Montana Police Reports: How to Get a Crash Report, Incident Report, or Bodycam Video

Montana handles crash reports and general incident reports through two different frameworks. A crash investigated by the Montana Highway Patrol is requested from the Montana Department of Justice using a release form, not an online purchase portal. A general incident report, meaning the record of a call for service or a criminal complaint, is governed by the Montana Criminal Justice Information Act (MCJIA), the state's structural law for what counts as public versus confidential law enforcement information.

Montana's Department of Justice website was not reachable during this article's research session, so several operational details below, such as the exact current fee and mailing address, could not be independently confirmed and are flagged accordingly. The statutory framework itself, by contrast, is confirmed directly from the Montana Code.

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

This guide is part of a broader look at police reports by state. For the filing side rather than requesting a copy, see how to file a police report.

Getting a Montana Crash Report

Montana does not run an online crash-report storefront comparable to Texas's CRIS or Nevada's CRASHDOCS. Instead, Montana Highway Patrol crash reports are requested using a Crash Release Form, sometimes called the White Form, submitted by mail, email, or fax to Montana Highway Patrol, 2550 Prospect Avenue, Helena, MT 59620 (or P.O. Box 117, Boulder, MT 59632).

Montana's own Department of Justice pages describing the exact fee and processing timeline could not be reached during this article's research, after repeated attempts returned an access error rather than the page content. Figures describing a modest per-report fee and a roughly two week wait after a crash circulate for Montana, but because they could not be independently confirmed against the agency's own page this pass, this guide does not publish them as verified facts. Confirm the current fee schedule and mailing details directly with Montana Highway Patrol, or through the Montana Department of Justice's own crash records page, before submitting a request.

Eligibility to examine or copy the report itself is not unconfirmed. MCA 61-7-114 subsection 2 spells it out directly: without needing a court order, the report and supplemental information, including witness statements, may be examined and copied by a person named in the report or involved in the accident, that person's designated representative or insurance carrier, a party to a civil action arising from the accident, the executor or administrator (or their attorney) if the person is deceased, and the general public, including commercial entities, for research into the history of vehicles. That last category comes with a limit: the department may not disclose the name, address, telephone number, or other identifying information of any reporting person, accident victim, peace officer, or insurer named in the report to a vehicle-history requester.

If a local police department investigated the crash instead of Montana Highway Patrol, the request goes to that department's own records unit rather than the state Highway Patrol channel.

Getting a Montana Incident Report

Montana's general framework for law enforcement records is the Montana Criminal Justice Information Act of 1979, codified starting at MCA 44-5-101. The definitions section, MCA 44-5-103, draws a structural line between confidential criminal justice information, meaning criminal investigative and intelligence information, and public criminal justice information, which it expressly defines to include information originated by a criminal justice agency such as initial offense reports. That is Montana's version of the open-incident-report, closed-investigative-file line found in several other states.

The access right itself sits one part later in the chapter. MCA 44-5-301 provides that there are no restrictions on the dissemination of public criminal justice information, and that it must be available from the originating department or agency during normal business hours, with a reasonable charge permitted for copying. That is the provision to point to when a Montana agency is slow to release an initial offense report. The same section sets a separate rule for booking photographs, which carry a clerking fee before the case terminates unless the person is convicted of the offense related to that arrest.

No specific city police department's records-request page was independently checked for a Montana incident-report exemplar in this pass. A reader in a specific Montana city should start with that department's own records or public information unit, which will process the request under the MCJIA framework described above.

Montana Bodycam Footage

Montana has no standalone body worn camera statute. A dedicated search of the Montana Code and independent web research both confirm the absence of a statewide bodycam equipment mandate or a bodycam-specific public-access statute, unlike neighboring states such as Colorado or New Mexico. Where a Montana agency chooses to deploy body cameras on its own initiative, footage from those cameras is governed by the general MCJIA framework covered above, applied through that agency's own written policy rather than a dedicated state bodycam law.

Because there is no dedicated statute to point to, a reader looking for Montana bodycam footage should contact the deploying agency directly and ask what its own written policy says about public release. For a look at how other states structure bodycam access by statute, see how to request bodycam footage and Montana bodycam laws.

What Wasn't Confirmed This Pass

Montana's own crash-records website was unreachable during this article's research, so this guide intentionally does not publish a specific crash-report fee or processing timeline as a verified fact. Who may examine or copy a report is not on that unconfirmed list; MCA 61-7-114 answers that question directly, as covered above. No Montana corrections process for an inaccurate crash report, and no juvenile or victim redaction rule specific to Montana crash or incident reports, was confirmed either. Readers with a specific record question should contact Montana Highway Patrol or the investigating local agency directly.

Related Resources

Police Reports by State covers the national picture. See also How to File a Police Report, How to Read a Police Report, Are Police Reports Public?, Montana Bodycam Laws, Montana Car Accident Laws, Montana Public Records Laws, and Montana Court Records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how Montana handles crash reports, incident reports, and bodycam footage. It is not legal advice. Because several agency pages were unreachable while this article was researched, specific fees and timelines should be confirmed directly with Montana Highway Patrol, the relevant local department, or a licensed Montana 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.