Request a Record

Records Request Procedure

Accident Reports are available by mail, email or in person at the business office. Records released by email will be provided at no charge. If mailed, the amount for postage would be charged to the recipient of the record in addition to the cost of the report. The Department of Transportation has accident reports available online at www.dot.state.wi.us our department has also made reports available at www.crashdocs.org and www.crashlogic.com .

Incident Reports are reports regarding calls other than accidents and must be reviewed prior to release. This review process may include the redaction of confidential information and the requester will be notified of any redactions or denials. The request for records may be written or oral, and can be made via phone, email, mail, fax, or in person at the police department. Please be advised that requests may take up to 10 business days to be processed; if we believe the request will take longer our department will update the requester accordingly.

Squad Video or Body Camera Footage must be reviewed prior to release. The review process may include the redaction of audio or visual confidential information. The requestor will be notified of any redactions or denials. The request for records may be written or oral, and can be made via phone, email, mail, fax, or in person at the police department. Please note that this process is more time-consuming, and any video requests have a longer turnaround time. In addition, our department utilizes the smallest available medium to provide these records to you. However, with the increased size of video files, these are often released on a Dual Layer DVD (DVD-DL) or a Blu-Ray Data disk.

Dropbox: Any records made available on the Dropbox platform will be available for a period of 10 business days. During this time, the requester will receive notification and a link to the platform via email and must download the record(s) from Dropbox during this timeframe. After 10 business days the folder will be removed from the platform in order to make space for other requests. Please note that anything made available via Dropbox must pass CJIS compliance standards, meaning juvenile records and other records with statutorily protected information will be redacted.

With the enactment of Wisconsin Act 253, and specifically citing WI Open Records Statute 19.35(3)(h), an authority that is a law enforcement agency may impose a fee upon a requester for the actual, necessary, and direct cost of redacting, whether by pixelization or other means, recorded audio or video content to the extent redaction is necessary to comply with applicable constitutional, statutory, or common law. This fee may be imposed if the requester has submitted ten (10) or more requests during the same calendar year, and if the requester is an individual or business entity with the intent to use the video for monetary gain (not including moneys awarded in a civil action). 

Should the department intend to impose a fee for redaction, the requester must receive an estimate of the amount of the fee to be charged. This fee will be calculated using the pay rate of the authority’s lowest paid employee capable of performing the task. As of 7/1/2024, this rate is $25.87 an hour.