How to Get a Police Report in Kentucky (2026 Guide)

Kentucky handles a police report through two separate channels depending on what happened. A traffic crash report comes from the investigating agency, most often the Kentucky State Police (KSP), and can be requested through a civilian self-report portal, a purchase service, or an open records request. A general incident report, covering everything from a theft to a disturbance call, comes from whichever department responded and is requested under the Kentucky Open Records Act. This page walks through both channels, the state's dedicated body camera statute, and what to do if a report needs a correction.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Getting a Crash Report in Kentucky

How you get a Kentucky crash report depends on who completed it. If you were involved in a minor crash that an officer did not respond to and complete a report for, you can file your own account through KSP's Civilian Collision Reporting portal at kspportal.ky.gov. That self-filed report is a different document from an officer-completed report.

For an officer-completed report, the fastest route is BuyCrash.com, which KSP lists on its own site under Crime and Traffic Data as an authorized purchase channel. You can also request the report directly from KSP through an open records request. Allow about ten days after the crash for an officer-completed report to become available, and note that KSP retains crash reports for up to two years.

Kentucky does not treat crash reports as open to the general public. Under KRS 189.635, accident reports and the information they contain are confidential and exempt from disclosure under the state's Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884, except to the specific categories of requesters the statute lists, which include a party involved in the crash, an insurer or its representative, an attorney of record, and a news-gathering organization that holds KSP's press credential. KSP's own guidance describes reports as released to an involved party's request, consistent with that statutory framework, and states that it will not release personally identifying information, such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and vehicle identification numbers, except as the statute allows.

KSP's collision-reports page does not itself list a flat purchase fee; check the current fee schedule on BuyCrash.com or with KSP directly before requesting, since that figure was not independently confirmed on a primary KSP page. For a broader look at fault rules, deadlines, and what to do after a crash in the state, see our Kentucky car accident laws page.

Getting an Incident Report in Kentucky

A general incident report, meaning a report of a crime or other call for service that is not a traffic crash, is requested under the Kentucky Open Records Act rather than the crash-report statute. For a KSP-investigated matter, send the request to the Public Records Branch at KSP headquarters, 1266 Louisville Road, Frankfort, by mail, email, fax, hand delivery, or through the online portal at kentuckystatepolice.nextrequest.com. Local departments, such as Louisville Metro Police, handle records requests for incidents within their own jurisdiction through their own records units.

The applicable exemption is KRS 61.878(1)(h), which lets a law enforcement agency withhold records compiled in the process of detecting and investigating a statutory or regulatory violation if disclosure could pose an articulable risk of harm. Once an investigation closes, that risk-of-harm basis for withholding generally weakens, and agencies commonly release closed incident reports subject to normal redactions.

Kentucky's Open Records Act requires an agency to determine within five business days, excluding weekends and holidays, whether it will comply with a request. Standard copying runs ten cents per page, with a separate charge, typically two to three dollars, for photos, CDs, videotapes, or diskettes. For more on Kentucky's broader open records framework beyond police reports, see our Kentucky public records laws page.

Body Camera Footage in Kentucky

Kentucky is one of the states with a dedicated, standalone body camera statute rather than a rule folded into the general records exemption. KRS 61.168 states that, except as the section itself provides, disclosure of body-worn camera recordings is governed by the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884. The statute then lays out its own framework on top of that baseline: it sets discretionary categories an agency may withhold, such as footage depicting the interior of a private residence or a victim of certain crimes, and it separately requires disclosure for recordings that document a use of force by an officer, an arrest, or a complaint made against an officer, subject to redaction of some content within those categories.

A companion section, KRS 61.169, gives a criminal defendant's attorney a viewing right that runs alongside the general disclosure rules. Together, the two sections make Kentucky's body camera framework unusually detailed compared with states that handle bodycam footage as a subsection of their general law enforcement exemption.

For the request mechanics, and to see how Kentucky's approach compares with other states, see our Kentucky body camera laws page and the cluster guide on how to request body camera footage.

Corrections, Redactions, and Other Practical Notes

No formal, statewide statutory procedure for correcting a completed Kentucky crash report was located on a primary KSP page. KSP's Traffic Collision Manual does reference supplemental report forms for follow-on additions or corrections, so a driver who spots an error on a completed report should contact the investigating agency's Traffic Collision Reporting section directly rather than assume the report can be edited after the fact.

Kentucky's redaction protections for both crash and incident reports run through KRS 189.635's personally identifying information language rather than a separate juvenile- or victim-specific carve-out. If you are trying to look up a report involving someone other than yourself, treat the information the same way KSP does, as something to be used for your own personal purpose, such as an insurance claim or legal matter, not for employment or tenant screening, which is governed by separate federal law.

For the general steps involved in filing a new report, see how to file a police report; for help interpreting the codes and sections on a completed report, see how to read a police report. If a case tied to the incident proceeds through the courts, related filings are available through Kentucky court records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about public-records access in the state named above. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney about a specific situation. Fees, forms, and processing times change; confirm current figures with the listed agency before relying on them.

Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and portals reflect their published status as of August 2026.