How to Make Reports With LAPD

July 13, 2010 at 2:49 pm | Posted in Resources | 12 Comments
Tags: Bike Theft, Collisions, harassment, lapd

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What to Do in Case of a Collision
Make a report regardless of how minor the incident. It is important for LAPD to track all collisions involving cyclists and motorists.
1. Call 911. Remain calm, and don’t move if you’re hurt.
2. Don’t assume you’re not injured; you might have internal injuries.
3. Get the following information from all involved drivers: name, address, phone, license number, plate number, make of car, insurance company and policy number, and visual identification of driver.
4. Get names and phone numbers of all witnesses.
5. Get the police report from the officer at the scene.
6. Write down how the incident happened while it’s still fresh in your mind.
7. Keep or photograph any damaged clothing or equipment.
8. Know your rights under the California Vehicle Code and the local Municipal Code.

What to Do in Case of Harassment
Throwing objects at cyclists, bumping cyclists with cars, specific and unquestionable imminent threats are all considered crimes and reportable to LAPD. Verbal harassment and violations of the vehicle code (passing too closely, improper use of horn) can also be reported.

Email Sergeant David Krumer, LAPD bicycle liaison. He will be able to help guide you.
To get connected to your local precinct, call 1-877-ASK LAPD and they can direct your call.

Injury or no injury?
If there is an injury, regardless of if there is contact, a Traffic report will be completed.
If there is no injury (regardless of contact) there is no report.
If there is an allegation that the driver purposefully struck/attempted to strike the cyclist a crime report will be completed if the elements of the crime are articulated.

No report will be made for violations of the vehicle code or rude comments made by drivers.

What to Do if Your Bike or Bike Parts Get Stolen
You should always make a report for anything stolen from a bike, even if it’s just your chain, or seat. LAPD needs this information to track thefts and to better address the issue.

If the theft is currently happening and the suspect is still at scene:
• Call 911.
• Let them know that the theft is in progress and the suspect is in the area.
If the theft has already occurred:
• Call 911 to take a report,
• or call local precinct to make a report,
• or call 1-877-ASK LAPD.
Things to check: maybe getting your bike back –D.I.Y. style
• Craigslist – you may want to check San Diego and San Francisco listings as well.
• Used bike shops and pawn shops

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12 Comments »

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[...] explains in graphic detail how to file a report with the LAPD. Walk and ride to a safer 4th Street on July 24th. A sweating [...]

Pingback by Catching up with Le Tour, Box boxes LaBonge, surviving the dreaded death wobble « BikingInLA— July 13, 2010 #

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[...] Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition published a post on its blog breaking down the steps on filing a police report for cyclists. The steps are deriven by new procedures written (but not yet enacted) by the LAPD. The LACBC blog features a large flow chart with specific instructions on when a police report should be filed and under what circumstances. It’s an interesting read and I encourage everyone to check it out. [...]

Pingback by LACBC publishes How-To guide on filing police reports « Be A Green Commuter Home— July 14, 2010 #

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[...] the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition's blog, the LAPD is circulating a flow chart to help cyclists decide who and where to call for help after [...]

Pingback by Streetsblog Los Angeles » LAPD Outlines How to Report a Bike Crash or Theft— July 15, 2010 #

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I find this blogpost very confusing. On the plus, the flowchart is very clear on how cyclists should navigate the report-making process. However, it says nothing about what to do in the event that property is damaged but no injuries are sustained. If the bike is trashed but the cyclist is fine is it simply no harm, no foul?

Also, there are some conflicting comments here.

First we have: “Make a report regardless of how minor the incident. It is important for LAPD to track all collisions involving cyclists and motorists.”

But then: “If there is no injury (regardless of contact) there is no report.” A car can hit a cyclist and LAPD don’t want the cyclist to file a report?

Another example: “Verbal harassment and violations of the vehicle code (passing too closely, improper use of horn) can also be reported.”

Contradicted by: “No report will be made for violations of the vehicle code or rude comments made by drivers.” Rude comments *are* verbal harrassment.

Could somebody clear this up?

Comment by Rach Stevo— July 15, 2010 #

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- Hello Rach Stevo,
  
  Currently the LAPD is working on an online reporting feature that is not yet active. The online reporting feature allows you to report an incident that the LAPD would typically not take a report for. (I.e. non-injury traffic incidents, violations of the vehicle code and non-criminal harassemnt). Until such a system is active there is no report for the types of incidents you mentioned.
  
  Comment by Sgt David Krumer— July 15, 2010 #
  
  Reply
  - Sgt. Krumer,
    Thanks for the clarification. Is there an ETA on the implementation of the online reporting?
    
    Also, thanks for this chart. It does seem like a step in the right direction.
    
    Comment by Henry Hsieh— August 4, 2010 #
    
    Reply
Please print the flow chart as a tiny card that can go in our wallets. What a great chart

Comment by meghan— July 15, 2010 #

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Its interesting that the flow chart doesn’t detail the process or any information for making a complaint against lapd officers for maltreatment of cyclist….interesting indeed.

Comment by bizmo— July 16, 2010 #

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- what a moron…there already is a process to report officers for any type of percieved maltreatment.
  
  Comment by *— July 20, 2010 #
  
  Reply
  - For publicly transparent incident tracking, you can use LA Bike Map – http://www.labikemap.com.
    
    Use the LA Bike Map to report any harassment, hit and run, aggression, theft, etc. Do it as soon as you can after the incident, before you forget the details (license plate, motorist description, car make/color).
    
    Comment by Mihai— August 6, 2010 #
    
    Reply
- That is true that there are reasons for complains.
  My mother was killed 7/7/2012 in a hospital.
  I called LAPD 911 to transfer me to a line to report it.
  A female officer mocked me hideously and said she didn’t understand any word I said – for quite a long time asking, whether I talk Russian or some Asian language – provoking me, while my mother and my soul were lying dead…
  I still can’t find access to Justice. Hospital and even mortuary are destroying evidence…
  However, Police, even a large force, don’t have encourage-instruct people complain on police, abstracting them, as churches don’t have instruct homosexuals and sale to them protection…
  
  Comment by Konstantin— July 25, 2012 #
  
  Reply
I seldom leave a response, but after browsing a
bunch of remarks on this page How to Make Reports
With LAPD � LA County Bicycle Coalition www.
la-bike.org. I actually do have 2 questions for
you if you tend not to mind. Is it simply me or do some of
the responses come across like they are coming from brain dead folks? And, if you are writing at additional social sites, I’d like to keep up with anything fresh you have to post. Could you post a list of the complete urls of your public sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?

Comment by http://visionegg.org— February 17, 2013 #

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