Walk It Through: The Records Request
A city's police overtime records, photos instead of copies, a long wait, and a closed meeting.
A resident asks city hall for the police department's overtime records and plans to post them online.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A request to a city for its own records. Police investigative reports, a state agency's records, and a request for records held by a private contractor are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Public recordA record of a government body that every person may examine, copy and publish, free to examine unless a law provides otherwise.
- Closed sessionA part of a public body's meeting held out of public view, allowed only by a public vote of two-thirds of the members or all members present, and only for a listed reason.