How to get a car accident report in Alaska

Where to get the report

• Alaska Department of Public Safety (crashes worked by the Alaska State Troopers) Online records portal; most free

  The Department of Public Safety’s Request DPS Records page lists “State Trooper Collision Reports” among its public records and sends requests to its online portal (dpsalaska.justfoia.com): complete the form “be sure to include enough detail to allow the assigned employee to locate the specific records being requested,” and submit it. On cost the page says: “Should your public information request incur a charge; you will be contacted prior to the request being processed. Most requests for police reports have no cost and most video, photo, or audio requests are charged $36.49 per request.” Questions go to dps.publicinforequest@alaska.gov. “DPS does not possess the records of local police departments or federal law enforcement agencies,” so this path covers only DPS crashes. As a state executive agency, DPS must answer within 10 working days of a complete request (2 AAC 96.325(a)). The released copy may be redacted: victim and witness home and business addresses and telephone numbers must be removed before a crime-related report is made public (AS 12.61.110), and law enforcement records may be withheld to the extent release could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings or invade the privacy of a suspect, defendant, victim or witness, among other grounds (AS 40.25.120(a)(6)). Troopers must complete a crash report on every crash on a public highway with an injury or fatality, major damage making a vehicle inoperable, significant damage to buildings or traffic control equipment, or a criminal traffic charge (DPS Operating Procedures Manual 203.380(B)); for other crashes reported but not investigated, they tell drivers to file Form 12-209 within 10 days (203.380(E)).

  Official page

• Division of Motor Vehicles, Driver Services (copies of officer and driver reports) Form 440, $10 per report

  Every officer who investigates a reportable crash must send an electronic report to the Department of Administration within 24 hours after completing the investigation, or a written report if the Department of Public Safety has exempted the officer’s agency for lack of electronic capacity (AS 28.35.080(e)), and the DMV offers copies of these law enforcement reports as well as drivers’ own reports. Request either on Form 440, Request for Crash Report Form, ticking “Crash Report Form 12-200 completed by law enforcement” or “Crash Report Form 12-209 completed by myself.” The form marks only the crash date and the driver’s name as required (the report or incident number and region are optional), and it also asks for your name, date of birth, Alaska driver’s license number, agency or business if any, contact details and mailing address, and your signature. It warns that all motor vehicle records are subject to the federal Driver Privacy Protection Act and “considered confidential under Alaska law (AS 28.10.505).” “There is a $10 fee per crash report requested. Payment can be made by check or money order payable to the State of Alaska. Payment via VISA, MasterCard, or American Express is acceptable by providing your email address. An invoice will be emailed and once payment has been made, we will mail your crash report to you.” Mail the form to Division of Motor Vehicles, Attn: Driver Services, 4001 Ingra Street, Ste 101, Anchorage, AK 99503, or email it to doa.dmv.ads@alaska.gov; questions go to 907-269-5551. The DMV’s Report a Crash page says the same for copies of a report you filed: send the signed Form 440 by email “Then you will receive an electronic invoice for the $10 fee.” You must check that the record is your own or name the exception you qualify under (see who can get a copy).

  Official page

• City or borough police department that responded (example: Anchorage Police Department) Ask the agency; Anchorage online

  Inside a municipality the notice goes to the local police (AS 28.35.080(a)), which keep their own reports and set their own request rules and fees. Example from an official page: the Anchorage Police Department’s Report a Crash page has an “Obtain a Collision Report” link (to LexisNexis BuyCrash) and says “Only APD reports filed after September 1, 2012, are retrievable through this feature”; older reports must be requested through the APD Records Center or at APD Headquarters, 716 W. 4th Ave, Anchorage. Other police records and “media (audio, video, or photos)” go through the online APD Public Records Center, with documents and media requested separately and only one case or incident number per request. APD says “ALL records are REDACTED in accordance with the law” and that “A NON-REFUNDABLE ADMINISTRATIVE FILING FEE applies to public records requests. AMC 3.90.050B”; its pages do not state the amount, and we could not load the Anchorage code to confirm it. To get your own information without redactions, attach APD’s Consent and Authorization to Release form, with your signature notarized or witnessed at the APD front desk with valid ID. Records questions: 786-8600 ext 1. Other police departments set their own procedures, so ask the one that worked your crash.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Alaska

