How to get police and traffic camera video of a crash in Idaho

The public records law that gets you the video

Idaho Public Records Act, Idaho Code 74-101 to 74-127

Residents: 3 working days, 10 if noticed

Every person has a right to examine and take a copy of any public record, and all public records are presumed open except as a statute expressly provides (Idaho Code 74-102(1)); a public record includes any writing relating to the public’s business regardless of physical form, and “writing” includes every means of recording, including pictures and sounds (74-101(13), (18)), which takes in video. How to ask: send the request to the agency’s designated records custodian and say clearly that it is a public records request, or the agency has no obligation to respond (74-103(1)). The agency may require a written request that specifically describes the records, with a date range, and gives your name, mailing address, email, phone and a declaration under oath of whether you are an Idaho resident (domiciled in Idaho for at least 30 days) (74-101(15), 74-102(4)); requests and delivery may be by email. Deadline: the agency must grant or deny an Idaho resident’s request within three working days of receiving it, and the request of a nonresident who is not employed by a resident within 21 days. If it needs longer to locate or retrieve the records, it must notify you in writing and provide them no later than 10 working days after a resident’s request, or 35 days after a nonresident’s; if electronic records must first be converted to another format, it must tell you in writing and provide them at a mutually agreed time. No response within the time allowed means the request is deemed denied (74-103(2), (3), as amended by 2025 House Bill 253, effective July 1, 2025). The Attorney General’s July 2026 manual describes the nonresident extension as 35 working days, and Boise police say 21 to 35 business days; the statute says 21 days and 35 days. Fees: unless another law sets a fee, a resident pays nothing for the first two hours of labor or the first 100 pages of paper copies. An agency may charge actual labor and copying costs when a request is over 100 pages, includes records from which nonpublic information must be deleted (for example, a video that needs redaction), or takes more than two hours. For a duplicate of a disc or similar electronic record, a resident’s fee may not exceed the agency’s direct copying cost, any standard publication price, and conversion costs. Labor for residents is billed at the hourly rate of the lowest paid qualified employee, or the lowest paid qualified attorney when an agency attorney must redact. Statements must be itemized, with no lump sums. Nonresident fees are at the agency’s discretion up to actual cost. The agency may require advance payment and must refund any excess (74-102(10), (12)). An agency may not charge a resident at all if the request is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government, is not primarily in the requester’s own interest (the statute counts an interest in litigation as one), and would not happen if fees were charged because of insufficient means (74-102(10)(f)).

Police body camera and dashcam video

No bodycam release law; Records Act

We found no Idaho statute that specifically governs the release of police body camera or dashcam video, so the Public Records Act governs it like any other record, including the law enforcement exemption in Idaho Code 74-105(1) and 74-124 (see When police can hold video back). Idaho State Police: its body-worn camera procedure (06.24, revised 11/2025) says public release of a recording must comply with the Idaho Public Records Act and ISP policies and that requests must go through the ISP FOIA portal; its vehicle video camera procedure (07.18) says troopers may video record crash scenes to supplement still photographs or body-worn camera recordings, and that requests for copies of recordings are handled as public records requests. On ISP’s records portal, use the Public Records Request form (not the crash report form), which offers “Digital Media (Audio, Visual)” as a record type and asks for the ISP incident or citation number. City and county agencies: ask the agency that responded; for example, the Boise Police Department and the Ada County Sheriff each take written requests online. Records about yourself: you may inspect and copy an agency’s records pertaining to you even if they are otherwise exempt, but the exceptions include exempt investigatory records while the investigation is ongoing, information compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action that is not otherwise discoverable, and records otherwise exempt by statute or court rule (74-113(1), (3)). Drones: Idaho law lets a law enforcement agency use a drone to assist with traffic accident documentation or reconstruction (Idaho Code 21-213(2)(c)(i)), so if a drone flew over your crash, ask for that footage too. Fatal crashes: photographs or images of a decedent taken as part of a coroner or law enforcement investigation are exempt whether or not the investigation is active, but may be disclosed on request to the next of kin (in order: spouse, adult children, parents, siblings, grandparents) once the investigation, the criminal case, all appeals and related civil proceedings are no longer active (74-105, subsection added by 2026 Senate Bill 1250, effective July 1, 2026). Retention: for county agencies, including sheriffs, Idaho Code 31-871 requires keeping law enforcement media recordings with evidentiary value at least 200 days from recording, recordings without evidentiary value from equipment not fixed to a building (such as body and vehicle cameras) at least 60 days, and recordings from equipment fixed to a building at least 14 days. “Evidentiary value” includes any use of force, any events leading up to and including an arrest or citation for a criminal offense, events that are a criminal offense, and any encounter about which the subject of the recording, or the subject’s representative, has filed a complaint or a valid public records request (31-871(3)(a)). The 31-871 rules bind county agencies only (sheriffs, prosecutors, county probation offices and private contractors providing county law enforcement) (31-871(3)(b)). We found no comparable statutory minimum for city police (Idaho Code 50-907 sets none for recordings; each city council adopts its own retention schedule by resolution, 50-907(5)) or for the Idaho State Police (state agency retention periods are set by Idaho State Historical Society rules or guidelines, Idaho Code 67-4131, and ISP’s procedures refer to its own records retention schedule, ISP Procedure 02.07, which we did not obtain). Once a request is denied, the agency must keep the record until the 180-day appeal period ends or a court decides (74-115(2)).

