Florida Highway Patrol crash report: how to order a copy

Who sells a trooper's report

A Florida Highway Patrol report is sold through the same state system as every other Florida crash report. The patrol's pages sit on the website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and every long form and short form report written by police in Florida must be submitted to that department. A trooper's report is therefore bought from FLHSMV, in one of three ways.

• Online, on the Florida Crash Portal, with no form to mail.
• At a troop station, the one nearest to where the crash happened, for 10 or fewer reports.
• By mail, to Crash Records in Tallahassee, for more than 10 reports.

For the two routes that are not online, the department's crash report page asks for a signed statement for each report. That statement is form HSMV 94010, and most of this page is about filling it in correctly.

Form HSMV 94010, line by line

The form is the department's sworn statement for obtaining a crash report. The copy we read, the accessible version on the department's site, is revised 03/2023 and runs to five pages. It carries a reminder: "For immediate on line access, order from www.FloridaCrashPortal.gov," with the $2.00 convenience fee and the 10 report limit.

Requester's information

Your name, the date of the request, a reference number such as a case or file name, your street address, city, state and zip, telephone and fax numbers and email address.

Crash information

Section One, within 60 days of filing

For a report less than 60 days old, you tick the one box that best describes you. The form gives eight choices, each with the detail it asks you to add:

The form adds a useful line: people eligible during the 60 days "remain eligible once the 60 days has expired."

The oath and the notary

Below Section One you swear, under penalty of perjury, that your answers are true and complete and that the report "will not be used for commercial solicitation of crash victims or knowingly disclosed to any third party for purposes of such solicitation." Then you sign.

A notary completes the next block. The form allows the oath by physical presence or by online notarization, and the notary ticks one of two boxes, personally known or produced identification, and writes down the type of identification. The notary signs and seals it.

Section Two, 60 days or more after filing

For an older report, Section Two is a certification under the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act. You tick every permissible use from 18 U.S.C. 2721(b) that applies to you. The form lists them in full, among them:

• use by a government agency, a court or law enforcement, or anyone acting for one
• use in a civil, criminal, administrative or arbitral proceeding, including investigation in anticipation of litigation
• use by an insurer or insurance support organization in claims investigation, antifraud work, rating or underwriting
• notice to the owners of towed or impounded vehicles
• use by a licensed private investigative agency or licensed security service
• use with the written consent of the person the information is about

The certification ends with its own statement under penalty of perjury, including a promise to follow the act's resale and redisclosure rules, and a signature.

At a troop station

FLHSMV says requests for 10 or fewer crash records "may be fulfilled at the FHP Troop Station nearest to where the crash occurred." The department keeps a list of FHP station locations on its site.

Bring one completed and notarized statement for each report, and identification. Section 316.066 makes both a condition of access: a valid driver license or other photo identification, or proof of status, and a written sworn statement for each individual report. The fee for the copy is $10.00 under section 321.23. The FLHSMV page we read does not list the forms of payment a troop station takes, so ask the station before you go.

By mail to Crash Records

A request for more than 10 records goes by mail. FLHSMV asks for three things in the envelope: a request letter detailing the crash reports you want, a signed statement for each one, and payment. Make the check or money order out to "FLHSMV."

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Crash Records
2900 Apalachee Parkway, MS 28
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Payment has to be in the envelope with the request. The department gives a processing time of 4 to 6 weeks to receive the records.

Online, without the paper form

The portal handles the same rules on screen. Its first step, Eligibility, sets out who may have a report in the first 60 days and what the law allows after that, before you search.

Once you pay, the report is ready at once. A download link goes to your email address, the file is a Zip of PDF files, and the link must be used within 48 hours. Each transaction can hold up to 10 reports and carries one non refundable $2.00 convenience fee.

When it goes wrong

The report is not there yet

The portal says agencies have 10 days to submit crash reports, so a very recent crash may not show. FLHSMV gives up to 10 days for a report to become available.

The notary block is empty

The form is sworn to before a notary, so complete the notary block, in person or by online notarization, before you mail it or take it to a station.

You ticked the wrong section

Section One is for reports less than 60 days old, Section Two for reports 60 days old or more. If you were eligible under Section One, the form says you stay eligible after the 60 days.

A city officer or deputy came, not a trooper

Their reports go to FLHSMV too, so the portal and the mail route work the same way. The Florida page covers the state rules and other agencies.

Questions about Florida Highway Patrol crash reports