Build a records request

Public-records law -- FOIA at the federal level, an open-records or sunshine law in every state -- lets any resident demand a government body's contracts, policies, permits, and emails. You never have to say why you want them. Pick your state and topic below: the request rewrites itself around what you pick, cites your state's statute, and tells you who to send it to.

⚲Where do I send this?Enter your ZIP and we will name the office, cite your state's law, and fill in the form below.

Before you file: check whether it is already public

A request that waits three weeks for a document that was online the whole time is the commonest wasted effort in this process. For this subject, look here first:

Council agendas and minutes for the authorisation vote, and the budget line that funded it.
Your state's contract or bid portal, where vendor agreements are often already posted.
deflock.org for camera locations, and our own maps for what is already documented near you.

If you find it, you have skipped the queue entirely. If you do not, you now know it is genuinely not published, which is worth saying in the request itself.

Where to look. Enter a ZIP above and these will target your city by name:

Start with the police records unit or purchasing → opens a search for police department vendor contract surveillance What you want: The vendor contract, amendments, and the original RFP or bid documents.
If that fails, the city or county clerk → opens a search for city clerk public records request email What you want: The clerk must accept a request and route it internally, so this works even when you have the wrong department.
MuckRock agency contacts and past requests → opens www.muckrock.com/foi/ What you want: Contact details for more than 23,000 agencies, covering almost every city, town and county, plus a free archive showing the address others used and how the agency replied.
Federal agency instead? FOIA.gov → opens www.foia.gov/agency-search.html What you want: Pick the federal agency and it gives you that agency's FOIA office directly. Federal bodies only -- not city or state.

Found the address? Put it in the Send to field below and the button will email your request straight there.

The national lookups above work without a ZIP. Entering one also fills in your city and state on the form below.

The request builder

1What are you looking into?This rewrites the whole request -- the sections, the fee argument, and who to send it to.

Topic

2Where?Your state sets which public-records law gets cited.

State Agency or department City / county

3Who's asking? All optional -- you never have to say why you want records, and you can file without giving a name.

Your name Your email Send to

Your requestclick to edit

Copy puts the text on your clipboard to paste anywhere. Open in email launches your mail app with the request filled in -- it does not send anything by itself, and needs a "Send to" address above.

How to submit it

Find the custodian. The guidance under the builder names the right office for your topic. When in doubt, the city or county clerk must accept the request and route it.
Email is enough. Paste the request into an email, or use the Send button. Keep a copy; the statute clock starts when they receive it.
Expect a response window. Most states require acknowledgment within days and production within a set period. If they miss it, reply citing the statute already in your letter and ask for a date.
Partial denials are normal. They must cite an exemption for anything withheld and give you the rest. An itemized denial is itself useful -- it tells you what exists.
Fees. The request already asks for electronic copies and a fee waiver. If quoted a large fee, narrow the date range or ask for the most important sections first.

Expect an acknowledgment first, not the records. Most states require the body to respond within a set window and then produce on a longer one. Your deadline is written into the statute cited above for your state -- that citation is the thing to quote if they go quiet.
A fee estimate is not a denial. If the quote is high, narrow the date range or ask for the two sections you care about most first. Your request already asks for electronic copies and a fee waiver, which is where most of the cost disappears.
A partial denial is useful. They must cite the specific exemption for anything withheld and release everything reasonably segregable. An itemized denial tells you what exists, which is often the point.
If they miss the deadline, reply on the same thread, quote the statute and the date you filed, ask for a production date in writing, and copy the clerk. That single email resolves most delays.
If they refuse outright, most states have an appeal route through the attorney general or a records ombudsman, and it is usually free. Search your state's name plus "public records appeal" or "records ombudsman".
Then put it to work. Bring the documents to public comment, and send them to us so they go on the maps for everyone else fighting the same thing.

Now write your officials → Records in hand make a far stronger letter than a letter alone.