Criteria: no injuries, less than $1,500 combined damage

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department has added a new online reporting category in order to streamline the claims process for motorists and decrease the number of calls for an officer to respond to the scene of non-reportable traffic accidents.

“During the first big snow day of December, there were 78 traffic accidents in the city, plus all the other calls for service,” said Chief Chris Burbank, “Accidents like these, where no one is injured, are a lower priority and get bumped to the end of the line, so to speak. So you can only imagine how long some of those motorists had to wait for an officer when many of them could have filed an online report at their convenience.”

Motorists involved in traffic accidents without injuries and combined damages of less than $1,500 may use the online reporting system to quickly get a case number — an important step in filing an insurance claim. In 2012 there were 3,500 non-reportable accidents in the city that could have been documented with the online reporting system and saved approximately 2,265 officer-hours in responding to such calls for service.

“These cases have little to no investigative follow-up, yet require as much initial response as higher priority crimes. If the public would help us by utilizing the online reporting system, we can decrease response time to higher priority crimes where lives may be on the line,” Burbank said.

Motorists in traffic accidents without injuries will still call the non-emergency line, (801) 799-3000, to report the incident, at which point a dispatcher will offer them a temporary case number if they’d like to use the online reporting option. Each online report is reviewed by an officer to ensure the accident is properly categorized.

While “traffic accidents–no injuries” is a new category, there are many other online reporting options available to the public, including:

• Harassing phone call
• Hit-and-run
• Identity theft
• Lost property
• Supplemental report
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Vehicle vandalism
• Vehicle burglary
• Vehicle strip

Contact: Reporters seeking comment should contact the Public Information Officer at 801.799.NEWS (6397).

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