Wisconsin Police Report: How to Get a Crash Report from crashreports.wi.gov, an Incident Report, or Body Camera Video

Wisconsin runs crash reports through a dedicated statewide download portal, crashreports.wi.gov, with an unusual restriction: reports are only available for four years after the crash, and the system will not email, fax, or mail a copy under any circumstances.

Wisconsin's body camera statute goes the other direction. It is one of the more thorough, dedicated bodycam laws in the country, setting policy, retention, and disclosure rules in a single comprehensive section rather than leaving bodycam footage to a general records exemption.

Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Getting a Copy of a Wisconsin Crash Report

Wisconsin crash reports are purchased through crashreports.wi.gov, run by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The system requires either the DOT Document Number assigned to the crash, or the crash date (month and year) together with a Wisconsin driver's license number. Processing typically takes about 10 business days or more, depending on how complex the underlying investigation is.

Two restrictions are worth knowing before relying on this system. First, reports are only available for purchase for four years from the date of the crash; after that window closes, this portal no longer has it. Second, delivery is download-only. Wisconsin's own system notice states that "online purchases will not result in a report being emailed, faxed, or postal mailed to the purchaser," and there is no option to pick one up in person at a DMV office either. The current fee is not posted on the crashreports.wi.gov pages reached for this guide; confirm the current amount directly on the portal before purchasing.

The DOT portal is not the only route to a Wisconsin crash report. Wisconsin Statute 346.70(4)(f) provides that "any person may with proper care, during office hours, and subject to such orders or regulations as the custodian thereof prescribes, examine or copy such uniform traffic accident reports, including supplemental or additional reports, statements of witnesses, photographs and diagrams, retained by local authorities, the state traffic patrol or any other investigating law enforcement agency." That is the practical path when a crash is older than the portal's four-year window, and it is also how to reach the underlying investigative material the DOT portal does not carry, such as witness statements, photographs, and diagrams. Direct that request to the police department, sheriff's office, or State Patrol post that investigated the crash.

Wisconsin Statute 346.73 adds a separate, important limit on how a crash report can be used once obtained: accident reports required to be filed with the department or a county or municipal authority "shall not be used as evidence in any judicial trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident," with an exception allowing use in administrative proceedings. As in most states, a Wisconsin crash report is a fact-gathering tool for an insurance claim, not a document a court will accept as direct proof of fault.

Getting a Copy of a Wisconsin Police Incident Report

A general incident report, covering an arrest or another non-crash police response, is requested directly from the department or sheriff's office that responded. The access right itself comes from Wisconsin Statute 19.35(1)(a), which provides that "except as otherwise provided by law, any requester has a right to inspect any record." Wisconsin Statute 19.36 sets the limits on that right rather than creating it: 19.36(2) makes investigative information exempt from disclosure under s. 19.35(1) where federal law or regulation requires that it be withheld from public access for law-enforcement purposes. Beyond those codified limits, Wisconsin's public-records law relies more heavily than most states on a common-law balancing test weighing the public interest in disclosure against the harm release could cause, and a records custodian generally applies that test to a specific incident report on a case-by-case basis.

Wisconsin Body Camera Footage

Wisconsin Statute 165.87 is a comprehensive, dedicated body camera law, not a general exemption stretched to cover bodycam footage. It requires a written agency policy governing body camera use, maintenance, and storage, along with officer and staff training, and the statute requires that policy be posted publicly online. It sets a minimum 120-day data retention period, extended when the footage relates to an ongoing investigation or pending case.

On disclosure, the statute states that data from a body camera used on a law enforcement officer is "subject to the right of inspection and copying" under Wisconsin's general public-records law, with a specific privacy-protecting exception. Under 165.87(3)(c)1., it is Wisconsin public policy to protect the privacy of sensitive-crime victims and minors, and access to footage depicting them is granted "only if the public interest in allowing access is so great as to outweigh" that privacy policy, a balancing standard layered on top of the general right to inspect.

That presumption carries a carve-out that matters in practice. It does not apply where the record subject, or the next of kin if the record subject is deceased, does not object to access, or where the parent or legal guardian of a minor record subject does not object. The statute also contemplates redaction rather than outright denial: the record subject's face and anything else that would allow the subject to be identified may be redacted using pixelization or another method. A separate presumption in 165.87(3)(c)2. covers a person recorded in a location where that person had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and it likewise does not apply if the record subject does not object. So a family member seeking footage of a relative, or a person seeking footage of themselves, is often not facing the balancing test at all.

For a broader comparison across states, see How to Request Body Cam Footage and Wisconsin Body Camera Laws.

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?, Wisconsin Body Camera Laws, Wisconsin Car Accident Laws, Wisconsin Public Records Laws, and Wisconsin Court Records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how to request police crash reports, incident reports, and body camera video in Wisconsin. It is not legal advice. Fees, portals, and statutes change; confirm current details with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the responding agency, or a Wisconsin attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-10. Fees and portals reflect their published status as of August 2026.