
POLICE Department
Public Information Requests
The staff of the Houston Police Department / Office of Planning & Data Governance / Open Records Unit welcomes you to our section of this web site. In order to assist you with your search on how to submit an Open Records request, we suggest that you find the type of document you are seeking in the list below, click on the heading and follow the instructions on how to obtain that document.
• To purchase a copy of an Accident / Crash Report Online please follow this link: https://policereports.lexisnexis.com/search?AGENCY=TXHPD0000
• Local, State and Federal agencies, including law enforcement agency, municipal or district attorney office, please see Interagency Requests for information on how to submit your request.
• Information on how to request documents from other City Departments (other than HPD) https://www.houstontx.gov/pia.html
- The Texas Attorney Generals website; https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/
Below is a list of the most common types of requests. Please click on the item you are requesting for information on how / where to submit your request.
Dispatch transcripts are maintained for one year, 911 audio tapes are maintained for six (6) months. Requests for 911 tapes and dispatch information are handled by the Houston Emergency Center, and can be submitted via:
- Email - hecrecords@houstontx.gov
- Fax - 713-884-3943
- US mail - Houston Emergency Center, PO Box 1562, Houston, TX 77251-1562
- For HPD Offense Reports click here
This is the Texas Peace Officers' Accident Report form (CRB3) filled out by a Houston Police Officer and filed with the Texas Department of Transportation. Accident reports require 5 to 8 days processing time before they are available to the public. Accident reports are handled by the Records Division, 713 308-8585.
You must provide at least two of the following in order to obtain an accident report:
- Date of accident
- Location of accident
- Name(s) of driver(s) / party(s) involved
- Please provide the incident number if available.
These are the options on how to obtain an accident report:
- Crash Reports can be purchased online from the Texas Department of Transportation at https://policereports.lexisnexis.com/, https://policereports.lexisnexis.com/search?AGENCY=TXHPD0000.
- Send a check / money order for $6.00 (made payable to the City of Houston) plus a self addressed stamped envelope with your request to HPD, Records Division, 1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002 We will also need for the H. B. 2633 form English | Spanish to be printed, completed, and sent in with your request or
- In person at the Edward A. Thomas Building at 1200 Travis St. Houston, Texas 77002 on the 1st floor.
Full copies can only be purchased in person or via mail with the accompanying H. B. 2633 form English | Spanish. The H. B. 2633 requirements must be met for online purchase under penalty of perjury, via questionnaire.
This is the computer record of the blotter, the form an arresting officer fills out when a prisoner is booked into one of our holding facilities. To order a copy of the jail arrest record, you must provide:
- The month, day and year of the arrest
- The full name(s), DOB, TDL and/or SSN of the individual
- If you have the offense report number and/or type of offense, please provide them with your request. To obtain this report, please submit an Open Records request
To obtain the location of the vehicles to be auctioned and / or information regarding the vehicles, you must call the Houston Police Auto Auction line at 713 247-5812.
See UCR (Uniform Crime Report)
See Mug Shot
Calls for Service / Location Inquiry
Calls for service records are maintained for two years only. You must provide the:
- specific address such as 123 Smith or 1200 Smith or 1200 Smith through 1400 Smith
- specific time frame such as January 15, 2008 or January 1, 2008 through March 31, 2008
Information regarding citations / traffic violations are maintained by the City of Houston, Municipal Courts, Erlinda Gamez, 713 247-5479 and can be submitted via :
- Email - court.record-request@houstontx.gov
- Fax - 713 247-4775
- US mail - Municipal Courts Administration, Director's Office, 2nd Floor N203, 1400 Lubbock, Houston, TX 77002
- In person at 1400 Lubbock, 2nd floor.
Clearance Letters are issued by the H.P.D. Identity Verification Unit, located at the Houston Permitting Center. If you would like an application form e-mailed to you, please contact Identity.VerificationUnit@HoustonPolice.org.
See Accident / Crash Report
Crime statistics can be obtained by beat, month and year via the following link: https://www.houstontx.gov/police/cs/beatpages/beat_stats.htm . Crime statistics include the block number, street name and type of crime. Crime stats are available from January, 1984 through the last full month. If you need citywide crime statistics, please submit an Open Records requests and provide the time period / date range.
