Washington State Patrol offers online tool for collision records
Published 6:20 pm Sunday, June 26, 2011
Were you recently in a collision and now need a copy of your police traffic collision report for your insurance company? Instead of the four weeks it previously took when mailing in the request, now a few simple clicks of the mouse you can request a copy of your report and receive it in one to five days.
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) Collision Records Section partnered with the Department of Revenue, Department of Licensing, Washington State Department of Transportation, Office of the State Treasurer and Office of Financial Management and received grant funding from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission to build the Washington Requests for Electronic Collision Reports or “WRECR” application.
The goal of the project was to give the public the ability to go online, enter their identifying information, find their collision report, pay the $9.50 fee, and receive their collision report via e-mail, fax, or by mail in one to five days.
“There are still some requirements our collision records technicians need to accomplish to process the online request before it can be sent out,” said Jim Anderson, Collision Records Division Administrator. “Even with these requirements, the online records requests make receiving the collision report weeks faster than the old method.”
The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 46.52.030 requires all law enforcement agencies to submit their collision reports to the WSP Collision Records repository in a timely manner. Prior to this Web site, an individual looking for a copy of a collision report would have to mail in the request and a $9.50 fee, even if the WSP Collision Records Section had not yet received the collision report.
“This new application allows the individual to find their report online first and then pay the fee for the report,” said Anderson. “If at first you do not find your report, please check back. There is no cost until you actually find your report.”
The WRECR application can be found on the State Patrol’s Web site at www.wsp.wa.gov/publications/collision.htm.
The WRECR Web site has training and other helpful information available to assist requestors with the process. If people still have questions about how to obtain their collision records they are always welcome to contact WSP’s Collision Records Section at (360) 570-2355.
For more information about the WRECR program and how to use it, check out our the Good to Know – Collision Reports video.
