Are Police Reports Public Record in Georgia?

Georgia’s Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 et seq., starts from a strong presumption: government records are open for public inspection unless a specific exemption applies. The Georgia Attorney General’s office publishes a guide for law enforcement agencies on exactly how the Act applies to police records. For crash victims, three pieces matter most.

1. Accident reports have their own rule

While initial incident and arrest reports are broadly public, individual Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Reports are singled out by O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(5): they’re released only on a written statement of need. The qualifying categories — printed directly on GDOT’s request form — are involved drivers, owners or lessees of damaged vehicles or property, injured people and witnesses, insurers, attorneys for a party or witness, prosecutors and law enforcement, and qualifying news media. The practical upshot: you can always get your own report, but strangers generally can’t browse it. The full walkthrough is in every way to get your Georgia crash report.

2. The three-business-day rule

Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, an agency must produce responsive records within three business days— or, if it can’t, respond within those three days with a description of what exists and a timeline for producing it. You’ll see this rule reflected in agency practice: Chatham County Police quotes report delivery “within 3 business days,” and Savannah PD says requests may take up to three business days to process. (Crash reports themselves often take a bit longer to be written — see how long a Georgia police report takes.)

3. What they can charge you

The Act caps photocopy charges at 10 cents per pageplus limited administrative time — which is exactly what the Atlanta Police Department, Chatham County, and Richmond County charge at their counters. Crash reports are also commonly sold as flat $5 copies by metro agencies and by GDOT’s mail-request service, while BuyCrash adds online processing fees on top. And if your accident type is eligible, the cheapest option is $0 — we cover the cost.

What’s not public

The Act exempts certain material even in otherwise-open files: records of pending investigations beyond the initial reports, and specific personal data. And for accident reports requested for research purposes, the statute requires the crash to be more than 60 days old with identifying information redacted. If an agency denies your request, it must cite the specific exemption it’s relying on.