Looking For Free Public Police Records

by Claire Dowell

The safety and security of our dwelling places is largely attributed to the continuous efforts of Law Enforcement entities towards upholding peace and order. One of the most significant tasks performed by police officers is to provide accurate documentation of all incidents that occurred in the locality for many a number of purposes.

Police reports are written documents prepared by law enforcement personnel soon after the occurrence of a crime or accident. The police officer takes notes of what they have observed at the scene, including witness statements and take photo or video evidences. Once the scene has been cleared and secured, police officers will then make a full police report from the details gathered at the scene. A full report typically contains the name of the victim of the crime, any witnesses who possess information required to investigate it, the classification of the offense, the probable cause, the detailed facts regarding the incident, and the incident number.

The main purpose of a police report is to determine if whether or not a criminal charge will be filed. If a charge is filed, police reports are made available to criminal defense attorneys in order for them to have a full grasp of the charge, and therefore help them conjure up a defense. A police report cannot be used as evidence in a trial against the defendant, but can aid police officers if they are called to recall the details of the incident. Police reports are also obtained in order to present it to a homeowner or automobile insurance company in the case of thefts and accidents.

In the State of Georgia, police reports are open to public procurement after the closure of the investigation for that particular incident. Information such as witnesses’ and police officer’s names will be blocked in order to protect their identities, as well as identifying information such as Social Security Numbers. Copies of Georgia police reports can be obtained from the county police department that handled the incident.

Prior to obtaining a copy of a police report anywhere in the State of Georgia, make sure that you have accurate knowledge of the whereabouts of a certain incident. Contact the concerned police department of that city or county in order to determine their policies as to how to obtain copies of their police reports. This may include the identifying requirements necessary prior to the filing of a request, the processing fees per report, and the business hours in which you can set an appointment for the said matter. Once you have completed your request, you can obtain your results via pick-up or thru mail.

Public documents such as police records are indubitably essential in a variety of processes, as described earlier. The continuous demand for such documents has inspired government depositories and private retrieval solutions to establish online databases in order to deliver more requests to those who need them. The development of such online approaches has paved the way for convenient access and procurement of any desired document at the fastest possible time, without compromising accuracy. Because of the generous amounts of effort, time and money these methods can save, they have become a popular search activity performed over the Internet.

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