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Playbook · easy · 15 minutes to send

Find out what surveillance your city actually operates

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.

The steps

  1. Find your city or county clerk's public-records contact

    Search for "[your city] public records request" — most municipalities have a dedicated form or email. County sheriff's offices usually have their own, separate from the county clerk.

  2. Send the request below

    Send it as written. It is deliberately scoped to capabilities rather than to any company name, so a vendor substitution cannot produce a technically true but useless answer.

  3. Note the date and the statutory response deadline

    Most states require a response within a set number of business days. Put the deadline in your calendar the day you send the request.

  4. Expect a fee estimate, and push back on an unreasonable one

    Agencies may charge for staff time or copies. Ask for electronic copies, which are usually cheaper or free, and ask for an itemized estimate before approving any charge.

  5. Send us what comes back

    Whatever you receive — including a denial — becomes part of the public record on your jurisdiction's page.

Templates

Send as written. Use the generator to fill in your city, state, and agency automatically — it substitutes in your browser and transmits nothing.

records request

Surveillance technology inventory request

To the Records Custodian, {{jurisdiction}}:

Under the public records law of {{state}}, I request copies of the
following records held by {{agency}} or by {{jurisdiction}}:

1. Any current inventory, list, or summary of surveillance technologies
   operated by or on behalf of the agency, including but not limited to
   automated license plate readers (ALPRs), fixed or mobile camera
   systems, facial recognition or other biometric identification systems,
   unmanned aerial systems (drones), acoustic gunshot detection, cell-site
   simulators, and social-media monitoring tools.

2. All contracts, purchase orders, service agreements, subscription
   agreements, quotes, and renewal documents executed within the last five
   years for any technology described in item 1, regardless of vendor.

3. Any written policy, procedure, general order, or directive governing
   the use of any technology described in item 1, including provisions on
   authorization, permitted purposes, retention, auditing, and discipline.

4. Records sufficient to show the data retention period applied to each
   technology described in item 1.

5. Records sufficient to show which outside agencies, jurisdictions, task
   forces, fusion centers, or private entities may access, query, receive,
   or search data collected by any technology described in item 1, and the
   legal standard applied to such access.

6. Any agreement, memorandum of understanding, or account arrangement
   under which {{agency}} may query or receive data from a surveillance
   system operated by another agency or by a private vendor, including
   regional, county, statewide, and vendor-hosted networks.

7. Any audit, audit log summary, compliance review, or misuse
   investigation concerning any technology described in item 1 within the
   last three years.

Please provide records in electronic format. If any portion is withheld,
please identify the specific exemption claimed and provide all
non-exempt portions.

If fulfilling this request will incur fees, please provide an itemized
estimate before proceeding.

Thank you for your assistance.

{{today}}

Why item 6 is the important one

Most people write a records request that asks about ALPRs, get told the city does not operate any, and stop.

That answer can be completely true and still leave every resident in a searchable movement database — because the department queries a county, regional, state, or vendor-hosted system operated by somebody else. Access is not ownership, and a request that asks only about what the city operates will never surface it.

Item 6 asks the other question. It is the single most useful line in this template, and it is the one most likely to produce a surprised pause.

Why the request names no vendor

Every technology in item 1 is described by what it does, not by who sells it.

That is deliberate, and Austin is why. Organizers there cancelled the city’s Flock contract in 2025; EFF later reported the city continued using ALPR through Axon. A request scoped to one company would have come back clean.

Ask about capabilities and the answer stays useful after the logo changes.

What a good response looks like

You are looking for four things, in descending order of usefulness:

  1. A contract. Dates, dollar figures, camera counts, and — often — the default configuration.
  2. A written policy. Whether a historical search needs a supervisor, a case number, or nothing at all.
  3. A retention number. Thirty days and two years are different systems.
  4. A sharing list. Frequently the most alarming document in the set, and frequently the one the agency has never published.

When you get a denial

A denial is a record too. Send it to us with the exemption cited — a pattern of identical denials across a state is itself a finding, and it is the kind of thing a state press association or a legislator can act on.

This is general information, not legal advice. Public records laws vary by state, and deadlines, fee rules, and exemptions differ. If a request is denied and you intend to appeal, consider consulting an attorney or a state press association, many of which run free records hotlines.

Last reviewed Aug 14, 2026