the traffic collision or having a proper interest therein."

The statute then lists who that covers: the driver or drivers involved, or their employer, parent, or legal guardian; the authorized representative of any person involved in the collision; any person injured in the collision; the owners of vehicles or property damaged in the collision; any law enforcement agency; and any court of competent jurisdiction. Section 291C-20(b) adds that any person who may sue because of a death resulting from a collision is deemed a party directly concerned, which brings a wrongful death claimant inside the list.

This is the part readers most often get wrong. Section 291C-20(c) provides that in the event of a conflict between that section and any other law, "including sections 286-171 and 286-172 and chapter 92F, this section shall control." Chapter 92F is Hawaii's general public records law, so the usual public records analysis does not open a Hawaii crash report to a member of the public who was not involved in it. If you are not on the list above, expect the department to decline, and plan to work through an attorney, an insurer, or another authorized representative who is.

Two separate reporting duties produce the paperwork behind that report. Under section 291C-16(a), a police officer sent to the site of a collision must file a written report if it appears at the time that the collision caused injury or death, or total property damage of $3,000 or more; that statute sets no deadline for filing it. Separately, section 287-4 requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident causing death or injury, or more than $3,000 in damage to one person's property, to report to the chief of police at the earliest practical time and in any event within twenty-four hours. If the driver is physically incapable, another occupant capable of reporting must do so, and the registered owner must report within ten days of learning of the accident if no report has been filed.

When a Hawaii Report Is Available

Both departments withhold a complete report until the investigation is finished. Honolulu Police Department releases reports "when the investigative processes are complete and the case is closed," and offers a verification letter instead when a criminal report cannot yet be released. Hawaii Police Department describes the same limit: complete reports are not available until the case is closed, adjudicated, or the statute of limitations has passed. On the Big Island, a victim can typically still get a partial or redacted report for insurance purposes even before the case closes. Where the case involves a death, section 52D-18 puts an outer limit on that wait for the immediate family, described below.

How to Get a Hawaii Police Incident Report

Hawaii does not split crash reports and other incident reports into separate systems the way Florida or Texas do. Any police report, whether from a crash or another incident, is requested from the same county records division described above. What differs is the disclosure rule. A traffic collision report is controlled by section 291C-20 above. Any other incident report runs through Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act, specifically the general exceptions in section 92F-13, which lets an agency withhold "government records that, by their nature, must be confidential in order for the government to avoid the frustration of a legitimate government function."

Chapter 92F reinforces that clause elsewhere. Section 92F-14(b)(2) lists information identifiable as part of an investigation into a possible violation of criminal law as an example of information in which an individual has a significant privacy interest, which feeds the separate privacy exception in section 92F-13(1). Section 92F-22(1) separately relieves an agency from granting an individual access to their own personal records consisting of information or reports prepared for criminal intelligence or a criminal investigation, or reports prepared at any stage of the enforcement of the criminal laws. What Hawaii lacks is a bodycam-specific statute, not an investigatory shield. Honolulu Police Department also withholds medical reports, restraining orders, injunctions, court documents, clearance letters, and criminal history abstracts from a released report, and redacts juvenile information.

Closing Reports for a Surviving Family Member

The wait for a case to close is not open-ended when the person who died is your relative. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 52D-18 requires the investigating police department, on request, to provide each surviving immediate family member of a deceased person for whom law enforcement initiated an investigation with a copy of the closing report. The trigger is the earliest of three events: the conclusion of any criminal proceedings related to the incident, the passage of five years after the report was completed, or the passage of seven years after the underlying incident.

Section 52D-18(e) defines a surviving immediate family member as a surviving grandparent, parent, sibling, spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, child, or legal guardian of the deceased person. It defines the closing report as the final report or similar summary of the investigation prepared by the assigned police detective in the normal course of investigating the incident. Under subsection (b), the department must deliver it by electronic means or in physical paper form, at the requester's preference, and under subsection (c) it must redact all information pertaining to minors and confidential personal information.

One pause is built in. If the investigation was reopened in the six months before the request, the department is not required to provide the report while that reopened investigation is ongoing, but the statute directs that once the reopened investigation concludes there is to be no further delay. Section 52D-18(d) also provides that the section does not diminish any right of a surviving immediate family member, or anyone else, to receive a police report or other government record at any other time. It is a floor layered on top of the ordinary access routes, not a replacement for them.

Body Camera Footage in Hawaii

Hawaii has no statute governing access to police body camera footage. County police departments handle bodycam requests as a matter of internal policy rather than a state access law, and disclosure runs through the same general section 92F-13 exemption described above. Honolulu Police Department does maintain a dedicated email address for body-worn camera video requests, separate from its general and government report-request channels, which shows HPD has built an operational process for these requests even without a statute requiring one. Readers should be cautious of claims circulating online that a specific Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter creates a bodycam retention or access right; no such provision currently exists in Hawaii's statutes. For the state's fuller legal picture, see Hawaii's body camera laws.

Corrections and Practical Notes

No dedicated correction process for a Hawaii police report was located for this guide, and Hawaii does not appear to run a separate driver exchange of information form. If a report contains an error, or a crash falls below the threshold that requires an officer's report, contact the investigating department's records division directly.

Related Resources

Police Reports by State covers the full 50-state picture. See also how to file a police report, how to read a police report, are police reports public, how to request body camera footage, Hawaii bodycam laws, Hawaii car accident laws, Hawaii public records laws, and Hawaii court records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Hawaii's police report and public records process. It is not legal advice. Fees, portals, and eligibility rules change; verify current details with the agencies named above or a licensed Hawaii attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and portals reflect their published status as of August 2026.