Fig. 1 — The jurisdiction split: the CHP takes reports on freeways and unincorporated county roads; SDPD on city streets.
Where the crash happened decides the agency
San Diego County has two primary law-enforcement reporting channels for collisions. The California Highway Patrol takes reports on state highways and in unincorporated areas of the county; the San Diego Police Department takes reports on city streets. The SR-1, by contrast, always goes to the DMV — wherever the collision occurred.
CHP Border Division
The CHP's Border Division is headquartered at 9330 Farnham Street, San Diego, CA 92123 — phone (858) 944-6300, office hours weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Its public page describes a jurisdiction of roughly 9,300 square miles across four Southern California counties. The freeways this desk frames — I-5, I-805, I-8, I-15, SR-52, and SR-163 — are CHP-patrolled roadways.
San Diego Police Department
SDPD headquarters is at 1401 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101. Collisions on San Diego city streets fall to SDPD; the department maintains area commands across the city. Injury collisions on city streets produce a city traffic-collision report, not a CHP-555.
DMV field offices serving the county
Field offices including Clairemont, Chula Vista, El Cajon, San Ysidro, Poway, San Marcos, and Oceanside serve San Diego County. Locations, services, and hours are maintained by the DMV on its office locator — addresses change, and this desk does not republish them. The SR-1 is filed online or by mail to the DMV's reporting address, not at a field office counter.
The courts
Civil filings for San Diego County run through the San Diego Superior Court. Its Central Courthouse is at 1100 Union Street, San Diego, CA 92101 — the county's principal downtown courthouse. A personal-injury lawsuit filed within the two-year period of Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 lands in this system; the timeline file carries the deadlines.
Verify before you go. Agency addresses and hours change. The figures above were verified against public agency pages on October 15, 2026; check the linked sources before relying on them for a filing or an in-person visit.