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

The public records law that gets you the video

Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code Title 63G, Chapter 2

10 business days, unless extraordinary

A record includes any photograph, film, tape, recording or electronic data, regardless of form, that a governmental entity prepares, owns, receives or retains (Utah Code § 63G-2-103). A record is public unless a statute expressly provides otherwise, and you have the right to inspect a public record free and to take a copy, subject to fees and the request rules (§ 63G-2-201(1), (2)). How to ask: send the agency that keeps the record a written request with your name, mailing address, email address if you will accept email, daytime phone number, and a description that identifies the record with reasonable specificity; one request may not be sent to several agencies, so send a separate request to each (§ 63G-2-204(1)). Deadline: as soon as reasonably possible, and no later than 10 business days after the written request (five business days if you show that an expedited response benefits the public rather than yourself; a person gathering news for publication or broadcast is presumed to), the agency must provide the record, deny it in writing, say it does not keep it, or claim extraordinary circumstances with a description and the date the records will be available (§ 63G-2-204(4), (5)). Extraordinary circumstances include processing a large number of requests, voluminous requests, legal review, and extensive editing to separate what you may see; for a large request backlog the agency must release what it has located, estimate how long the rest will take, and finish as soon as reasonably possible, while extensive editing must be finished within 15 business days of the original request (§ 63G-2-204(6), (7)). No response by the deadline counts as a denial (§ 63G-2-204(9)). Fees: an agency may charge a reasonable fee covering its actual cost, including staff time to search, retrieve and compile, at no more than the hourly salary of the lowest paid employee with the needed skill (§ 63G-2-203(1), (2)); cities and counties set fees by ordinance or written policy, and state agencies through the Legislature (§ 63G-2-203(3)). It may not charge for reviewing a record to decide whether it can be released (except as search and retrieval costs allow), for inspecting a record, or for the first quarter hour of staff time, with an exception for repeat requesters who are not Utah media (§ 63G-2-203(5)). It may waive fees, and is encouraged to, when you are the subject of the record or your legal rights are directly implicated and you cannot afford them (§ 63G-2-203(4)), and may require payment first when fees are expected to exceed $50 (§ 63G-2-203(8)). GRAMA sets no separate fee for video. Examples: DPS says video redaction for Highway Patrol requests is $35 per hour; the Utah County Sheriff says body or dash camera footage has a $20 base fee per case plus staff time.

Police body camera and dashcam video

Crash video can be in the report

Crash investigations (Utah Code § 41-6a-404, as amended by 2025 H.B. 222): an “accident report” is the investigating officer’s written report with its accompanying data and later supplements, and may include any accompanying photograph, body camera video, dash camera video and supplemental report; “accompanying data” means all materials the officer gathered, including surveillance, body camera, dash camera and other video footage, photographs, witness statements and diagrams (§ 41-6a-404(1)(a), (b)). Accident reports are protected records (§ 63G-2-305(38)). The agency employing the investigating officer must disclose an unredacted accident report to a person involved in the crash (not a witness), a person suffering loss or injury, an agent, parent or legal guardian of either, government agencies and law enforcement acting officially, and a licensed private investigator representing one of those people in a matter directly related to the crash; news media get only limited facts (§ 41-6a-404(3)(a), (d)). On a written request, it must disclose the report and its accompanying data within 10 business days after receiving the request (§ 41-6a-404(3)(b)(i)). An “agent” is an attorney formally engaged in anticipation of or in litigation, the person’s insurer, an emergency hospital that treated the person, or anyone with the person’s signed permission (§ 41-6a-404(1)(c)). An attorney who asks in writing with a letter of representation and pays the fees must get protected parts of the report relevant to the matter unredacted, but the agency may redact video data that is not relevant to the accident report (§ 41-6a-404(5)). The agency may charge a reasonable fee set by DPS (§ 41-6a-404(7)). Body-worn camera law (Title 77, Chapter 7a): release of an officer’s on-duty recording is governed by GRAMA (§ 77-7a-107(2)(a)); recordings must be kept as applicable federal, state and local law requires, and may not be held by a private company that can withhold them from the agency (§ 77-7a-107(1)); we found no statute setting a minimum retention period, so ask quickly. Body camera video recorded inside a home can be classified private, and inside a hospital, health care facility, health care provider’s clinic or human services program can be classified protected, unless it shows an alleged crime, an encounter resulting in death or bodily injury or an officer firing a weapon, an encounter that is the subject of a complaint or legal proceeding against the officer or agency, an officer-involved critical incident, or a subject featured in it (or the subject’s authorized agent) has asked that it be reclassified as public (§§ 63G-2-302(2)(g), 63G-2-305(64)). Anyone may ask the agency that made it for a recording of an incident in which an officer’s encounter with a person resulted in death or serious bodily injury, or an officer fired a weapon; the agency must direct its release within 10 days after prosecutors decline charges, or after the judge in a filed case, once notified of the request, finds release would not have a substantial likelihood of prejudicing the finder of fact (or on receiving the request, if more than 10 days have passed since either event); GRAMA does not apply to these requests, and the agency may not release the recording if notified that an injured person or an immediate family member of a person injured or killed asks that it not be publicly distributed (§ 77-7a-107(3)). Highway Patrol: DPS’s records center offers a Driver License / DUI Hearing Video Package and a full video copy with redactions, both at $35 per hour of redaction, and says that because UHP is processing a large number of full video redaction requests for body-worn and dash camera video, it is “not able to approve or deny future requests” and estimates 120 days from receipt, citing § 63G-2-204(6)(d) and (7)(c). For a client’s dashcam video and photos, DPS asks attorneys for a records request with the client’s signed release.

