Wyoming Police Report: How to Get a Crash Report from WYDOT, an Incident Report, or Body Camera (Peace Officer Recording) Footage

Wyoming handles crash reports through direct contact with WYDOT's Highway Safety Office rather than an online storefront, and its public-records law treats body camera footage as a "peace officer recording," a term defined at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-201(a)(xi) and made exempt from inspection by Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d)(xviii), a separate section from the one carrying the general law-enforcement exemption for incident reports.

Wyoming's default on that footage is stricter than most states in this batch. A custodian must deny inspection of a peace officer recording unless one of a short list of statutory exceptions applies, so a general-public or press requester starts with no right of access at all.

Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Getting a Copy of a Wyoming Crash Report

Wyoming crash reports are requested from WYDOT's Highway Safety Office, specifically its Office of Data Quality Control and Assurance, in Cheyenne. Contact options include visiting in person at 5300 Bishop Blvd., Cheyenne, WY 82009; calling (307) 777-4450; emailing crash.records@wyo.gov; or mailing a request to WYDOT, Attn: Highway Safety, at the same address, specifying whether the report should come back by paper, email, or fax.

WYDOT's fee schedule, as reflected on the agency's Highway Safety and Highway Patrol pages, has listed a small per-report charge along with an additional credit-card processing fee for card payments. Those specific figures were not directly viewable on a live agency page at publication time, so confirm the current fee schedule with the Highway Safety Office before submitting a request rather than relying on a specific dollar amount here.

Wyoming Statute 31-5-1110 does not make the underlying crash report itself confidential. Its general confidentiality clause for crash reports, subsection (a), was repealed in 2013. What remains confidential under the current statute is narrower: "supplemental information to a crash report filed in connection with the administration of the laws of this state relating to the deposit of security or proof of financial responsibility." A general evidentiary-use restriction also applies under subsection (c). Beyond Wyoming law, the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2721, still restricts what personal information tied to a motor vehicle record an agency may disclose to a requester outside a permitted purpose, regardless of the state-law confidentiality picture.

Getting a Copy of a Wyoming Police Incident Report

A general incident report, covering an arrest or another non-crash police response, is requested from the department or sheriff's office that handled it. Wyoming's Public Records Act sets the governing framework, and Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(b)(i) is the law-enforcement investigatory-records exemption, covering "records of investigations conducted by, or of intelligence information or security procedures of" a sheriff, county attorney, city attorney, the attorney general, or other agencies with an investigatory or prosecutorial function. That exemption sits in subsection (b), which opens "The custodian may deny the right of inspection of the following records," so it is discretionary and applied case by case. Wyoming's records-act appeal routes, described below for bodycam denials, apply to a denied incident-report request as well.

Wyoming Body Camera (Peace Officer Recording) Footage

Wyoming does not use the term "body camera" in its statute. It uses "peace officer recording," defined at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-201(a)(xi) as any audio or video data recorded by a peace officer on a camera or other device that is provided to or used by the officer in the course of performing official business and designed to be worn on the officer's body or attached to a vehicle used by the officer. Access to that footage is governed at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d)(xviii), so the definition and the access rule live in two different sections of the Public Records Act.

The starting point is non-disclosure. Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d) opens by providing that the custodian "shall deny the right of inspection of the following records, unless otherwise provided by law," and peace officer recordings are item (xviii) on that list. That is a stronger bar than the "may deny" language governing investigatory records in subsection (b): a member of the general public or the press has no right of access to Wyoming bodycam footage, and everything below is an exception carved out of a duty to withhold.

The custodian must allow inspection to law enforcement personnel or public agencies for the purpose of conducting official business, or pursuant to a court order. Beyond that, the custodian may allow inspection in four situations: to the person in interest, meaning the person the recording is about; where the information involves an incident of deadly force or serious bodily injury as defined in Wyo. Stat. 6-1-104(a)(x); in response to a complaint against law enforcement personnel, where the custodian determines that inspection is not contrary to the public interest; and in the interest of public safety. The third of those is the route open to someone who has filed a misconduct complaint, and all four are permissive, so the custodian can still say no.

A requester who is denied access may request a written statement of the grounds for the denial under Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(e). The show-cause petition in Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(f) is narrower than it looks: it is triggered by an entity's failure to release records on a date mutually agreed upon under Wyo. Stat. 16-4-202(c)(iv), or by its failure to comply with an order of the ombudsman under Wyo. Stat. 16-4-202(c)(v), so it addresses delay and non-compliance rather than a substantive exemption denial. Where footage is refused under the peace officer recording exemption itself, the route is Wyo. Stat. 16-4-202(c)(v): the applicant may file a complaint with the ombudsman designated by the governor, or petition the district court for a determination whether the custodian demonstrated good cause, with the records reviewed in camera to see whether redaction would permit release. For a broader comparison across states, see How to Request Body Cam Footage and Wyoming Body Camera Laws.

Related Resources

Police Reports by State covers the full 50-state picture. See also How to File a Police Report, How to Read a Police Report, Are Police Reports Public?, Wyoming Body Camera Laws, Wyoming Car Accident Laws, Wyoming Public Records Laws, and Wyoming Court Records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how to request police crash reports, incident reports, and body camera footage in Wyoming. It is not legal advice. Fees, portals, and statutes change; confirm current details with WYDOT's Highway Safety Office, the responding agency, or a Wyoming attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-10. Fees and portals reflect their published status as of August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get a copy of a Wyoming crash report?

Contact WYDOT’s Highway Safety Office in Cheyenne by phone at (307) 777-4450, by email at crash.records@wyo.gov, or by mail, specifying whether you want the report by paper, email, or fax.

How much does a Wyoming crash report cost?

WYDOT’s published fee schedule has listed a small per-report charge plus an additional credit-card service fee. WYDOT's fee schedule was not directly viewable at publication time; call or email the Highway Safety Office to confirm the current amount.

Is a Wyoming crash report confidential?

Not generally. Wyoming Statute 31-5-1110’s confidentiality clause for the base crash report was repealed in 2013. What remains confidential is specific supplemental information tied to financial-responsibility or security-deposit administration.

What is a 'peace officer recording' in Wyoming?

It is Wyoming’s statutory term for body-worn or vehicle-attached camera footage recorded by a peace officer in the course of performing official business. The definition is at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-201(a)(xi), and access to the footage is governed separately at Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d)(xviii).

Who can get Wyoming body camera footage?

By default nobody outside government can. Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(d) says the custodian shall deny inspection of a peace officer recording unless an exception applies, so the general public and the press have no access right. The custodian must allow inspection to law enforcement personnel and public agencies for official business or under a court order, and may allow it in four situations: to the person in interest, where the incident involves deadly force or serious bodily injury, in response to a complaint against law enforcement personnel where the custodian finds inspection is not contrary to the public interest, and in the interest of public safety.

What can I do if Wyoming denies my body camera footage request?

You can request a written statement of the grounds for the denial under Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(e). The show-cause petition in Wyo. Stat. 16-4-203(f) applies to a missed agreed release date or an agency's failure to obey an ombudsman order, not to an exemption denial. For a refusal under the peace officer recording exemption, Wyo. Stat. 16-4-202(c)(v) lets you file a complaint with the state public records ombudsman or petition the district court to decide whether the custodian showed good cause, with the records reviewed in camera.