How to Get a Kentucky State Police Accident Report (and File a Civilian Report)

Option 1: Online through BuyCrash

1. Allow time for the report to be completed and filed. KSP asks people to allow 10 days for an officer’s report to be available in its system.
2. Go to BuyCrash, choose Kentucky and select Kentucky State Police.
3. Search using the report number or your name and crash date, then pay the fee shown at checkout.

Option 2: Written open records request

1. Write and sign a request. Print your name, and describe the report as specifically as you can: names, date, location and report number if you have it. Include your address and phone number. KSP accepts the state’s standardized open records form but doesn’t require it.
2. Send it to Kentucky State Police Public Records Branch, Attn: Records Custodian, 1266 Louisville Road, Frankfort, KY 40601, or email ksp.openrecords@ky.gov, or fax 855-592-7656.
3. KSP will tell you in writing whether it will provide the record and what you owe.

KSP notes that its open records email accepts requests only and won’t respond to status questions. Call 502-782-1873 with questions. See the KSP open records page.

Kentucky law requires every driver in a crash that causes injury, death or a vehicle that can’t be driven to notify police right away (KRS 189.635(3)). If no officer investigates and the crash causes more than $500 in property damage, the drivers must file a written report with KSP within 10 days (KRS 189.635(5)).

1. Go to the KSP Civilian Collision Reporting portal.
2. Enter what you know about the crash, the vehicles and the people involved. If your parked car was hit by someone you don’t know, KSP says to enter your information as Unit 1 and “UNK” as the name for Unit 2. If you don’t know where the damage happened, enter the city or county, or “UNK.”
3. Submit the report. The system generates a report number, which your insurer will ask for.
4. Download and save your report before you leave the page.

If a police officer came and said they would write the report, you don’t need to file a civilian report too. KSP asks you to allow 10 days for the officer’s report to show up.

If you forgot to download your civilian report, request a copy from the KSP Custodian of Records using the open records process above. KSP says civilian reports are kept for up to two years and are available only to involved parties through a valid open records request.

KSP also says it does not investigate civilian-reported collisions, does not collect or verify insurance information, and can’t give you the other driver’s identity or insurance information except as the law allows. If you couldn’t get the other driver’s information, contact your own insurer. Your uninsured motorist coverage may apply to a hit-and-run.

Source: KSP Collision Report FAQ.

Kentucky crash reports are not open to the public. Under KRS 189.635(6), police may release a report only to:

• the people involved in the crash
• parents or guardians of a minor involved in the crash
• the insurers of anyone named in the report (or their written designee)
• the attorneys for people involved in the crash
• a party to a lawsuit who sends a copy of the first page of the clerk-stamped complaint naming all parties
• certain government agencies and news organizations, as the statute allows

Bring a photo ID if you go in person. If a lawyer is helping you, the lawyer can request the report for you.

If a city police department or sheriff’s office worked your crash, request the report from that agency. Our city guides walk you through each one:

• Louisville (LMPD)
• Lexington
• Bowling Green
• Owensboro
• Covington
• Georgetown
• Richmond

When you get your report, check names, insurance information, vehicle details, the location, the diagram and the officer’s narrative. Mistakes happen, and an error about who was where can cause trouble with an insurance claim. Ask the agency that wrote the report how to request a correction or add a supplemental statement, and do it early. Our general guide to Kentucky accident reports explains how corrections work.

The report is important evidence, but it isn’t the final word on fault. Officers usually arrive after the crash and may not talk to every witness. Insurance adjusters and courts look at all the evidence, including photos, video, witness statements and vehicle damage.