Injury/death/$2,000+: notify police now

The notice duty is AS 28.35.080(a): “The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in bodily injury to or death of a person or total property damage to an apparent extent of $2,000 or more shall immediately by the quickest means of communication give notice of the accident to the local police department if the accident occurs within a municipality, otherwise to the Department of Public Safety.” The Department of Public Safety is the Alaska State Troopers’ department. If the driver is physically unable to give notice, another occupant who is able must give it (AS 28.35.090(a)). Whatever the damage, the scene duties apply first. If anyone is hurt or killed, or if a vehicle driven or attended by a person is damaged, you must immediately stop at or as close as possible to the scene, return to it and remain there until you have given your name, address and vehicle license number to the person struck or injured, or the driver, occupant or person attending the vehicle you hit, and rendered reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including arranging for a physician and transportation to a hospital if treatment is apparently needed (AS 28.35.050(a), (b), 28.35.060(a)). If you hit an unattended vehicle, you must stop and make reasonable efforts to find and notify its driver or owner of your name and address and the owner’s; if you cannot, leave a note in a conspicuous place on it with those names and addresses and a statement of the circumstances (AS 28.35.050(c)). Failing to give the information or assistance is punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both (AS 28.35.060(b)). Failing to render reasonable assistance is more serious: for offenses committed before July 1, 2026, up to 10 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both; for offenses on or after July 1, 2026, HB 239 (chapter 9, SLA 2026) makes it a class B felony in a crash resulting in injury and a class A felony in a crash resulting in death (AS 28.35.060(c), (d)). These penalties do not apply to a person the crash left physically incapable of complying. A conviction for failing to stop and give aid when a crash causes death or personal injury is also grounds for immediate license revocation (AS 28.15.181(a)(3)). You may not have a vehicle repaired for damage that could have been caused by a collision with a person or property without first notifying the Department of Public Safety, the chief of police or the nearest peace officer, who must examine it, unless no official is within 10 miles of the repair place (AS 28.35.070).

The driver report you may have to file

$2,000+/injury, no officer: 10 days

If the crash caused bodily injury, death or apparent property damage of $2,000 or more, each driver must “within 10 days after the accident, forward a written or electronic report of the accident to the Department of Administration and to the local police department if the accident occurs within a municipality. A report is not required under this subsection if the accident is investigated by a peace officer” (AS 28.35.080(b)). The Department of Administration’s Division of Motor Vehicles takes it as DPS Form 12-209, the Accident Self-Report, submitted online through its Report a Crash page; the DMV says to use it “if law enforcement did not respond to the scene of the crash, OR you were instructed by a responding officer to self-report the crash,” and “You must complete and submit these reports electronically to the Division of Motor Vehicles.” The regulation sets the same 10 days and, for a mailed report, a postmark within 10 days of the crash (2 AAC 90.110(b), (c)); its threshold reads “in excess of $2,000,” while the statute says “$2,000 or more.” If the driver cannot make the report and is not the owner, the owner must make it within five days after learning of the crash (AS 28.35.090(b)). The DMV must suspend the license of a driver who fails to report until the report is filed, and may extend the suspension by up to 30 days; failing to report is also a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $200, up to 90 days in jail, or both (AS 28.35.110(b)). Knowingly giving false information in the report carries a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year, or both (AS 28.35.110(a)). Separately, proof of insurance is due whenever a crash causes bodily injury, death or damage to anyone’s property exceeding $501, even if an officer investigated (AS 28.22.021): within 15 days you must give the DMV a copy of the policy, insurer certification or a self-insurance statement (AS 28.22.031(a); 2 AAC 90.110(a)). The DMV takes this as Form 466, the Certificate of Insurance, and says “Crash forms are required within 10 days and Certificate of Insurance within 15 days of the crash date”; Form 12-209 includes the same insurance information, so the DMV asks drivers with damage between $501 and $2,000 to consider filing the 12-209 instead of the stand-alone certificate. Failing to provide proof brings a license suspension of at least 90 days for a first suspension in 10 years (AS 28.22.041(a)), with a narrow exception for damage under $2,000 only to your own property when the lapse was beyond your control and you prove insurance within 15 days (AS 28.22.041(h)). An old PDF of Form 12-209 is still on the DMV’s website, though its Report a Crash and forms pages no longer link it (they use the online form): it is a Fairbanks Police Department layout whose damage box reads “Over $501”; the statute’s threshold for the crash report itself is $2,000.

