Crash Reports (1/1/2019 to 9/30/2019)
| Submitted | Oct. 1, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Matt Freund
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
Please provide all Crash Reports reported in the state of Ohio from January 1st, 2019 to September 30th, 2019.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.
Sincerely,
Matt Freund
From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Mr. Freund,
We received your request for all Ohio crash reports from January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019 via fax. Data from Ohio crash reports are available on line at the website below. I have attached the user manual for your convenience. If you want to look at the actual report you can put the document number into the second website listed to view an electronic version of the report. If these two websites do not satisfy the information you are requesting please feel free to contact me to clarify the information you are requesting.
https://services.dps.ohio.gov/CrashOnline/CrashStatistics/Home
https://services.dps.ohio.gov/CrashOnline/CrashRetrieval
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Public Affairs Commander
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
Thank you for your prompt response.
Using the resources provided, you can only search up to one month and on a county by county basis. We would like the electronic version of the actual reports for the entire state for the 1/1/2019 to 9/30/2019 period.
Thank you for your help.
Matt Freund
From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Mr. Freund,
Just to confirm you want actual physical crash reports and not the raw data fields included on the reports? Just to give you some reference the Ohio State Highway Patrol alone has taken over 44,000 crash reports during that time frame. If you are looking at all crashes handled by all law enforcement agencies statewide that number would most likely double or triple. If you are looking to do any type of research with the information contained on the reports it would be easier to get the raw data as opposed to the physical reports.
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Public Affairs Commander
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
Office- 614-752-2792
Cell- 614-572-5743
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
The raw data fields in the report work, thank you for confirming. And we will take reports taken by all law enforcement agencies (the number you say will be double or triple size).
Thank you for your help.
Matt
From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Matt,
Go to https://services.dps.ohio.gov/CrashOnline/CrashStatistics/Home and enter the date parameters you want. Do not enter the county or the law enforcement agency if you want everything statewide. This will give you all the raw crash data. The user manual is attached. Within 24 hours you should receive an email with directions on how to download the data. Make sure you check clutter and junk. I've been told that is often where the email ends up. If you have any issues you can contact traffstats@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:traffstats@dps.ohio.gov> or 614-752-1585.
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Public Affairs Commander
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
This report doesn't include the name, address, phone number, and policy # that is included in the electronic crash reports. The raw data that includes this is what we are looking for.
Matt Freund
From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Matt,
I didn't realize that was the information you wanted. I thought you wanted to work with the crash data sets. The best route to go if you want the name, address, phone number, and insurance policy number that is for us to provide you all of the crash document numbers for that time frame so you can run them through the crash retrieval site without having to run them by month and by county.
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Public Affairs Commander
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
Office- 614-752-2792
Cell- 614-572-5743
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
We want the crash data set, just with those additional fields you mentioned (name, address, phone number, and insurance policy number). Going through the site for each report would be an unduly extensive process, as there is a CAPTCHA on the site, which specifically prevents automated retrieval.
Thank you,
Matt
From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
Just wanted to follow up on this request. Hope you had a good weekend.
Matt
From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Matt,
Please see the attached. You should have the document numbers on the download you obtained to run the crash reports you are interested in through the crash retrieval website.
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Public Affairs Commander
Ohio State Highway Patrol
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
Office- 614-752-2792
Cell- 614-572-5743
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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From: Matt Freund
Staff Lieutenant Cvetan,
Thank you for your response. Based on the functions of your existing crash report system, specifically that searches can provided the requested information (name, address, phone number, policy #), there would not be any "reprogramming" required, as all we are looking for is an export of the information already populated in the system.
Additionally, this information would not be considered a "blanket request," as the request is for specific information over a discreet period of time.
As such, could you please complete the aforementioned request in a timely fashion.
Regards,
Matt
From: Matt Freund
Also, I would point out there is a limit on reports you can pull from the site (see attached screen shot) which makes following the suggested steps impossible to follow.
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From: Ohio Department of Public Safety
Matt,
We discussed your request with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, who is actually responsible for the database. The functions of the database do not currently support an extraction including the information you requested such as name, address, phone number and policy number. Additionally, reprograming to provide an export of the data requested, if it were to be done, would be incomplete. Ohio still allows law enforcement agencies to file hand written crash reports. Only the data fields from the report are keyed in when these reports are received. The full information you seek is not part of that process and therefore is unavailable electronically. This means a data export of the database would be incomplete for approximately a third of the reports. A direct export would also eliminate the automatic redactions built into the system to remove information which is not subject to public records requests, which would require additional reprograming to be completed. The Ohio Department of Public Safety does not have a means to download all crash reports in a more efficient way than what was provided to you through crash retrieval website. It is important to note, Ohio charges a $4 fee for each crash report making the crash retrieval website the most efficient and cost effective means to obtain the data you are requesting.
Staff Lieutenant Craig S. Cvetan
Public Affairs Commander
Ohio State Highway Patrol
1970 West Broad St.
Columbus, Ohio 43223
Office- 614-752-2792
Cell- 614-572-5743
ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov<mailto:ccvetan@dps.ohio.gov>
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