Missouri State Highway Patrol crash reports: how to get your copy

Which crash reports the Highway Patrol has

The Highway Patrol releases the reports of crashes its own troopers investigated, which usually means crashes outside city limits. Its crash report FAQ says that "in most cases, the Patrol does not work traffic crashes that occur within the city limits unless asked to do so by the local police department."

Missouri law does send other agencies' reports to the Patrol. Under section 43.250 of the Missouri statutes, every officer who investigates a crash with an injury, a death or damage of five hundred dollars or more to one person forwards a report to the Patrol's superintendent within ten days. Even so, the Patrol does not sell those reports. Its official reports page says requests for crashes investigated by local police agencies "are referred to the local agency." For a crash a city officer or a sheriff's deputy worked, go to that agency, as our Missouri page explains.

Requesting the report online

Since August 1, 2024, the Patrol handles requests for a Missouri Uniform Crash Report electronically. In its own words, "You can request, receive, and pay for these documents online by credit or debit card." The steps:

1. Wait 10 daysCount from the date of the crash investigation, as the Patrol Records Division asks.
2. Open the Public Records CenterUse the Public Records Center link on the Patrol's FAQ page, or the Submit Records Request for a Traffic Crash Report link on its crash reports page.
3. Choose Traffic Crash Report RequestFor a crash on the water, choose Boating Crash Report Request instead.
4. Describe the crashGive the date of the crash, the location and the names of the people involved, which the Patrol Records Division says help it find the report.
5. PayBy credit or debit card in the Public Records Center, or by check or money order sent with a copy of the invoice.
6. Download the reportThe Public Records Center is also where you track the request and download the records.

Faxed requests are still received, the Patrol says, but take longer to process. Reconstruction reports, photographs and videos go through the same Public Records Center.

What it costs

The Records Division's FAQ lists those extra items, and its newer FAQ adds that fees "will be determined based upon the nature of your request, including copies and reconstruction reports." We read the older FAQ in the copy the Internet Archive saved on 17 April 2026, because the Patrol's older site did not answer from our network.

Card payments go through the Public Records Center. A check or money order goes with a copy of the invoice, made payable to DPS Missouri State Highway Patrol, with a dash after DPS as the Patrol writes it. The crash reports page is firm on one point: "Cash payments are not accepted and will be returned."

When to ask, and how long it takes

The Patrol Records Division asks you to "wait 10 days from the date of the crash investigation" before requesting. The Patrol's online crash reports FAQ, read in the Internet Archive copy of 5 November 2026, puts it a little differently: "Please allow at least ten working days from the date of the crash before requesting the official report."

Then comes the queue. The crash reports page carries this note: "The Patrol is currently experiencing a backlog of crash reports. Please submit your request after 10 days; however, you may not receive your report for an extended period of time." The Records Division adds that processing times vary with the complexity of the crash and its workload, and that reports must be reviewed and entered into MoCARS before copies can be provided.

If you need the report for an insurance claim, tell the insurer the report has been requested and when. Our guide to how long a police report takes compares waits in other states.

Troop headquarters

The Patrol "operates nine troop headquarters across Missouri, each responsible for law enforcement services in its designated area." Requests can go to the troop headquarters where the crash happened or to the one nearest you, the crash reports page says.

General Headquarters is at 1510 East Elm Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101, phone (573) 751-3313. For questions about a request for a trooper's crash report, call the troop headquarters or the Patrol Records Division at (573) 526-6113, ext. 1702.

Old crashes, certified copies, photographs and reconstructions

The crash reports page splits requests by age and type. Copies of reports of crashes "that occurred in 1997 or later" can go to the troop where the crash happened or the troop nearest you. Reports of crashes in 1996 or earlier, crash report photographs and crash reconstruction reports "must be forwarded to the Patrol Records Division."

Certified copies appear on both sides of that line on the same page: once among the reports a troop can send, and once among those that must go to the Records Division. If you need a certified copy, sending the request to the Records Division fits both statements. By mail, write to Missouri State Highway Patrol, Patrol Records Division, P.O. Box 568, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, Attention: Traffic Crash Reports.

The Patrol's free online crash list

The Patrol also runs a public list called Online Traffic Crash Reports, linked from its crash reports page. It is free, and it is where many people land first. Its FAQ explains what it is and what it is not:

• Preliminary. The entries "come directly from the Patrol's nine troop headquarter radio rooms." A trooper radios in the first facts after an injury or fatal crash, and a radio operator posts them.
• Short lived. Each entry is "posted automatically and remains online for 29 days."
• Injury and fatal crashes only. Non-injury crashes are not posted, and neither are crashes city or county officers worked.
• Delayed for deaths. For fatal crashes, "the next of kin of the fatality victim(s) must be notified before personal information is released."

The search page opens with a check called Crash Reports Validation before it shows results. We read these pages in Internet Archive copies of 9 October, 25 October and 5 November 2026.

The list is labeled "unofficial" for a reason. The Patrol's official reports page says the radio report gives the date, time, location, injured parties, types of vehicles and an "initial indication of causative factors", and that after the investigation the official report may change it. For an insurance claim or a lawsuit, you need the official report.

What the official report contains

The Patrol describes its standard report as a four-page accident investigation report. Among what it holds:

• the crash classification (property damage, injury or fatal), date, time and exact location
• each driver's name, address and license details, and each vehicle's owner, make, model and VIN
• insurance information: proof of insurance presented, company name and policy number
• every occupant's seat, injuries, air bag deployment and safety device use
• witnesses' names, addresses and phone numbers
• a collision diagram, and whether photographs were taken or the crash reconstructed
• road, light and weather conditions, and probable contributing circumstances such as speed, following too close or failure to yield
• the investigating officer's narrative and statements from the people involved and witnesses

If something in the report is wrong

The Patrol's crash reports FAQ answers this directly: "Any party involved in the crash, or their attorney, can contact the Highway Patrol troop headquarters of the officer investigating the crash to question any part of the report." Call the troop, say which crash and which entry, and ask how it handles a correction.

The layout of the report itself is set by the Missouri Traffic Records Committee, with final approval from the Patrol's superintendent under Chapter 43 of the state statutes.

Who may get a copy

The Patrol pages we read do not say who may buy a crash report. Missouri's Sunshine Law sets the rules. Section 610.100 makes "all incident reports and arrest reports" open records, and it counts logs of reported "crimes, accidents and complaints" as incident reports.

People involved in an incident have a stronger right. A person involved, a parent or guardian of a minor, a family member within the first degree of kinship if the person has died or is incompetent, their attorney or their insurer can, on written request, "obtain a complete unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident." The agency then has thirty days to provide it or ask a court to hold it back.

A 2005 court decision noted on the same statute page held that license plate numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and the month and date of birth of the people in a vehicle crash report are not open records, so a copy for someone not involved may come with those details blacked out. Our guide Are police reports public record? compares Missouri with other states.

Questions about Missouri Highway Patrol crash reports