If you are in an accident in which a witness called 911 to report the incident, and you want to see what the witness said in the recording and to see if it will help your case, how do you get a copy?
If you are in an accident in which a witness called 911 to report the incident, and you want to see what the witness said in the recording and to see if it will help your case, how do you get a copy?
First step: Check with the police department to determine both how long it keeps recordings, and what its procedures are for providing copies. In some jurisdictions, assuming you can get access, you'll be better off listening to the recording at the dispatch station rather than simply ordering a copy, as you may be subject to the reasonable cost for manpower in finding the correct location of the tape and copying that segment.
If the department has a procedure that you can follow to obtain the recording, follow it.
If that fails, check your state's open records / FOIA laws to see if you can obtain a copy that way. If so, submit a request through the police agency's FOIA officer. They may have a standard form that you can use to submit your request. In the alternative, if the case is being litigated, it may be possible to get a court to issue a subpoena for the recording.