The Sheriff's Office Records Divisions maintains reports of not only criminal investigations (homicides, rapes, burglaries, assaults, etc.) but motor vehicle accidents, death investigations, industrial accidents, boating accidents, ATV accidents, search and rescue missions just to name a few. Reports maintained by the Sheriff's Office are for judicial adjudication, as well as to process claims for injuries, deaths, civil suits, domestic cases such as divorce cases as well as child custody, OHSA, SAIF, private insurance companies, credit bureau, banks, doctor offices, and various other persons may have a need to request records.
Requests for records can be very labor extensive and time consuming to complete. Records request fees may include an hourly fee for research, retrieval, redaction, review and/or printing time in addition to the fee for each requested police report/record. It is advised that you should try to be very specific and include as much information as possible in your request when completing a Records Request Form.
Often times our office receives a request indicating "everything on John Doe." John Doe may have over 300+ entries in our system, which would be extremely burdensome for our staff to research, redact and review and come with a hefty bill to you. A better way to request that information is to indicate why you need the request, the type of reports/incidents you are requesting....If you are divorcing John Doe and in a battle over a child custody issue, a report where he reported a lost dog ten years ago is not going to benefit you. Indicating that your request is for a divorce or child custody case and you are looking to show the other parent unfit for custody, narrowing our search to arrests, or perhaps assault cases, any cases involving drugs or alcohol is going to ensure our office can provide you documents that will truly assist you in your endeavor.
