Field manual
How to file without getting lost
You are not writing a federal FOIA. City cameras live under your state's public records law. The names change (FOIA, FOIL, OPRA, GRAMA, Sunshine, Right-to-Know). The job does not: ask the agency that holds the paper.
Who to ask
Contracts and invoices usually sit with the police department, the sheriff, or the city clerk. Installation permits often sit with public works or DOT. If you are unsure, send the same letter to both. Campus police, airport police, and transit police are “other” in this app; they are often still public bodies.
What actually comes back
Cheap and usually public: contracts, invoices, council votes, written policies, camera counts. Sometimes withheld: exact GPS, live capabilities, plate images. Expensive: years of email and unredacted audit logs. Your dollar cap is how you keep the first filing honest.
If they run Flock, ask for the Organization Audit and Network Audit CSVs from Insights. Flock’s own open-records guide tells agencies those files exist. Do not accept a marketing “transparency portal” in place of the contract.
After you send
- Save the sent mail or portal receipt.
- Calendar the state’s response clock (this app prints it on the draft).
- If they miss it, send a short follow-up quoting the statute.
- Use the appeal path printed in How to file (AG, PAC, OOR, or court).
- If you receive Flock audit CSVs, consider sharing them with Have I Been Flocked.
What this app will not do
It will not file for you. It will not hack a camera. It will not pretend a private HOA is a public agency. Georgia’s statute makes non-law-enforcement requests for plate data dangerous; the draft refuses those items there. This is a clerk's desk, not a lawyer.