LAPD Rolls Out New Way To Report Minor Traffic Accidents

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The days of calling the police if you are in a non-injury fender bender in Los Angeles could soon be over.

That's because the LAPD is rolling out a new way to report a minor traffic accident.

LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore called the change long overdue at the Monday press conference at police headquarters in downtown Los Angeles .

The key element in the program is that if it is a fender bender and no one is hurt and you can drive your car away or whatever just happened was witnessed by no one else, instead of calling the LAPD they now want you to go online.

According to the LAPD, in 2018 their officers responded to misdemeanor traffic accidents where no one was hurt nearly 20,000 times and the average time they spent on the scene questioning and filling out paperwork was nearly two hours per call.

"Many instances have little or no investigative value," Moore said.

Moore clarified that a citizen can still go to the local station and request a police report and it will be taken.

The idea came from Moore. When he took office about 10 months ago he conducted a survey. One of the questions he asked his rank-and-file is how can they make better use of their time when they are out in the field. At the top of that list? Responding to and spending hours for non-injury accidents.

Last December, Moore told his staff to get working on it. The software was completed and now it's up and running online.

Moore said it would make much better use of all of his officers and he also indicated that the various insurance companies are on board and the reports will be received by the various insurance agencies in a lot faster fashion.