Personal injury
How do I get my car accident report in Miami-Dade?
The state portal is quickest, up to ten days after the crash. The agency that wrote the report keeps its own copy, and in the first 60 days only you, your lawyer and your insurer can get it.
The quickest route is the Florida Crash Portal, run by the state, where a report costs $10 plus a $2 fee and can take up to ten days to appear after the crash. The agency that wrote the report keeps its own copy and will give it to you directly: the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office through its Central Records Bureau in Doral, or a city department such as the Homestead Police Department at its own records window. For 60 days after the report is filed, Florida law limits it to the people in the crash, their lawyers and their insurers.
01 Which agency
Which agency wrote my Miami-Dade crash report?
The agency that sent an officer to the crash wrote the report, and Miami-Dade County has more than one. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office covers the unincorporated parts of the county and runs the municipal police districts of the Town of Cutler Bay, the Town of Miami Lakes and the Village of Palmetto Bay. A city with its own police department, such as the City of Homestead, writes its own reports. The Florida Highway Patrol writes the reports on the crashes it investigates.
The statute explains why it varies by location. A driver in a qualifying crash must notify the local police department if the crash happened inside a municipality, and otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol office (§ 316.065(1)). So a crash inside the city limits of Homestead goes to the Homestead Police Department, and a crash outside any city goes to the Sheriff’s Office or the Patrol.
If you were given a report number or a card at the scene, start there. If you were not, the date, time and place of the crash are what you will be asked for. Do not assume the first agency you search is the right one: a report that the Sheriff’s Office did not write will not be on the Sheriff’s Office’s counter.
The agency that sent the officer holds the report. The state portal holds a copy of all of them.
02 The fastest way
What is the fastest way to get a crash report in Miami-Dade?
The Florida Crash Portal is the fastest, and it does not matter which Miami-Dade agency wrote the report. Long-form and short-form reports prepared by law enforcement must be submitted to the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (§ 316.066(1)(f)), and the department sells them online. The fee is $10.00 per report plus a $2.00 convenience fee on each transaction. Once you pay, the report is available at once and must be downloaded within 48 hours, through a link emailed to you (FLHSMV).
Allow up to ten days after the crash before you decide the report is missing. The officer has ten days after finishing the investigation to submit the long form (§ 316.066(1)(a)), and the state says a report may take up to ten days to become available. A search that finds nothing on day three does not mean no report was written.
The state also takes requests by mail, but slowly. It gives four to six weeks for a mailed request (FLHSMV). For the statewide rules, including what to do when no report was written at all, see what to do when the police never came.
03 From the agency
Can I get my crash report from the Sheriff’s Office or the city police?
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office handles crash reports through its Central Records Bureau. Its public records counter is at Sheriff Fred Taylor Headquarters, 9105 NW 25th Street in Doral, open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by appointment only. Its page says a crash report may be requested in person or by mail. A mailed request goes to the Central Records Bureau at that address, with the Sworn Statement for Traffic Crash Report Information form notarized. Copies cost 15 cents for a single-sided page and 20 cents for a double-sided page, and a certified copy is $1 a page (Sheriff’s Office records page).
If you search for Miami-Dade Police, you will land on the Sheriff’s Office. The county police department’s older web addresses now redirect to the Sheriff’s Office site, mdso.com. Articles and directories written before that change can list phone numbers and fees that are out of date, so use the agency’s own page and call before you go.
The Homestead Police Department runs its own records window. It is at 45 NW 1st Avenue, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with no appointment, and the department lists a Records line at (305) 224-5545. A crash report there is $1, cash only, and the department also points people to the state portal for crash reports (Homestead Police records page).
Going to the agency costs less, and the portal costs less of your time. The portal runs $12.00 in all and gives you the file the day it is available. The agency charges cents or a dollar, and asks you to come in, mail a notarized form, or wait. Hours, fees and appointment rules here are as each agency’s page lists them in November 2026.
04 The first 60 days
Why can’t I get my crash report right away?
For 60 days after it is filed, a crash report that reveals personal information is confidential. The statute exempts it from public disclosure for that period (§ 316.066(2)(a)). It may be made available immediately to the parties involved, their legal representatives, their licensed insurance agents and their insurers (§ 316.066(2)(b)). The Sheriff’s Office states the practical effect: only the parties involved have access after the report is filed, and after 60 days the reports are open to the public.
