Getting a police report can be helpful in your case. Especially if you were knocked unconscious and could not collect evidence and driver contact info at the scene of the crash, you may need to rely on the police report to gather evidence in your case.
Our lawyers can generally get your police report for you. If you do want to obtain a copy, you can do so through the Illinois State Police. The ISP lets you get reports online or by mail, but these are generally redacted copies of the police report. To get an unredacted copy, you need a subpoena and a $20 processing fee. You can also go through BuyCrash, a third-party site that partners with the Des Plaines PD.
Call the Des Plaines car accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore for a free case review: (219) 322-1166.
How to Get a Police Report Online in Des Plaines
Getting a report online is often the fastest and simplest way to look at your crash report after a car accident:
BuyCrash
The Des Plaines Police Department has instructions for getting a police report from BuyCrash by LexisNexis. This is a third-party website that a lot of police departments across the country use to host police reports.
Using this system, you simply put in some basic info about the crash, and you can get the report digitally so you can print it, send it, or make copies as needed.
State Police Portal
The Illinois State Police (ISP) also hosts reports on its website. They usually collect reports from all over the state in one central system.
Their online portal allows you to get a copy of the report for $5 (plus a transaction fee if you pay with a credit card). This is cheap and quick, but it provides only a redacted copy of the report, which might not have your or the defendant’s name or contact info in full.
How to Get a Police Report by Mail in Des Plaines
You can also send a report by mail instead of sending it online. Like with the online system, this is a $5 report, but it is redacted.
Do You Need a Subpoena?
To get a full, unredacted copy of the police report, you need to send a subpoena or other request from a judge. This also costs $20.
This is an extreme hassle for a normal person to go through, and you can instead let our Chicago, IL car accident lawyers handle this for you as part of your case.
FOIA Requests Through the Des Plaines Police Department
Police reports can also be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. However, this is often the slowest system, and you do not usually need to go to this effort.
Do You Need to Get a Copy of Your Police Report on Your Own?
Generally, no. There is little reason you would need to personally obtain a copy of your police report yourself.
Any insurance company can get a copy of the report after you file a claim. If their driver was involved with the crash, they are authorized to obtain a copy for themselves. The only reason they would make you get a copy is if they did not want to do it themselves or they want to slow down your claim.
That being said, you might want a copy for your own records or purposes.
Can Your Lawyer Get a Copy of the Police Report for You?
Yes. As part of our investigation into your case, we can seek a copy of your police report on our own. As long as we are representing someone involved with the case, we should be entitled to collect a copy of the report.
This allows us to look into the case, find the defendant’s name in the unredacted report, and file claims against them and their insurance, as needed, to recover damages in your case.
What Can You Do with a Copy of the Police Report?
A police report for a car accident usually contains information about the crash, who was involved, when it happened, which officer responded, and what they discovered and learned at the scene of the accident.
The main uses of a police report are to
- Find information you were not able to collect at the scene
- Confirm information you did collect at the scene
- Find the name and contact info of witnesses or other drivers
- Find what officer responded to the scene, so you can follow up with them
- Check for diagrams of the accident scene or photos of the crash damage
- Challenge witness statements on the stand with prior reports of their earlier statements
- Refresh the recollection of witnesses testifying, especially the police officer, who might not remember precisely what happened without checking their notes and report.
Can You Use a Crash Report as Evidence in a Car Accident Case?
Generally, no. Police reports are hearsay, meaning they are statements made out of court, offered in court to say that the content of the statement is true. For example, if the report says that Driver A hit Driver B, and you offer it to prove that fact, it is hearsay.
Hearsay is generally not allowed. Records of regularly conducted business are allowed as exceptions to the hearsay rule, but this rule carves out police accident reports, blocking them from being admitted.
Even if they could be admitted for various reasons, most of the report is written based on what the officer saw after the crash and heard secondhand from witnesses. That makes it hearsay within hearsay, and it is even more unreliable.
Can Crash Reports Be Used in Court at All?
Even though they cannot be used as evidence, they can be used to
- Impeach witnesses by challenging them with prior inconsistent statements they made in the report
- Refresh a witness’ recollection of events.
Call Our Des Plaines Car Accident Lawyers Right Away
Call (219) 322-1166 for a free case review with the Evanston, IL car accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore.
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