Court disposition records are maintained by the Harris County District Clerk, 713 755-7812. You may contact them via:
Criminal History information includes arrests handled by the Houston Police Department only. If you were arrested by another agency (Harris County Sheriff's Department, Pasadena PD, etc,) you must contact that agency regarding your arrest. Criminal history requests are handled by the Identification Division (ID), 832-394-4880, and can be made via:
- In person - 1002 Washington Ave, basement level
- US mail - HPD, Identification Division 1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002
- Personal criminal history - present yourself at the 1002 Washington Ave, basement level with a copy of your government issued identification, get fingerprinted, and wait while they process your request. Or, you can mail a copy of your identification and a set of your fingerprints prepared by a law enforcement agency and the information will be mailed to you within 15 business days.
- Someone else's criminal history - The release of criminal history information generated within Texas to anyone other than the subject of the information is prohibited by common law privacy, (See Houston Chronicle Publishing Company v. City of Houston, 531 S. W. 2d at 188 (Tex. Civ. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1975) unless you provide a release signed by the person whose criminal history you are requesting and a set of their fingerprints prepared by a law enforcement agency. The Identification Division will release a copy of the persons criminal history on the same day if you come in person. If you mail your request the documents will be mailed to you within 15 business days.
- Criminal history information involving arrests made by any law enforcement agency within Harris County can also be obtained via the Harris County District Clerk's Office by calling 713 755-7812, provide the case and/or SPN number or the individual's name, DOB, TDL, SSN, etc. The cost is $5.00 and can be paid over the phone with a credit card. The criminal history information will then be mailed (pay for postage), faxed (pay $1.00 per faxed page) or you can retrieve it in person.
- Hate Crimes Report www.houstontx.gov/police/department_reports/hate_crime/HateCrimes_AnnualReport_Final200615.pdf
- If you need additional information, please submit an Open Records request
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If the total amount of your responsive material is less than $5 (five dollars), we will send the information to you by US Mail along with an invoice for the cost. If the total is greater than $5 (five dollars), we will send you an invoice for the material. Once you've paid the invoice, we will send you the responsive documents. If the total will be over $40 (forty dollars), we will send you a cost estimate for your approval before we proceed with the work. If the total will be over $100 (one hundred dollars), we will send you a cost estimate and require a deposit before we proceed with the work. When you are invoiced, please submit payment by check or money order only according to the instructions given in your invoice. Please do not pre-pay or pay before you have received an invoice or cost estimate.
For more information about charges for copies of public information, please see the Texas Attorney General’s website at: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/og/charges-for-public-information
- Responsive documents are not emailed or faxed. You must provide a mailing address on all requests.
- Submit your request only once via email, fax, U.S. mail or in person.
- Do not include attachments. Type the information you are requesting in the body of the email.
- Please allow at least ten (10) business days for a response.
- Requests submitted by an individual presently incarcerated in a city, state or federal institution will not be processed.
Open Records requests for the Houston Police Department (HPD) must be submitted in writing via:
See Clearance / Immigration Letters
Interagency requests for offense and crash reports are handled by HPD Criminal Justice Liaison, Records Division, 713 308-8504 and can be submitted via:
Interagency requests for background checks on potential applicants must be submitted on your agency letterhead to the Identification Verification Unit via:
Interagency requests for all other information must be submitted on your agency letterhead to the Office of the Chief of Police via:
The Houston Police Department (HPD) closed its last jail facility at 6 a.m. Tuesday, March 19th as the final step in consolidating all City of Houston and Harris County prisoner processing operations at the Joint Processing Center located at 700 North San Jacinto Street. HPD officers will now book all prisoners into jail at the new Joint Processing Center downtown. This means that the HPD Southeast Jail at 8300 Mykawa Road is no longer operational.
To search for a family member or friend (adults 17 years or older) who might be in jail please use this link to the Harris County Find Someone In Jail site:
https://www.harriscountyso.org/JailInfo/HCSO_FindSomeoneInJail.aspx
See Arrest Record
See Calls for Service
Mug shots will only be released if the suspect was convicted.