Each report you request needs a sworn statement. To get a confidential report you must show a driver license or other identification, or proof that you qualify, and file a sworn statement for each report that the information will not be used to solicit accident victims (§ 316.066(2)(d)). That is the notarized form the Sheriff’s Office asks for with a mailed request.
A lawyer is on the statute’s list of people who can receive the report at once. A third party acting for someone who is eligible may also receive it, but may disclose it only to that person (§ 316.066(2)(b)). That is one practical reason to call before the first ten days are over rather than after the 60 are.
05 Other records
What should I ask for besides the crash report?
The 911 recording is the one with a clock on it. The Sheriff’s Office says audio recordings of 911 calls are available for 60 days after the call was received. A request is made online through its Public Records System, can take up to 60 days to process and cannot be picked up in person. Another agency’s schedule may be different, and the page does not say what happens to a recording once the 60 days have passed. The time to ask is in the first weeks, not after the report arrives.
Body-worn camera footage is requested separately, and it costs money. The Sheriff’s Office asks you to be specific: the date, time, location, the officer’s name or badge number and the case number. It sends a cost estimate once it reviews the request and treats your payment as a deposit. Some audio and video can be withheld or redacted as exempt or confidential, depending on your role in the incident. The Homestead Police Department lists its own body-worn camera records request.
Keep your own record from the first hour. Photographs of both vehicles, the other driver’s insurance card and the names of anyone who stopped are yours to collect, and nobody else will collect them for you. They matter most when the report is incomplete (what replaces a missing report).
06 What to check
What should I check on my crash report?
Start with the names and the insurance. The statute requires the report to list every driver and passenger and the vehicle each was in, the witnesses, the investigating officer’s name, badge number and agency, and the insurance company of each party (§ 316.066(1)(b)). A missing passenger, a missing witness or the wrong insurer are the errors that slow a claim down.
Then read what it says about injuries. A long-form report is required when anyone was hurt or showed any indication of complaints of pain or discomfort (§ 316.066(1)(a)). A report that records no injury does not end a claim: Personal Injury Protection turns on care within 14 days, not on what the report says (what the 14 days require). Say what hurts when the officer asks, and say it was a passenger who was hurt if it was.
What you told the officer for the report cannot be used against you at trial. A crash report made by a person involved, and any statement made to an officer to complete it, may not be used as evidence in any trial (§ 316.066(4)). That does not stop an insurer from reading it or asking you about it, and it does not cover everything else in the report. The point is to say plainly what happened, not to guard every word.
The officer’s view of fault is one view. Florida assigns fault by percentage, and the report is one input into that, not the answer (how fault percentages work).
07 An example
A crash in Homestead, a search in the wrong place
A driver is rear-ended on a city street in Homestead on a Tuesday. The officer who comes works for the Homestead Police Department. On Friday she searches the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office site and finds nothing, because the Sheriff’s Office did not write the report.
The report is on the state portal by the following week, and the Homestead Police Department’s records window has it for $1. It lists the other driver’s insurer and records her own complaint of neck pain, which is the entry that matters when her PIP claim begins. This is an illustration of how the pieces fit together, not a real case.
A constructed example, written to show how the rule works. It is not a case this firm handled and it is not a promised result.
08 What to do now
- Find out which agency cameLook for a report number or a card from the scene. If you have none, write down the date, time and place of the crash and start with the Florida Crash Portal, which the statute makes the destination of every long-form and short-form report.
- Wait up to ten days, then search the Florida Crash PortalThe fee is $10.00 plus $2.00. Download the report within 48 hours of paying, because the state requires it.
- Or ask the agency directlyThe Sheriff’s Office in Doral by appointment or by mail with a notarized form. The Homestead Police Department in person, no appointment. Call first, because hours and fees change.
- If it is inside the first 60 days, bring identification and expect a sworn statementYou are eligible as a party to the crash. So are your lawyer and your insurer.
- Ask for the 911 recording and any body-worn camera footage in the first weeksThe Sheriff’s Office lists 911 audio as available for 60 days after the call. Footage is a separate request with a cost estimate and a deposit.
- Read the report for names, insurers and injury entriesCheck every driver, passenger, witness and insurer. If something is wrong, ask the agency that wrote it how it handles a correction, and do not assume it will change.
