Tips from a reporter-turned-private investigator to make your public records requests more likely to succeed.
The Bandidos’ lawyer had a problem. He was defending several members of the motorcycle club and needed a list of police officers who’d been decertified over a specific period. A routine public records request wasn’t going to cut it.
At the time, I was a national journalist who had covered law enforcement for years, had written a book about an alleged “street gang,” and knew Texas public records law cold.
We got the records. The case moved forward. And it marked the moment I realized that public-records law was not just a reporting tool — it was an investigative weapon.
From hundreds of public records cases I’ve worked over the years, some rules of thumb emerge.
All States Are Different
The broader the geographic reach, the better. A single case may require knowing the rules in several states. There is no national template. A request in Tennessee is not the same as a request in Arizona, and what works in Florida may fail completely in Illinois.
You can get oriented through the National Freedom of Information Coalition portal, which provides state-by-state public records letter templates. I still read the statute itself anytime I file. Laws change quietly, and agencies will happily rely on outdated versions if it helps them avoid disclosure.
Federal records are governed by FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1966. Agencies are supposed to respond within 20 business days. Expect a longer wait.
Before writing a word, find the office that holds the records. Government systems are often illogical. In Texas, for example, if you want documents about the operation of railroads in the state, you might think to contact the Railroad Commission of Texas. But those records are held by the Texas Department of Transportation’s railroad division. Aim at the wrong agency and you may wait weeks, only to be told to start over.
Writing the Request
A twist on Goldilocks comes to mind: Too much, not too little, is just right.
Be as specific as you can but also leave room for anything else. Leaving things open allows you to trade down. Here’s how I once framed a request to a Florida office:
“All correspondence relating to legal cases handled by the county attorney’s office employees outside of their regular daily duties on behalf of the county between the dates of September 1, 2020 and October 5, 2021. This is to include, but not limited to, advisement to supervisors of client representation, research and consulting.“
That last phrase — “including but not limited to” — is not filler. It gives you some room and makes the agency look a little harder. Just to be sure.
I cover potential overcharges like this:
“Also, please note that I wish to come to your offices to inspect the non-electronic records in question before any copies are made for me. If that is not possible for some reason, I ask that you perform no work on my behalf, copying or otherwise, until I can be given an estimate of the charges involved and agree to them.”
That forces the agency to slow down and justify its costs. Most will send an estimate. You can push back, negotiate, or narrow the request.
Consider everything fair game: emails, memos, texts, phone records, crumply notes. Anything created in the course of official business. If it’s been retained, it’s potentially a public record. Make the agency prove it’s not.
If it’s been retained, it’s potentially a public record. Make the agency prove it’s not.
Use date ranges. If you are dealing with a long time span, break it into pieces. It helps to see what exists and how the agency organizes it.
While researching a book on a convicted murderer who escaped from an Indiana prison, I learned she had been tipped off that security upgrades were coming and timed her escape accordingly. The state first claimed no records existed. I expanded the dates of the work sought by a month, which produced 33 pages of invoices.
Dates matter.
Don’t Forget Video
Privately collected video — Ring doorbells, CCTV, dashcams — can often be helpful. If you can’t get it from the source, try a public agency. If it has been turned over to them for any reason, it becomes a public record.
The same goes for video the government collects: traffic cameras, fixed‑pole cameras, license plate readers, body cams. All is potentially disclosable, subject to privacy redactions.
Video files generally have a shelf life before they are copied over, so include them as soon as possible so the destruction protocol is interrupted. Expect blurred faces and plate numbers, but the underlying footage usually survives.
If a government agency used the video in any way, reviewed it, logged it, attached it to a report, that’s your hook. Ask for it.
Nicely.
Make Friends
As your request works its way through the bureaucracy, get a name and make an ally. People who process records requests may have some discretion. I give them my phone number up front and invite them to call with any questions.
Sometimes something that can be withheld doesn’t have to be. If they do have some discretion, a good relationship can be very helpful. Get a direct email and cc it to your ally when sending anything to the generic records inbox.
Fight the Redactions
What you sometimes end up with, initially, is a batch of redacted documents with a vague recitation of some exemption statute that may or may not be current. Overly broad privacy claims, attorney-client privilege, and outright illegal withholding are standard with some offices. Schools, particularly, like to use privacy to cover things up.
Battle the redaction police whenever possible: Why is this blanked out?
I’ve unstuck things by narrowing my request or even asking that they redact the obvious things — social security numbers, home addresses, names of children. This makes it harder to justify hiding non-private material behind their privacy claims.
Request the Requestors
A request for records requests can be valuable to a client who is concerned that someone is investigating them or contemplating a lawsuit, a hostile takeover, or anything that another agent is carrying out against them. By asking a public agency (for businesses, the first stop is the secretary of state’s office) for all requests that have your client’s name, you are staying ahead of the game and keeping your client informed.
To keep your inquiry from tipping off other requesters, submit it as a PDF stripped of its optical character recognition. That removes the machine-readable text, so your client’s name won’t appear in searchable request logs or keyword indexes that others use to track who is being investigated.
Getting Help
Roughly 20 states have an office or ombudsman that handles public records disputes, including fee disagreements. Please use them. Many can’t issue binding rulings, but they give you leverage. States vary on how well these offices work.
South Dakota’s Office of Hearing Examiners is an example of one of the most public-friendly — the portal walks you right through the entire process.
Illinois has a “Public Access Counselor” who mediates disputes, though the office is often overwhelmed and cases can take months.
File every request with the expectation it will be resolved within the lawful time. But assume you’ll need to stay engaged, including follow-ups, objections, and plenty of back and forth as needed.
Assume you’ll need to stay engaged, including follow-ups, objections, and plenty of back and forth as needed.
In addition to government referees, every state has an entity dedicated to ensuring government complies with records requests and helping requestors. Some are helpful, some barely function. In many places, there are attorneys willing to step in when agencies stonewall.
In 2014, I was trying to obtain the Tex Watson tapes — recordings in which Charles Manson’s lieutenant described the 1969 murders to his attorney. I filed with the Los Angeles Police Department and got no response. Through a few channels, two months later I found a public records attorney who sent a demand letter to the LAPD. That got the department’s attention.
Its answer was disheartening. The department had the tapes but denied my request under the “open investigation” exemption, which says materials can be withheld if an investigation is still being carried out. Later, a judge ruled the tapes were not to be released to the public, as others had joined the quest for the tapes.
Persistence forced a real answer. And while the Watson pursuit failed, public records victories are far more common.
We Aren’t Special. (But We Are Smart.)
Private investigators are looking for anything that will benefit their clients. We have a surfeit of open source data and documents to draw from — in many cases, it’s just an Accurint click away. Public records are a court-admissible, rock-solid resource. We want to know if the guy claiming disability is loading a case of beer into his car, if the missing woman was caught on video on a city street, or if the spouse is hiding assets.
When the Bandidos’ lawyer needed those police employment records, he didn’t just need someone who could file a FOIA request — he needed someone who understood how those records would be used in depositions and trial. This is why we’re valuable: From asset searches to fraud, from personal histories to market intelligence, we’ve got it handled.
About the author:
Steve Miller is a Texas-licensed private investigator and the author of four true-crime books for Penguin/Berkley. He is a former national reporter whose work has appeared in The Daily Beast, People magazine and Miami New Times. He can be reached at avalanche50@hotmail.com