When police can hold video back

May be withheld during a criminal case

Crash reports and their video: the agency employing the investigating officer may withhold an accident report and any of its accompanying data, which includes body camera and dash camera video, if disclosure would jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation or criminal prosecution (Utah Code § 41-6a-404(3)(b)(ii)). GRAMA: records created or kept for civil, criminal or administrative enforcement purposes are protected, if properly classified, when release reasonably could be expected to interfere with investigations or with enforcement proceedings, would create a danger of depriving a person of a fair trial, or reasonably could be expected to disclose a confidential source or investigative techniques not generally known (§ 63G-2-305(10)). Neither statute says when these grounds stop applying; they turn on whether release would still cause the stated harm, and we found no official guidance setting an end point, so ask again when charges are resolved. Even a properly protected record may be released if the agency head decides the interests favoring access are at least equal to those favoring restriction (§ 63G-2-201(5)(b)). Body camera video: if an agency denies a recording based solely on § 63G-2-305(10)(b) or (c) because of a criminal case already filed in court, you may immediately appeal to the district court, notwithstanding any other state or local law (§ 77-7a-107(2)(b)). Once access is denied, the agency may not destroy or give up custody of the record until the time to appeal has run out or the appeals, including in court, are over, unless a court or agency orders otherwise (§ 63G-2-205(3)).

Do traffic cameras in Utah record?

UDOT: footage generally not recorded

The Utah Department of Transportation says, on its public FAQ, “UDOT doesn’t record footage from our traffic cameras. Their main function is to measure traffic and provide live images of current conditions,” and its GRAMA page lists among common inquiries: “UDOT cameras provide live feeds only and do not record or store footage of intersections.” The UDOT Traffic FAQ is slightly less absolute: “As a general rule, camera footage will not be recorded and saved. Some occasional camera footage may be recorded strictly for training purposes.” If you think a UDOT camera caught your crash, ask at once. UDOT takes GRAMA requests through its online portal (JustFOIA) or by mail to Attn: GRAMA Coordinator, Utah Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 148430, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-8430, and says it does not keep accident records that do not involve UDOT property. Cities may run their own traffic cameras, so ask the city as well. License plate readers: captured plate data held by a government entity is a protected record that may be disclosed only as GRAMA allows for protected records or under a court order or warrant, and generally may not be kept more than nine months unless preserved by request, order or warrant (Utah Code § 41-6a-2004).

