How to Get a Tempe Police Accident Report

Who Wrote Your Crash Report: Tempe Police or Arizona DPS

Two agencies write crash reports in Tempe, and the first step is knowing which one worked yours. Tempe police handle crashes on city streets: Rural Road, Mill Avenue, Apache Boulevard, McClintock Drive, Baseline Road, and the rest of the surface grid. Parking lot crashes that officers respond to also go through Tempe PD.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety investigates crashes on the freeways that box the city in. That means I-10, US-60, Loop 101, and Loop 202, including the ramps. If a state trooper responded instead of a Tempe officer, your report comes from DPS, and the request process is different.

Not sure who responded? Start with where the crash happened, then check any card or paperwork the officer handed you, which names the agency. An attorney's office pulls crash reports every day and can track yours down. Connecting with a Tempe car accident lawyer through this site is free.

How Do You Get a Tempe Crash Report Online Through BuyCrash

Tempe PD partners with BuyCrash, a LexisNexis service, for online copies of crash reports. Per the Tempe Police public records page, reports approved for public release are available there from November 1, 2021 to the present. This is the fastest route for most drivers.

You need three things: the Tempe PD report number, the date of the crash, and a valid credit card. The report number is called a GO#, short for general offense number, and the responding officer gives it to you at the scene. If you did not get it or lost it, the Records office can help you locate your report.

Once the report is approved for release, you download it as a digital copy. Read it the same day. Check your name, plate, insurance details, and the officer's description of the crash against what you remember, and note anything that looks wrong.

Not every report is on BuyCrash. Reports tied to criminal cases, including DUI crashes and fatal crashes, are excluded and must be requested from the Records office directly. If a search on BuyCrash comes up empty, that exclusion is the most common reason.

How Do You Request a Report From Tempe Police Records

The Tempe Police Records office is at 120 E. 5th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281, with lobby hours Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. The phone number is 480-350-8588. You can purchase a copy of your accident report there directly.

You can also submit a Tempe Police public records request through the request form on tempe.gov instead of visiting in person. Include the GO#, the crash date, and your contact information so Records can match the request to the right report.

Use the Records route when your crash involved an impaired driver or a death, or when BuyCrash cannot locate your report. Victims of drunk drivers should also read our page for Tempe DUI accident victims, because those claims can include punitive damages the standard claim does not.

What If Your Crash Happened on I-10, US-60, or the Loops

Freeway crashes worked by state troopers go through the DPS Department Records Unit, not Tempe PD. The fastest way to request the report is the AZDPS Public Services Portal at psp.azdps.gov. DPS also takes requests in person at 2222 W. Encanto Blvd. in Phoenix, weekdays 8 AM to 5 PM, and by mail at P.O. Box 6638, Phoenix, AZ 85005, attention PRU MD3240.

DPS publishes its fees. A report delivered by mail or email costs $9.00, covering the first nine mailed pages or an email up to 5 MB, with 10 cents per additional mailed page. A compact disc copy costs $10.00. Credit cards work through the portal or in person; mailed requests need a business check, cashier's check, or money order.

DPS asks requesters to wait at least 14 days before checking whether a report is available, and to allow 30 or more business days for processing. Serious crashes with ongoing investigations take longer. Build that lag into your plans, because the two-year filing deadline under A.R.S. § 12-542 keeps running while you wait.

How Do You Read the Arizona Crash Report Form

Arizona agencies, Tempe PD and DPS included, document crashes on the standardized Arizona Crash Report maintained by ADOT. The layout is the same whether an officer or a trooper wrote it, so one reading method covers both.

Find your unit number first. The report lists each driver, vehicle, and pedestrian as a numbered traffic unit, and every later field refers to those numbers. Confirm which unit is you before reading anything about fault, since mixing up Unit 1 and Unit 2 is the fastest way to misread a report.

Much of the form is codes rather than sentences. ADOT publishes a Crash Report Forms Instruction Manual and a quick reference guide defining every field, and the codes cover things like violations, driver actions, and conditions at the scene. The officer's diagram and narrative carry the story, and any citations issued appear with the unit that received them.

Check the basics too: names, plates, insurance carriers, and policy details for every driver. Insurers work from those fields when they open claims. Our guide to dealing with insurance after a Tempe crash explains what the adjuster does with the report next.

What If the Report Is Wrong or Blames You

Fix factual errors early. Wrong plates, misspelled names, and outdated insurance details are worth flagging to the agency that wrote the report, and clean corrections are easier the sooner you raise them. Keep your own copy of whatever you submit.

The report is evidence, not a verdict. Officers usually did not see the crash, and their conclusions can be challenged with camera footage, witness statements, vehicle damage patterns, and reconstruction work. Insurers treat the report as the official account only until someone pushes back with better proof.

Even a report that puts fault on you does not end the claim. Arizona follows pure comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so partial fault reduces your recovery instead of barring it. The statutes that control fault and deadlines are covered in our guide to Arizona car accident laws.

Why the Crash Report Matters to Your Injury Claim

The crash report anchors the insurance claim. It fixes the date, location, vehicles, and insurance carriers in one document, and adjusters open their files from it. Getting your copy early lets you catch problems before the insurer builds its version of events around them.

The report also flags special deadlines. If a city, county, or state vehicle appears in it, you have only 180 days to file a notice of claim under A.R.S. § 12-821.01. Our guide to claims against government vehicles in Tempe covers that process.

The report is one step among several in the first days after a wreck. Our guide on what to do after a car accident in Tempe covers the rest, from medical care to insurance calls. To have a local attorney review your report and your claim for free, call (623) 400-8417, 9 AM to 9 PM, any day of the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Tempe Police Department — Public Records Request (Crash Reports)
• Arizona Department of Public Safety — Request Records
• ADOT — Arizona Crash Report Forms and Instruction Manual