Requests for mug shots must include the:
- date of the arrest (or month/year)
- name of the arrestee
- DOB of the arrestee
- include your name & postal mailing address
All requests regarding a City of Houston employee's personnel / civil service file or documents within the file are handled by the City of Houston, Human Resources Department, Kimmothy Jackson, 832 393-6332. Your request must be submitted in writing via:
Please read this entire section before submitting a request for a police report. Please be aware a criminal offense report and associated items such as videos, photos, etc are not considered public information and will not be released unless the case was closed by conviction (someone was arrested, convicted and received jail/prison time and/or deferred adjudication and/or a fine). The only portion that can be released in most cases is the public information portion and suspect information if a suspect(s) was arrested and charged. The public information portion contains a summary of the crime, the complainant's name, address, date, time and location of the incident the responding Officer's name(s), the incident number, and is generally all the information needed by your insurance company, if you need the report for a claim. To request the public information portion, please specify you are seeking the public information report and send your request via only one of the following methods:
- Email - hpd.openrecords@houstonpolice.org
- Fax - 713 308-9150
(Include your postal mailing address. We do not fax or e-mail responsive documents. See below for information to include in request.) - In person - Records Division, 1st floor, 1200 Travis
(The Records Division can only release the public information portion of the report. The Records Division is open Monday - Friday, 8 am - 5 pm.) - US mail - Office of Planning & Data Governance / Open Records Unit, 1200 Travis, 10th Floor, Houston, TX 77002
(Include your postal mailing address. We do not fax or e-mail responsive documents. See below for information to include in request. Do not send attachments with your e-mail.)
In your request, provide as much information as possible so the report can be located, such as the:
- HPD Incident Number (sometimes referred to as case number or offense report number.)
- name(s), DOB, TDL and/or SSN of the parties involved
- date/location (address) of the incident
- type of incident
- Specify "public information report" & include your postal mailing address
If the case was not closed by conviction and you submit an Open Records request for the whole report (or if you do not specify “public information report” in your request), your request will be forwarded to the Texas Attorney General's Office for a ruling as to whether or not we can release the full report, a process which takes around 60 business days.
Right of Recovery letters should be mailed to the investigative division.
- If the claim is regarding personal or business property, the letter needs to be mailed to HPD, Burglary & Theft Division, 1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002
- If the claim is regarding a vehicle, the letter needs to be mailed to HPD, Auto Theft Division, 1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002
If you have further questions, you may contact the investigative division. Following is the link with contact numbers for all divisions with the Houston Police Department: https://www.houstontx.gov/police/phone.htm
Subpoenas are handled by the Records Division, HPD Custodian of Records, 713 308-8571 and can be submitted via:
See Citations / Tickets / Moving Violations
To verify an outstanding warrant, contact the following:
- City / Municipal warrants - Municipal Courts 713 837-0311 or 3-1-1
- County warrants - Harris County Warrants Division 713 755-6055
How to Submit an Open Records Request:
- If the total amount of your responsive material is less than $5 (five dollars), we will send the information to you by US Mail along with an invoice for the cost. If the total is greater than $5 (five dollars), we will send you an invoice for the material. Once you've paid the invoice, we will send you the responsive documents. If the total will be over $40 (forty dollars), we will send you a cost estimate for your approval before we proceed with the work. If the total will be over $100 (one hundred dollars), we will send you a cost estimate and require a deposit before we proceed with the work. When you are invoiced, please submit payment by check or money order only according to the instructions given in your invoice. Please do not pre-pay or pay before you have received an invoice or cost estimate.
For more information about charges for copies of public information, please see the Texas Attorney General’s website at: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/og/charges-for-public-information
- Responsive documents are not emailed or faxed. You must provide a mailing address on all requests.
- Submit your request only once via email, fax, U.S. mail or in person.
- Do not include attachments. Type the information you are requesting in the body of the email.
- Please allow at least ten (10) business days for a response.
- Requests submitted by an individual presently incarcerated in a city, state or federal institution will not be processed.
Open Records requests for the Houston Police Department (HPD) must be submitted in writing via:
- Email - hpd.openrecords@houstonpolice.org
- Fax - 713 308-9150
- U. S. mail - Office of Planning & Data Governance - Open Records Unit, 1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002
- In person - HPD Administration Bldg, 1200 Travis, 10th floor. All requests are processed the same regardless of the means of submission.
- If you are requesting a report / document on behalf of a local / state / federal agency, including a law enforcement agency or a municipal or district attorney's office, please see Interagency Requests for information on how to submit your request.
- Information on how to request documents from other City Departments (other than HPD) https://www.houstontx.gov/pia.html
- The Texas Attorney Generals website; https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov