Police put traffic crash reports online

ALGONQUIN – A new online traffic crash report system will save time and money for Algonquin police and make traffic crash reports easier – and more expensive – for the public to obtain, police said.

The Algonquin Police are working with TRACView to make all traffic crash reports available online going back to Aug. 1, police Sgt. Wade Merritt said. Each report will cost $10.

To obtain a report, a user can go to www.tracview.com, click on "Purchase a report", and input the accident date and accident report number.

Huntley Police and the McHenry County Sheriff's Office also use the system.

Merritt said the online system would save the Algonquin Police Department thousands of pages of paper each year, and would save the records clerk four or five hours of work a week.

"Right now we get a lot of requests through the mail from insurance companies asking for copies of crash reports. We have to make copies and mail them back," Merritt said.

"Now the insurance companies can go directly online, pay the fee, and we have nothing to do with it."

Merritt said new reports are uploaded to the system daily, but it usually takes two or three days after a crash until a report is approved by a supervisor and put into the system.

Citizens still can obtain traffic crash reports from the police department for a $5 fee, Merritt said.

– Jenn Wiant