by Olivia P. Tucker
Times Reporter
Scottsburg City Council discussed increasing the fee for accident reports sought from the Scottsburg Police at their recent April 24 meeting.
The ordinance 2003-35 (approved 20 years ago) refers to accident reports costing $5 if someone needs a copy. However, council member Christian Evans said that there was an ordinance passed in 2006 that also included incident reports in that fee schedule.
What brought the matter to the council’s attention is a YouTube video filmed by Scott County native Tiffany Napier known as MissConduct and Chris Reiter known as ForPublicSafety seeking to get an incident report for an obstruction report filed with police in a Child Protective Service case. Both Napier and Reiter are from Louisville, KY and create YouTube videos informing their viewers about what they perceive are injustices of government.
Evans made a suggestion that the council amend the ordinance for accident reports to be raised to $10 while keeping incident reports at $5. He said that Scottsburg is significantly lower on the cost of accident reports compared to surrounding police departments in the area.
Council President Ric Manns said that he was surprised by the cost of getting a report being only $5.
“When people were complaining about the $5 fee, I was just shocked. I mean they honestly have not looked at what you have to pay and that’s just my opinion,” said Manns. He added that recently in Carrolton, KY that he had to pay $20 to obtain an auto accident report.
The Council decided to allow the public an opportunity to comment on the potential amending of ordinances and tabled any decisions until their next meeting.