What the report costs

DMV $10; DPS usually free; local varies

No statute sets a price for a crash report. The Division of Motor Vehicles charges “a $10 fee per crash report requested” on Form 440, by check, money order or card through an emailed invoice. The Department of Public Safety says “Most requests for police reports have no cost” and that it contacts you before processing if a charge applies. Under the Alaska Public Records Act, copying fees “may not exceed the standard unit cost of duplication established by the public agency” (AS 40.25.110(b)); if a requester’s requests to one agency take more than five person-hours in a calendar month, the agency must charge the personnel costs for the search and copying, which may not exceed actual salary and benefit costs and must be paid before release (AS 40.25.110(c)). An agency may reduce or waive a fee in the public interest and may waive a fee of $5 or less (AS 40.25.110(d)). The Department of Law says state agencies do not charge for reviewing records for protected information. Local police set their own fees; for example, Anchorage charges a non-refundable administrative filing fee for public records requests (AMC 3.90.050B), whose amount its pages do not state, and its online collision report link goes to a commercial vendor.

When the report is ready

No set release time; ask the agency

No statute or official page says how soon a police crash report is released. The investigating officer must send an electronic report to the Department of Administration “within 24 hours after completing the investigation” (AS 28.35.080(e)), which does not set when the investigation ends. Troopers e-mail copies of fatal crash reports to the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) representative at the Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Planning Office within 10 days of the crash, as a partial or draft report if it is incomplete (DPS Operating Procedures Manual 203.380(F)). A records request to a state agency such as DPS or the DMV must be answered within 10 working days, extendable once by up to 10 more working days for listed reasons such as a field office search or legal review (2 AAC 96.325(a), (d)). A report tied to an open case can be held back to the extent release could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings (AS 40.25.120(a)(6)(A)). Retention, from the Alaska State Archives schedules: the DMV keeps accident case files (the report and backup) until the case is settled plus 6 years (schedule 02-404.1, item 005); DPS detachments keep motor vehicle accident files until the case is closed and then transfer them to the DPS Criminal Records and Identification Bureau for microfilming (schedule 12-391.1, item 006). The Local Government Model Schedule #300.1 (2012), which the Archives calls a guide that recommends minimum periods for cities and boroughs, lists police reports, including motor vehicle accidents with injuries, at 1 year; each local government adopts its own schedule.

Who can get a copy

DMV: you, insurers, others by law

At the DMV, crash reports are motor vehicle records, and the DMV “may not disclose personal information contained in motor vehicle records” except as AS 28.10.505 allows. Personal information means a name, address, telephone number and medical or disability information, but “does not include information on vehicular accidents” (AS 28.10.505(f)(3)). Form 440 lets you request the report “as part of my own personal record” or under a listed exception, including written consent of the person the information is about; use by a government agency or court; use in connection with a civil, criminal, administrative or arbitration proceeding, including service of process and enforcement of a judgment; and use by an insurer or insurance support organization for claims investigation, anti-fraud activities, rating or underwriting (AS 28.10.505(c), (d)). The requester signs that “improper release of information and/or false representations to gain information from DMV record are prohibited acts.” At DPS and local police, a crash report is requested under the Alaska Public Records Act, which gives “every person” a right to inspect public records except as listed (AS 40.25.120(a)); expect victim and witness addresses and phone numbers to be removed (AS 12.61.110) and other law enforcement exceptions to apply (AS 40.25.120(a)(6)). Anchorage redacts all records it releases and gives a requester their own information without redactions only with its consent form, signed before a notary or an APD officer or clerk at headquarters. In court, “A report made in accordance with this chapter may not be used in evidence in a criminal or civil action arising out of the accident that is the subject of the report” (AS 28.35.120).

What to do now

1. 1

   Notify police at once when the law requires it

   For injury, death or apparent damage of $2,000 or more, call the local police in a municipality, otherwise the State Troopers, by the quickest means (AS 28.35.080(a)).

2. 2

   If no officer investigated, file Form 12-209 within 10 days

   Submit it online through the DMV’s Report a Crash page; for damage over $501, insurance proof is due within 15 days (AS 28.22.031).

3. 3

   Request the report from the agency that worked the crash

   Use the DPS online records portal for a trooper crash, or the city police records unit; give the case number, date and location.

4. 4

   Or order the DMV copy

   Send Form 440 to doa.dmv.ads@alaska.gov or by mail to DMV Driver Services in Anchorage, and pay the $10 invoice.

Frequently asked questions