Kent County, Delaware local guide: This county or county-equivalent page applies the state and national guidance and official resources below to people looking for accident information in Kent County, Delaware. The agency responsible for a police report or records request can depend on where the incident occurred and which agency investigated it. Confirm the agency shown on the report or incident information before requesting a record.
Short answer
Delaware’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security (DSHS) is the official custodian of Delaware crash reports and collects statewide crash data. That does not mean the public crash-data map is a copy of a report, or that one state office is the correct pickup point for every report. Delaware says official crash reports are confidential and directs authorized parties to the reporting police agency for an official copy. If the Delaware State Police investigated the crash, its Traffic Operations Section accepts report-copy requests by mail only. Delaware’s official crash-data page and 21 Del. C. § 313 explain the statewide custody and access rules.
For a Delaware State Police report, mail a request to the Delaware State Police Traffic Operations Section, P.O. Box 430, Dover, DE 19903. Include a copy of the collision information exchange form and payment by check or money order payable to Delaware State Police. The stated fee is $25 for a standard collision report and $60 for a fatal collision report. Delaware State Police says it cannot honor walk-in crash-report requests. Read the DSP request instructions.
Immediate checklist
- Check the collision information exchange form for the police agency that investigated the crash. That agency is the starting point for an official copy.
- If Delaware State Police investigated, mail the exchange-form copy and the applicable payment to DSP Traffic Operations Section. Do not go to a walk-in counter for this request; DSP says crash-report requests must be made by mail.
- If a municipal police department, sheriff, campus police, or another agency investigated, contact that reporting agency directly for its copy procedure. Delaware’s state crash-data page gives this direction for authorized parties seeking official reports.
- Bring together the materials the agency expressly asks for. For DSP, that is the collision information exchange form and payment. The access statute also requires proof of identity and the fee set by the law-enforcement agency with primary jurisdiction.
- Use the public crash-data site only for de-identified research, not as the official report. It does not contain personal information and is not an official record of a particular crash.
Who reports what after a Delaware crash?
Delaware’s reporting rules separate notifying police from obtaining a later copy of a report.
| Category | What the official Delaware source says |
|---|---|
| Calling or notifying police | After meeting the stop-and-information duties in the law, a driver must immediately report a crash to the police agency with primary jurisdiction where there is an injury or death; where a crash on a public highway has apparent property damage of $2,000 or more; or where a driver appears impaired by alcohol or drugs. A driver may report a collision that does not meet those conditions. 21 Del. C. § 4203(a)–(b) |
| Investigating officer report | Police agencies must investigate and complete the State of Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report for reported in-jurisdiction crashes involving an impaired driver, apparent property damage of $2,000 or more, or injury or death. 21 Del. C. § 4203(c)–(d) |
| Separate driver or supplemental report | DSHS may require a driver or police department to file a supplemental report when the original report is insufficient. The official sources reviewed for this page do not provide a general public self-report form or filing method. 21 Del. C. § 4203(e) |
| DMV or motor-vehicle report | The cited crash-report sources do not state a separate DMV crash-report request route or driver filing requirement. This page therefore does not treat a DMV request as a substitute for contacting the reporting police agency. |
| Insurer notice | The access statute allows an insurer, insurance support organization, or qualifying self-insured entity and certain agents, employees, or contractors to receive a report for the listed claims, anti-fraud, rating, or underwriting purposes. It does not set a general policy-notice deadline. 21 Del. C. § 313(c) |
| Public-entity notice and lawsuit deadlines | The official sources reviewed here do not state a public-entity notice requirement or a civil lawsuit deadline. Those subjects are not used to set any deadline on this page. |
The $2,000 figure above is a police-notification and investigation threshold in the statute for a public-highway property-damage collision. It is not a fee, a report-copy eligibility rule, or a deadline.
Who can receive an official crash report?
Delaware treats accident reports and data derived from them as confidential rather than public records under the state Freedom of Information Act. Under 21 Del. C. § 313(c), disclosure is limited to:
- a person, or that person’s legal representative, requesting the person’s own accident report; and
- an insurer, insurance support organization, or a self-insured entity—or its agent, employee, or contractor—for the statute’s listed claims-investigation, anti-fraud, rating, or underwriting activities.
A requester under that provision must provide proof of identity and pay the fee established by the law-enforcement agency with primary jurisdiction over the crash. A report associated with a criminal prosecution may be withheld until that prosecution concludes. These limits are why the standard state FOIA process is not the normal route for an official crash report: the report statute specifically says the reports are not public records under FOIA.
Requesting a report when Delaware State Police investigated
Delaware State Police publishes a specific copy-request procedure through its Traffic Unit page:
- Method: mail only. DSP expressly says it cannot honor walk-in crash-report requests.
- Mailing address: Delaware State Police, Traffic Operations Section, P.O. Box 430, Dover, DE 19903.
- What to include: a copy of the collision information exchange form and payment.
- Payment: check or money order payable to Delaware State Police.
- Fee: $25 for a standard collision report; $60 for a fatal collision report.
- Questions: DSP lists Traffic Operations at (302) 739-5931, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
DSP’s published procedure does not state an online ordering option or a waiting period for a crash-report copy. Do not infer a delivery date from the absence of a stated waiting period. If the form or agency information is missing, contact the reporting agency to ask what information it needs rather than sending a request to the wrong department.
What to gather before you request a copy
Use the collision information exchange form as the primary document. It is the item DSP specifically directs requesters to include. Also keep the name of the reporting police agency visible on that form, because Delaware’s statewide crash-data page directs authorized parties to the reporting agency for official copies.
For an eligibility-based request, be prepared to provide the proof of identity required by 21 Del. C. § 313(c)(2). For a DSP request, prepare the correct check or money order. The official DSP page does not prescribe additional identifiers in its published instructions, so this guide does not add an invented list of required dates, case numbers, or vehicle details.
If the report is unavailable, held elsewhere, or you only need crash data
First, confirm which agency reported the crash. The statewide DSHS data page is clear: authorized parties should contact the reporting police agency directly for official copies. That is the appropriate fallback when the investigating agency was local or another non-DSP agency. It also means a Delaware State Police mail request should not be treated as a guaranteed route for a crash investigated by another department.
If the report is tied to a criminal prosecution, the statute permits it to be withheld until that prosecution has concluded. If you are not within a statutory category of requester, the report’s confidential status may prevent release.
For non-personal, de-identified crash research, Delaware’s Public Crash Data resource is available to the public. It is updated monthly, covers crashes from 2009 through six months ago, and is designed for analysis and safety planning. It does not contain personal information and is not an official record of a particular crash. For practical next steps after a collision, see the site’s what-to-do guide and evidence checklist.
Official resources
- Delaware State Police Traffic Unit: crash-report copy instructions
- Delaware Public Crash Data: statewide data and official-copy direction
- 21 Del. C. § 313: report confidentiality and eligible disclosure
- 21 Del. C. § 4203: police reporting and investigation rules
- Delaware State Police FOIA page — useful for other DSP records, but crash reports are addressed by the confidentiality and disclosure rule above.
Sources
- Delaware State Police, “Traffic Unit”, “Request Crash Report.”
- Delaware Code Online, Title 21, Chapter 3, § 313, “Accident statistics and reports; evidence.”
- Delaware Code Online, Title 21, Chapter 42, § 4203, “Duty to report collisions; evidence.”
- State of Delaware Open Data Portal, “Public Crash Data.”
- Delaware State Police, “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).”