How to Get a Police Report in Maryland (2026 Guide)

Maryland's crash-report process depends on which agency investigated. Maryland State Police reports go through MSP's Central Records Division, while many county and municipal agencies, including MSP itself for some jurisdictions, route through the statewide BuyCrash portal. A general incident report is a separate request under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), and body camera access is unusual among the states with a dedicated statute: Maryland's law does not set access rules directly, it delegates that job to a statewide model policy and to each department's own procedure. This page covers all three, using Baltimore Police Department's process as a concrete example of how that delegation plays out.

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

Getting a Crash Report in Maryland

Which channel you use for a Maryland crash report depends on which agency investigated it. If Maryland State Police responded, you can request the report by mail or in person at the Central Records Division or the responding MSP barrack, for a $4.00 non-refundable document-search fee payable by check or money order only, no cash. MSP advises waiting at least ten days after the accident before requesting, to allow processing time.

Many Maryland counties and municipalities, and MSP itself in some jurisdictions, instead route crash reports through the statewide BuyCrash portal at buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com. Fees vary by jurisdiction: several Maryland cities list a $20.00 fee on BuyCrash, including Hyattsville, a Prince George's County municipality whose own published fee page confirms the $20.00 figure with no county-wide carve-out. Baltimore City accidents are handled differently again; they route to Baltimore Police Department's own Central Records Division rather than through MSP or BuyCrash.

MSP's own guidance describes reports as provided to legally entitled parties without spelling out the full eligibility list on that page; Maryland's crash-reporting statute, Transportation Article Section 20-107, establishes the driver's duty to file a report rather than the disclosure-eligibility list itself, so if you are requesting a report involving a crash you were not a party to, confirm your eligibility with the specific agency holding the report before assuming access. For more on fault rules and deadlines after a Maryland crash, see our Maryland car accident laws page.

Getting an Incident Report in Maryland

A general incident report, for a crime or other call unrelated to a traffic crash, is requested under the Maryland Public Information Act. Send a written request to the investigating agency, including the report number if you have it, the incident date and location, and the names involved, along with a full return address. Maryland State Police and most local departments accept MPIA requests by mail or email.

The relevant exemption is General Provisions Section 4-351, which lets an agency withhold records of an investigation conducted by a police department, sheriff, or prosecutor's office, and any investigatory file compiled for a law enforcement purpose, at the custodian's discretion. Police-misconduct records sit inside that same discretionary list rather than outside it. Subsection (a)(4) covers records relating to an administrative or criminal investigation of misconduct by a police officer, including internal affairs investigatory records, hearing records, and records relating to a disciplinary decision, other than a record of a technical infraction. A custodian may deny inspection of those records, so the provision is not a disclosure mandate. What it does is treat them as a discretionary category in which release is plainly contemplated: subsection (d) requires redaction of medical information, personal contact details, and family information rather than withholding of the whole file, and subsection (e) requires notice to the officer whose record is inspected, without identifying the requester.

Under General Provisions Section 4-203, a custodian must grant or deny the request promptly and not more than 30 days after receiving it. If production will take longer than 10 working days, or if the request is being denied, the custodian must send written notice within that 10-day window, stating either the anticipated time and fee range or the reason for the denial. Two qualifications apply to the 30-day figure: an application that is the subject of Section 4-356 carries a 50-day deadline instead, and the time limits may be extended by up to 30 days with the applicant's consent, or held pending resolution if either side seeks dispute resolution under the MPIA. For the state's broader open-records framework, see our Maryland public records laws page.

Body Camera Footage in Maryland

Maryland does have a dedicated, statewide body camera statute, but it works differently from most other dedicated-act states. Public Safety Article Section 3-511 directs the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission to develop and publish online a policy for the issuance and use of body-worn cameras that addresses, among other things, access to and confidentiality of recordings. The statute itself does not spell out who may request footage, what the fee is, or how long an agency has to respond; it delegates that job to the Commission's model policy and, in practice, to each department's own adopted procedure.

Baltimore Police Department's process is a useful concrete example of how that delegation plays out. BPD's own Policy 824 sets the operative rules for its footage: a request goes through BPD's MPIA process for body-worn camera video, submitted by email to the department's records unit, followed by a cost-estimate letter that covers the work of researching, redacting, and producing the footage. BPD's transparency page does not itself state a specific turnaround time for that letter or confirm an indigency fee-waiver option; both details would need to be confirmed directly against the Policy 824 document or with BPD's records unit before relying on them. Baltimore County runs a comparable request process for its own footage.

Because Section 3-511 sets a framework rather than fixed rules, expect meaningful variation between departments in fees, timelines, and redaction practice. For the model policy itself and how Maryland's approach compares with other states, see our Maryland body camera laws page and the cluster guide on how to request body camera footage.

Corrections and Other Practical Notes

Maryland does have a statewide correction procedure, though its reach is limited. General Provisions Section 4-502 lets a person in interest ask a unit of the State to correct inaccurate or incomplete information in a public record that the unit keeps and that the person is authorized to inspect. The request must be in writing, describe the requested change precisely, and state the reasons for it. Within 30 days the unit must make or refuse the change and give written notice of the action taken, with reasons if it refuses. If it refuses, you may submit a concise statement of five pages or less setting out your reasons and your disagreement, and the unit must pass that statement along to any third party it gives the disputed information to.

Two limits matter in practice. Section 4-502 runs against a unit of the State, so it clearly covers agencies like Maryland State Police and the MVA but does not clearly reach county or municipal departments such as Baltimore Police Department; for those, contact the agency's records division directly. It also reaches inaccurate or incomplete information, not an officer's contested conclusions about fault or about what happened.

Redactions are not governed solely by the MPIA's general framework either. Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article Section 3-8A-27 is a Maryland-specific juvenile carve-out: a police record concerning a child is confidential, must be kept separate from adult records, and may not be divulged, by subpoena or otherwise, except by order of the court upon good cause shown, subject to limited exceptions for law enforcement, juvenile services, and locating an escaped or missing child. BPD's bodycam process references redaction explicitly as part of its cost-estimate stage.

For general guidance on filing a new report or reading a completed one, see how to file a police report and how to read a police report. If a case tied to the incident proceeds through the courts, related filings are available through Maryland court records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about public-records access in the state named above. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney about a specific situation. Fees, forms, and processing times change; confirm current figures with the listed agency before relying on them.

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