Playbook
The process is the same almost everywhere, which means it can be written down once. These are the steps, the templates, and the traps.
Before you can argue about policy you need to know what exists. This is the first records request, written so it captures the whole category rather than one vendor — and so a "we don't use Flock" answer cannot end the conversation.
Open the guide →Most councils give you two or three minutes. That is roughly 300 words. This is how to spend them so the answer cannot be a talking point — and so the record shows a specific question the staff now has to answer in public.
Open the guide →Surveillance contracts are rarely debated. They are renewed on a consent agenda while everyone is waiting for the zoning item. Knowing the renewal date is most of the work, and it is a single records request away.
Open the guide →This library is still small. The guides that exist are the ones we have actually used and can vouch for. More are being written — identifying hardware and vendor in the field, finding the contract, evaluating claimed public-safety benefits, and measuring whether a “win” changed capability or only changed vendor. If you have run one of these processes to completion, tell us what you learned.