Asked and Answered

What should I do if I’m involved in a crash during a blizzard?

Extreme weather in the winter often leads to a lot of crashes as the snow falls. This can also cause a delayed response from police when there are more crashes than we have the personnel to respond. For that reason, we prioritize our response during extreme winter weather to crashes involving injuries. After injuries, the next consideration is the location the vehicles are in, and how much of a hazard it creates. In these rare circumstances, you may be asked to either wait for a response or simply exchange information with the other driver involved and head home to be contacted at a later time. In all cases, prior to leaving the scene of a non-injury crash, state law requires that each driver provide the other with their name, vehicle information, contact information, and insurance information. If there are injuries involved, you are required to remain on scene until police arrive. If your vehicle is disabled and needs a tow, you’ll need to wait for an officer to respond.

Do I need a police report for an online fraud case?

Any time you are the victim of a crime, it’s important that you report it to police. Beyond trying to investigate your specific case, it’s also important that we track trends and methods to keep the public aware of the scams going around. If no one reports them to us, we won’t know about them. This is similar to when an auto burglar hits a neighborhood. Sometimes people don’t report that their car was burglarized because nothing is missing. But knowing where these crimes are occurring allows us to dedicate resources to the areas that need attention. In both auto burglaries and online scams, the officer assigned to your case will do their best to investigate the case and provide you with information to protect yourself.