Missouri State Highway Patrol making changes to its crash and drowning reports

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) announced a major change to their crash and drowning reports on Friday.

Starting November 1, the names of those involved in traffic crashes and boating/drowning incidents will no longer be posted to the public in MSHP preliminary reports.

Missouri State Highway Patrol says it is making this change after being informed of recent scams that used identifying information from online public databases, including its crash reports, to target crash victims or anyone associated with a crash victim.

"The Patrol is entrusted with protecting the safety and public interest of those we serve," said MSHP in a news release. "The public safety benefit of the dissemination of information that identifies a traffic/boating crash victim, or drowning victim no longer outweighs the risks when the names are disseminated."

The patrol says those with a legal right to crash information can still get that information from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Records Center. The Patrol will also still post information such as injury type, gender, age and city/state in its preliminary reports.