When police can hold video back

Inactive files open unless a listed harm

Idaho Code 74-105(1) exempts investigatory records of a law enforcement agency only under the conditions in 74-124. Under 74-124(1), nothing in the Act requires disclosure of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, “but such exemption from disclosure applies only to the extent that the production of such records would”: (a) interfere with enforcement proceedings; (b) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication; (c) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (d) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in a criminal investigation, confidential information furnished only by that source; (e) disclose investigative techniques and procedures; (f) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel; or (g) disclose the identity of a reporting party in a child abuse, neglect or abandonment investigation. “An inactive investigatory record shall be disclosed unless the disclosure would violate” one of those seven conditions (74-124(3)). An investigatory record does not include the time, date, location, and nature and description of a reported crime, accident or incident, the name, sex, age and address of a person arrested (except as otherwise provided by law), the crime charged, or documents given to the person arrested, among other items (74-124(3)(a) to (g)). The statute does not define when an investigation becomes inactive, and we found no official guidance on that point. Because the exemption applies only “to the extent” of a listed harm, an agency may have to release the parts that cause none; Idaho Code 74-112 requires an agency to separate exempt from nonexempt material in a record and make the nonexempt material available, and the Attorney General’s July 2026 manual summarizes Hymas v. Meridian Police Dept. (Idaho 2014) as holding that the ongoing nature of an investigation was not a sufficient basis for a police department to categorically deny a records request in its entirety. Agency practice is stricter than the statute’s wording: the Boise Police Department says any open, ongoing investigation must be completed and adjudicated in the court system before any records about the incident can be released, and the Ada County Sheriff says an open, ongoing investigation must be completed first. A person involved in the crash, that person’s representative and the insurer still have a right to the complete crash report itself whatever the investigation’s status (74-124(2)).

Do traffic cameras in Idaho record?

No ITD statement on recording found

The Idaho Transportation Department’s CCTV cameras are installed along major highways and give up-to-the-minute images, including infrared for night visibility, shown on the Idaho 511 website and mobile app, according to ITD’s published description of its camera data. We found no ITD or Idaho 511 page that says whether those feeds are recorded or how long any recording is kept; the 511 FAQ, help, about and privacy pages and ITD’s public records pages are silent on it. Do not assume either way: ask ITD at once through its online Public Records Request portal (ITD says requests must go through that software), giving the highway, milepost or nearest cross street, direction and exact time, and ask that any recording be preserved. Idaho 511 also says that in the Treasure Valley some information on county roads and city streets comes in partnership with the Ada County Highway District and local highway districts in Canyon County; cameras run by a highway district, city or county are separate systems with their own records custodians, so send a separate request to whoever runs the camera. Any request is a public records request under Idaho Code 74-102 and 74-103, with the same deadlines and fee rules.

