Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY OF ACCIDENT RECORDS OF THE STATE POLICE
SUMMARY: This act sets a 30-day deadline for the State Police to make accident records available to an accident victim who is the subject of the record. Under prior law, the records were available at an unspecified time after a warrant or summons was issued. The act makes them available after the warrant or summons is issued or within 30 days after the accident, whichever is earlier. But it allows the Department of Public Safety to extend the 30-day period if granting access to the record would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation. By law, unchanged by the act, the records are available for public inspection after the final disposition of any criminal action arising from the accident.
The act applies to any memorandum, sketch, chart, written statement, report, or photograph the State Police obtained, prepared, or created in its investigation of an accident involving personal injury or property damage. By law, the State Police must preserve any such accident records for at least 10 years from the date of the accident.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2011
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