Police Reports Lewistown PA

Reach the police office that holds the report

Lewistown Borough Police moved lobby service to 70 Chestnut Street, Lewistown, PA 17044 on March 2, 2026. The department’s notice gives weekday lobby hours of 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. and office telephone 717-248-6716. The borough’s 2 East Third Street administration address is not the new police lobby. Call the police office to identify the custodian for an existing report before visiting or sending payment.

Use the investigating agency shown on the incident paperwork. A Lewistown mailing address does not mean Borough Police investigated it; Pennsylvania State Police has its own records-request procedure. Requesting a past report is also different from reporting a new incident. For a non-emergency police response, the relocation notice gives Mifflin County Dispatch at 717-248-9607; emergencies go to 911.

Describe the existing record precisely

For a written request, use the borough’s linked Standard Right-to-Know Law form and address it to the Agency Open Records Officer. Identify the report number if known, event date or limited date range, location and the parties needed to distinguish the incident. Specify the existing report or attachment you want rather than asking staff to create an explanation of what occurred. The form allows email, mail, fax or in-person submission; first confirm the correct receiving contact with the borough.

Choose electronic copies, printed copies or inspection, and indicate whether certification is needed. Include a reply address and set a dollar threshold requiring notice before larger charges. Keep the form and delivery evidence. The request form itself is generally public, so provide only the identifiers necessary to locate the record, not unnecessary sensitive details about victims, witnesses or family members.

Get the applicable fee in writing

The borough’s currently linked 2025 schedule lists $40 for an accident report and $40 for a criminal report, each marked effective July 12, 2023. It also lists $0.25 per ordinary copy page and $20 per certified Right-to-Know request. These are the amounts the local schedule publishes, not a guarantee that every requested record is releasable or that each charge applies to an RTKL request.

There is a material difference from the Pennsylvania OOR’s official RTKL schedule: it permits up to $0.25 for each of the first 1,000 black-and-white copies, $0.20 thereafter, and up to $5 per certification. Electronic delivery and redaction have no additional fee, although permitted printing for secure redaction can cost money. Before paying, ask the officer to identify the service, the legal basis for its charge and whether the borough’s $20 certification entry applies. Do not simply add both schedules together.

Track the response deadline and any extension

Lewistown’s public-record code gives the Open Records Officer five business days after receiving the written request for an initial response. That response can grant access, deny or partly deny access, or invoke a permitted extension. An extension notice should explain the reason, expected response date and estimated fees; the ordinary extension can be up to 30 days. Keep these dates separate from a promise that the complete investigation will be released within five days.

An agency may withhold privileged or exempt material, including protected investigative information. Ask for the written reason and cited legal authority when access is denied. A releasable portion should not be withheld solely because other material needs redaction. For a missing page or wrong incident, quote the report number and explain the discrepancy to the custodian; a records request is not a procedure for changing an officer’s investigative conclusions.

Read the correct appeal route

The borough form warns that an RTKL denial or deemed denial generally has a 15-business-day appeal period. However, local criminal-investigation appeals have a special jurisdiction rule: an appeals officer designated by the local district attorney, rather than the OOR, handles those disputes. Check the denial’s cited exemption and appeal instructions promptly. Keep the original request, proof of receipt and response together; a later revised request should not be assumed to extend the deadline for the first one.

Request body-camera or other recordings separately

Pennsylvania police audio and video recordings follow Act 22 rather than the ordinary RTKL procedure. Send a written request to the holding law-enforcement agency’s Open Records Officer within 60 days of the recording, by personal delivery or certified mail. Include the event’s date, time and location, your relationship to it, and, for an incident inside a residence, the people present unless unknown and not reasonably ascertainable. A request for the written report does not automatically request its video.

The Act 22 response period is 30 days unless you agree to an extension. Silence after that period can be a deemed denial. OOR does not hear Act 22 appeals; its guidance describes a petition for judicial review, a $125 filing fee and service requirements. Follow the recording guidance immediately if a denial occurs, rather than using the paper-report appeal form or assuming the RTKL 15-business-day rule governs the recording.

Use the released report for the question it answers

Before sending the report to an insurer, lawyer or other recipient, confirm whether it needs a certified copy and which attachments are required. Read the report’s date, agency and incident number, and distinguish allegations or investigative notes from a final court outcome. If your real need is a state-police record, use PSP’s separate request route. If you need a court judgment, identify the court and case number rather than asking Borough Police to certify the outcome of the prosecution.