Red-light and speed cameras

No red-light law found; radar limited

Red-light cameras: we found no Utah statute that authorizes them in the section indexes of the Traffic Code (Title 41, Chapter 6a), including its parts on traffic-control devices and speed restrictions, and no 2024 to 2026 bill that created one. Photo radar (Utah Code § 41-6a-608): a vehicle-mounted radar camera that photographs speeding vehicles may be used only in school zones or other areas with a posted limit of 30 miles per hour or less, with a peace officer present with the unit, with signs posted warning that photo radar may be used, with approval of the local highway authority’s governing body if a local authority uses it, and with the photograph accompanying the citation. These limits do not apply to highway safety research or to warning citations with no fine, court appearance or driving record entry. A photo radar violation is not a reportable violation and carries no points, and the agency must make its contract terms, citation counts, fine revenue and payments to the vendor available for public inspection on request. School bus cameras (§ 41-6a-1310): a school district or private school may install a device on a school bus that photographs or videos the rear and license plate of a vehicle illegally passing the bus, with a time stamp; the images may be used only as evidence of a school bus passing violation and are subject to GRAMA. A bus driver may attach those images to a report to the school district within two working days, and the district’s transportation coordinator must send a notification letter (not a citation) to the registered owner and may file the report with police (§ 41-6a-1303). Because the statute limits use of these images to evidence of a passing violation and does not address release to people in a crash, if a school bus was nearby, ask the school district in writing what it holds.

If your request is denied

Appeal to agency head within 30 days

Step 1, chief administrative officer (Utah Code § 63G-2-401): within 30 days after the denial notice (or after the deadline passes with no answer, which counts as a denial), file a notice of appeal with the agency’s chief administrative officer giving your name, mailing address, daytime phone number and the relief you want; you may add a short statement of facts, reasons and law. You may also appeal a claim of extraordinary circumstances, or the date the agency set, within 30 days of being told of it. The officer must decide within 10 business days (five if you show an expedited decision benefits the public), and no decision in time counts as affirming the denial. A denial notice must tell you of this right, the time limit and the officer’s name and business address (§ 63G-2-205(2)). Step 2 (§ 63G-2-402): if the denial is affirmed, you may appeal to the director of the Government Records Office, which replaced the State Records Committee under 2025 S.B. 277, Government Records Management Amendments (effective May 7, 2025), within 30 days after the decision, serving a copy on the agency the same day (§ 63G-2-403(1), (3)); or petition the district court within 30 days (§ 63G-2-404(1)); or, for a city, county or other political subdivision that has a local appeals board, appeal to that board. The director generally schedules a hearing at least 16 and no more than 64 calendar days after the appeal is filed (it may decline a hearing on a record series it has already found properly classified, or set a later date when hearings are backlogged), may review the records in private, may order release of protected records when the public interest favoring access is at least equal to the interest in restriction, and must issue a signed order within seven business days after the hearing; no decision within 73 calendar days of the appeal counts as a denial (§ 63G-2-403(4), (11), (13)). The office’s page gives its address as 346 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1106, 385-386-1955, and says hearings are normally held over Zoom. Mediation: the Government Records Ombudsman, at the same address, (385) 227-1226, may mediate a denial or fee-waiver dispute if both sides agree, and asking for mediation suspends the 30-day deadlines for the director and the court until the ombudsman certifies the mediation is over or did not happen (§§ 63A-12-204, 63G-2-403(1)(c), 63G-2-404(1)(b)). Court: review is de novo, and the judge may review the records in private (§ 63G-2-404). For body camera video denied only because a criminal case is pending in court, you may go straight to district court (§ 77-7a-107(2)(b)). You may want to ask a lawyer before going to court.

What to do now

1. 1

   Ask for the report and its video

   Write to the investigating agency for the accident report with its accompanying data, naming body camera and dash camera video. If you are entitled, it must disclose them within 10 business days, though it may withhold them if that would jeopardize a criminal investigation or prosecution.

2. 2

   Request Highway Patrol video now

   For a UHP crash, file on the DPS Public Records Center. DPS estimates 120 days for full video and charges $35 per hour of redaction.

3. 3

   Give exact details

   Include the date, time, exact location, case number and the people involved; GRAMA requires a description with reasonable specificity.

4. 4

   Denied? 30 days to appeal

   Appeal to the agency’s chief administrative officer within 30 days, then to the Government Records Office director or district court within 30 days of that decision.

5. 5

   Look for private footage now

   UDOT says its traffic cameras generally do not record. Post the crash on the bounty board: nearby dashcams often hold the only footage of what happened.

Frequently asked questions