Red-light and speed cameras

No law authorizing camera tickets found

We found no Idaho statute that authorizes red-light camera or speed camera citations. Idaho Code 49-1432 (added by 2025 Senate Bill 1180, effective July 1, 2025) governs any “automated license plate reader,” defined as a device that passively records license plates of vehicles on a roadway “or any similar device.” A state or local agency may use one only for law enforcement or traffic flow analysis; for law enforcement, the device and its data may not be used for any purpose other than investigating felony or misdemeanor crimes or traffic accidents or searching for missing or endangered persons, and may not be used to enforce traffic infractions other than those associated with a traffic accident (49-1432(2)). Access to the data is limited to an agency’s authorized personnel, every query must be logged with the user, date, time and purpose, and agencies must audit access logs twice a year (49-1432(3), (7), (8)). The statute limits access to the data to an agency’s authorized personnel and does not provide for public release; you can ask the agency investigating your crash whether it used plate reader data in its investigation. School buses: for passing a stopped school bus with its signals on (a $300 fine for a first offense), the fines “in excess of one hundred dollars ($100)” go into a school bus camera fund that may be spent only on school bus stop arm software, equipment and training to enforce that law (Idaho Code 49-1422(1)); the statute does not say how stop arm camera images are used or who may get them. Drones: a law enforcement agency using a drone for traffic management at a sports or entertainment event may not issue traffic infraction citations based solely on drone images or video (Idaho Code 21-213(2)(c)(ii)).

If your request is denied

District court petition within 180 days

A denial must come in writing from the person legally responsible for administering the agency or a designee, state that the agency’s attorney reviewed the request (or that the agency chose not to consult one), cite the statutory authority for the denial, and clearly state your right to appeal and the time to do it; silence past the deadline counts as a denial (Idaho Code 74-103(3) to (5)). The Act provides no administrative appeal: the “sole remedy” is a petition in the district court of the county where the records are, filed within 180 calendar days from the date the denial notice was mailed, and the court must set responsive pleadings and hearings at the earliest possible time and no later than 28 calendar days after filing (74-115(1)). The Attorney General’s manual says agency internal appeal processes need not be followed. The court may examine the record in camera, must order disclosure if the refusal was not justified, and awards reasonable costs and attorney fees to the prevailing party only if it finds the request or the refusal was frivolously pursued (74-116). For investigatory records specifically, a verified petition to the district court requires the official to disclose or show cause why not; the court examines the record in camera, and may in its discretion award costs and fees (74-124(4)). A public official who deliberately and in bad faith refuses a legitimate request faces a civil penalty of up to $1,000 (74-117). The agency must keep the disputed record until the appeal period ends or the court decides (74-115(2)). The Public Records Act does not limit discovery in court proceedings, but it may not be used to supplement or replace discovery in another civil, federal or administrative proceeding (74-115(3)); you may want to ask a lawyer about a subpoena or preservation letter if you are bringing a claim.

What to do now

1. 1

   Request police video in writing now

   Send the responding agency a request marked as a public records request for body camera and dashcam video, with date, time, location and case number, and say whether you are an Idaho resident.

2. 2

   Request county video within 60 days

   A sheriff need keep body and vehicle camera video with no evidentiary value only 60 days. A valid records request by the person recorded, or that person’s representative, gives it evidentiary value: 200 days under Idaho Code 31-871.

3. 3

   Ask ITD about highway camera video

   Use ITD’s online Public Records Request portal the same day, naming the highway, milepost and time, and ask whether any recording exists and that it be preserved.

4. 4

   Challenge a denial within 180 days

   File a petition in the district court of the county where the records are, within 180 days of the date the denial notice was mailed.

5. 5

   Post the crash on the bounty board

   Dashcam and business camera footage is not in any public agency’s files and is often overwritten within days.

Frequently asked questions