PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS

Many times the government records you are seeking are available without an Access Public Records Act (APRA) request. It is good to first reach out directly to an agency to discuss the information you are seeking and whether or not a formal APRA request is needed. Requests that involve older records or are voluminous in nature will likely benefit from the APRA process.

APRA was designed to facilitate transparency in government. An APRA request is a way to formally request open public records that are not readily available. APRA requests are submitted directly to the agency or department that created the document. Once you enter the APRA process, the agency is limited solely to documents you have requested and must follow procedures outlined in statute when seeking clarifications from you. The Office of the Attorney General enforces APRA, and the Department of State Public Records Administration oversees records retention.

The Westerly Police Department provides numerous public documents to the public, media and attorneys every day in the ordinary course of business.  If the public records are readily available, we will be more than happy to provide them but if they require redaction or are exempt from full release, they may fall under APRA.

Please email records@westerlypolice.org or call 401-348-6107 first for your request and we can help guide you.

ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

 R.I. GEN. LAWS SECTION 38-2-1 ET SEQ. 

Access to Public Records( APRA) (form)

The Access to Public Records Act grants a public body ten (10) business days to respond to your request (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 38-2-7 (a)).  The Act further provides that “for good cause, this limit may be extended for a period not to exceed thirty (30) business days.”  We thank you in advance for your understanding if it is necessary to request this extension.  Improper release of certain information could compromise the civil rights or personal safety of your fellow citizens, and we must review documents to prevent such harm.

If you would like to make a request for public records under the Access to Public Records Act (APRA) for documents maintained by the Westerly Police Department, please complete the Public Records Request Form from above link. On that form you may also read the procedures to request APRA documents.

Accident Reports

Accident reports can be obtained by going to www.BuyCrash.com, which provides online access to crash reports or at the department (M-F 8:00am-4pm).

The website fee is $15 per report. The cost if you come to station is $.15 per page.

The officer handling your accident will give you an accident report number before you leave the scene of the crash. In most cases, crash reports are available 72 hours after the report was taken, with the exception of crashes that remain under investigation. 

We encourage all parties needing reports to utilize www.BuyCrash.com for quick, easy online access to crash reports. www.BuyCrash.com allows individual or multiple crash reports to be purchased with major credit cards or with a pre-paid account. To purchase an individual crash report, go to www.BuyCrash.com and follow the simple process. To purchase multiple reports at once, you must set up a subscriber account. To set up a subscriber account, click on "Business Account Login" and follow the steps to set up a subscriber account.