09 What an attorney would look into
- Which agency wrote the report, based on where the crash happened and who responded
- Whether the report is a long form or a short form, and what it records about injuries and complaints of pain
- Whether every driver, passenger, witness and insurer is listed correctly
- Whether a 911 recording or body-worn camera footage exists for the crash, and whether the time to request it is running
- What the report’s account of the crash says, and whether it matches the physical evidence and the photographs
- Whether the 14-day window for medical care is still open
10 The sources
- Fla. Stat. § 316.066 Crash reportsWhen a long-form report is required (subsection 1(a)); what it must list (1(b)); reports go to the state department (1(f)); confidential for 60 days and who may receive it at once (2); a sworn statement for each report (2(d)); what you tell an officer for the report is not evidence at trial (4).
- Fla. Stat. § 316.065(1) Crashes: notice to the policeA driver in a qualifying crash notifies the local police department inside a municipality, and otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol office.
- FLHSMV Traffic crash reportsThe Florida Crash Portal: $10.00 per report plus a $2.00 convenience fee, up to ten days to become available, download within 48 hours, four to six weeks by mail.
- Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Request Reports & RecordsCentral Records Bureau, the public records counter by appointment, mailed requests with a notarized sworn statement, copy fees, 911 audio for 60 days, and body-worn camera requests.
- Homestead Police Department Reports & Public RecordsThe records window at 45 NW 1st Avenue, crash reports at $1, and the body-worn camera request.
More questions
Can I get my crash report online in Miami-Dade?
Yes, through the state’s Florida Crash Portal, whichever agency wrote it. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office page says a crash report may be requested in person or by mail, and the Homestead Police Department also points people to the state portal.
Reports can take up to ten days to appear after the crash.
How much does a crash report cost in Miami-Dade?
On the state portal it is $10.00 per report plus a $2.00 convenience fee on the transaction. From the Sheriff’s Office it is 15 cents for a single-sided page and 20 cents for a double-sided page, and a certified copy is $1 a page. From the Homestead Police Department it is $1 each, cash only.
Each agency sets its own price and changes it, so confirm before you go.
How long does it take for a crash report to be available?
Up to ten days after the crash, according to the state and to both agencies. The statute gives the officer ten days after finishing the investigation to submit the long form.
A search that finds nothing in the first few days does not mean there is no report.
Who can get a crash report in the first 60 days?
The parties involved, their legal representatives, their licensed insurance agents and their insurers, among others the statute lists (§ 316.066(2)(b)). Each person must show identification and sign a sworn statement for each report.
After 60 days the Sheriff’s Office says the reports are open to the public.
Is a report from Miami-Dade Police the same as one from the Sheriff’s Office?
Many people and older web pages still say Miami-Dade Police. The county police department’s older web addresses now redirect to the Sheriff’s Office site, so a request goes to the Sheriff’s Office today.
A report from a city department, such as Homestead’s, comes from that city’s records office instead.
What if the Florida Highway Patrol wrote my report?
The statute names the nearest Florida Highway Patrol office as one place a driver reports a crash outside a municipality (§ 316.065(1)). Its report is on the state portal like the others.
The Patrol is a separate agency from the local counters described here, so ask it how it takes in-person requests before you go.
What if there is a mistake on the report?
Ask the agency that wrote it how it handles a correction. Whether an agency will change a report is the agency’s decision, so ask before you count on it.
A mistake on a report does not decide the claim. The facts, the photographs and the other evidence still count, and the fault is apportioned by percentage.
Do I need a lawyer to get my crash report?
No. You are a party to the crash and can request it yourself. A lawyer you hire is also on the statute’s list of people who can receive it at once.
What a lawyer adds is reading it, noticing what is missing, and asking for the 911 recording and camera footage while the time to ask is running.
What does it cost to talk to Jose A. Dapena about a crash?
The first consultation on an injury matter is free. Representation is on a contingency fee, generally payable only on recovery, with case expenses governed by the written agreement.
He will tell you honestly whether a claim is worth bringing.
Hurt in a crash in Miami-Dade?
Tell Jose A. Dapena when and where it happened and who responded. He will tell you which agency holds the report, what else to ask for, and what to do about the 14-day clock. The call is free and there is no obligation.