When any member of the New Mexico state police investigates a motor vehicle accident, the member shall make a written report of the findings on appropriate forms furnished by the New Mexico state police, the original of which report shall be filed in the office of the New Mexico state police and shall be furnished to any person upon written application accompanied by a fee as set by the secretary for the photocopy of each surface of all documents comprising a report.

History: 1941 Comp., § 40-226, enacted by Laws 1947, ch. 38, § 1; 1953 Comp., § 39-2-26; Laws 1957, ch. 59, § 1; 1977, ch. 257, § 40; 1978, ch. 82, § 6; 1979, ch. 202, § 33; 2015, ch. 3, § 21.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, provided for the reorganization of the department of public safety by amending the language relating to the completion of vehicle accident reports; after the first occurrence of "police", deleted "shall investigate" and added "investigates"; after "accident", deleted "he" and added "the member"; after "written report of", deleted "his" and added "the"; after the second occurrence of "report", deleted "and of all reports of motor vehicle accidents heretofore made"; after "set by the", deleted "New Mexico state police board" and added "secretary"; and changed "photostat" to "photocopy".

Limited protection of accused. — Section 29-10-4 NMSA 1978 protects the confidentiality of information concerning the identity of a person who has been accused, but not charged, with a crime only if that information has been collected in connection with an investigation of, or otherwise relates to, another person who has been charged with committing a crime. However, information in other records which identifies a person accused but not charged with or arrested for a crime may be protected from public disclosure under Section 14-2-1 NMSA 1978 et seq. Finally, even if it would otherwise be protected under either statute, information about a person accused but not charged with a crime is open to public inspection if it is contained in a document listed in Section 29-10-7 NMSA 1978. 1994 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 94-02.

No conflict between Arrest Record Information Act and section when accident falls within exemption of former 39-10-8D, 1953 Comp. (repealed and reenacted as Section 29-10-7 NMSA 1978), if the information on the accident report is the same as that information on the initial record of entry, or if any arrest information on the report is deleted from the copy disseminated. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-37 (opinion rendered under former law).

Accident report not confidential. — Reports made by police officers regarding an accident would not be considered confidential under Section 66-7-213 NMSA 1978, and would be subject to inspection by persons interested either in the office of the governor's traffic safety coordinating committee or in the police department which made and transmitted the report. 1953 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 53-5840 (opinion rendered under former law).