TAKE ACTION / ADVOCACY TOOLKIT

DON’T JUST WATCH IT HAPPEN.

Surveillance systems often expand because residents don’t know what is being purchased, what data is being collected, or when local officials are voting. These tools help ordinary people investigate, ask better questions, and participate before surveillance becomes permanent infrastructure.

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Choose the tool that matches the decision.

Public RecordsContracts, inventories, logs, retention, sharing, accounts, training, communications, and audits.Local GovernmentPublic comment, official questions, council email, petition, and meeting preparation.Signature ChecklistTen questions officials should answer before approval, renewal, or expansion.

FOIA is not a universal local-records law. FOIA applies to federal agencies. State and local governments generally operate under their own public-records laws—often with different deadlines, exemptions, fees, and appeal procedures. Identify the correct law and records custodian before sending a request. These templates are general information, not legal advice.

PUBLIC RECORDS TOOLKIT

Get the contracts. Get the logs. Follow the data.

Narrow requests usually work better than slogans. Use a defined date range, name likely custodians, request electronic formats, and ask for segregable portions when an agency withholds material.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Generic public-records request

Copy this first, then replace every bracketed field with the law, agency, dates, and records that apply to your jurisdiction.

EDITABLE TEXT

Subject: Public records request — [SYSTEM OR TOPIC]

To: [AGENCY RECORDS CUSTODIAN]

Under [NAME OF STATE OR LOCAL PUBLIC-RECORDS LAW], I request electronic copies of the following records:

1. [DESCRIBE EACH RECORD CATEGORY PRECISELY.]
2. Date range: [START DATE] through [END DATE].
3. Agencies, units, vendors, systems, or custodians likely to hold the records: [LIST].

Please provide records in their native electronic format when reasonably available. If a database export is available, please provide a searchable format such as CSV rather than screenshots or paper.

If any portion is withheld, please identify the specific legal basis for each withholding and release all reasonably segregable non-exempt material. Redaction is preferred to withholding an entire record.

If fees are expected to exceed $[AMOUNT], please provide an itemized estimate before processing. Please also identify any fee waiver or reduction available for a request made to inform the public.

If the request is considered too broad, please contact me so I can discuss a practical narrowing. Rolling production is welcome.

Requester: [NAME]
Email: [EMAIL]
Date: [DATE]

This template is general information, not legal advice. FOIA applies to federal agencies; state and local requests generally proceed under the applicable state or local records law.

PUBLIC RECORDS

ALPR contracts and procurement

Request the paper trail showing what was purchased, promised, amended, and paid.

EDITABLE TEXT

Subject: Public records request — ALPR contracts and procurement

Please provide records from [START DATE] through [END DATE] concerning automated license plate reader systems, including:

• Requests for proposals, invitations to bid, sole-source justifications, and procurement evaluations.
• Vendor proposals, demonstrations, pricing sheets, statements of work, and technical specifications.
• Executed contracts, master service agreements, data-processing terms, amendments, renewals, and termination notices.
• Purchase orders, invoices, payment records, grant applications, grant awards, and identified funding sources.
• Insurance, indemnification, cybersecurity, breach-notification, and data-ownership terms.
• Records identifying quantities purchased, subscription periods, optional features, databases, and participating agencies.

Please include records for any vendor or subcontractor providing cameras, hosted databases, analytics, alerts, integration, or network access. Provide electronic, searchable copies and release segregable portions of partially exempt records.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Camera location and inventory

Ask what exists, where it is, who owns it, and whether it is active.

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PUBLIC RECORDS

ALPR search and audit logs

Seek accountable, redacted logs—not private plate histories.

EDITABLE TEXT

Subject: Public records request — ALPR search and audit logs

Please provide audit records for searches or queries of ALPR systems from [START DATE] through [END DATE], with plate values and other sensitive identifiers redacted where necessary. Requested fields include:

• Search date and time.
• User, unit, agency, or role performing the search.
• Search purpose, reason code, case-number field, or justification field.
• Originating and receiving agency for outside searches.
• Database, geographic scope, and date range searched.
• Result count or hit/no-hit status where maintained.
• Supervisor review, audit flag, policy exception, or corrective action.
• Records showing bulk searches, wildcard searches, exports, downloads, or unusual access.

Please also provide monthly totals of searches, unique users, outside-agency searches, policy violations, suspended accounts, and completed audits. I am not requesting passwords, credentials, or unredacted plate histories involving private individuals.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Retention policies

Identify the written rule, actual system setting, exceptions, and deletion process.

EDITABLE TEXT

PUBLIC RECORDS

User and administrator accounts

Request accountable roles and privileges without seeking credentials or personal secrets.

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PUBLIC RECORDS

Training materials

See what users are taught about searches, sharing, alerts, audits, and misuse.

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PUBLIC RECORDS

Vendor communications

Request communications that show sales claims, implementation choices, network access, and policy influence.

EDITABLE TEXT

Subject: Public records request — ALPR vendor communications

Please provide communications from [START DATE] through [END DATE] between [AGENCY] and vendors, resellers, consultants, or subcontractors concerning ALPR technology. Include email and attachments concerning:

• Sales proposals, demonstrations, pricing, renewals, discounts, and expansion.
• Camera placement, implementation, network access, integrations, analytics, and new features.
• Retention, sharing, search access, watchlists, audits, exports, and administrator controls.
• Product problems, false alerts, outages, security incidents, breaches, complaints, and misuse.
• Public messaging, policy drafting, legal review, records requests, or media inquiries.
• Vendor performance reports and requests to change agency settings.

Custodians likely include procurement, police command staff, system administrators, legal counsel, IT/security staff, grants personnel, and records officers. Search official email, archived email, and maintained messaging platforms.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Surveillance-system audits

Ask for internal and external tests of use, access, security, effectiveness, and compliance.

EDITABLE TEXT

LOCAL GOVERNMENT TOOLKIT

Ask better questions. Show up prepared.

Use these materials before a hearing, procurement vote, grant acceptance, pilot, renewal, policy change, or network expansion.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Three-minute public comment

A concise structure for a hearing, council meeting, or oversight board.

EDITABLE TEXT

Good evening. My name is [NAME], and I am a [RESIDENT / WORKER / COMMUNITY MEMBER] in [JURISDICTION].

I am asking you not to treat surveillance expansion as routine procurement. A camera may look like a single tool, but a connected system can create searchable records of ordinary movement.

Before approving [PROPOSAL], please require public answers to five questions:

First, what measurable problem is this system supposed to solve, and what evidence shows this particular system will solve it?

Second, how much information will be collected about people suspected of nothing, how long will it be kept, and who can search or receive it?

Third, what independent audits, public reporting, and consequences for misuse will exist?

Fourth, what will the full cost be—including subscriptions, staff time, network access, maintenance, and future expansion?

Fifth, what less-invasive alternatives were considered?

If those questions cannot be answered with evidence and enforceable limits, do not approve the system. If a camera cannot be justified, take it down.

Please collect less, keep less, share less, and track less. Thank you.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Questions for a sheriff or police chief

Use these in public meetings, interviews, written follow-ups, and budget hearings.

EDITABLE TEXT

PURPOSE AND EVIDENCE
1. What precisely defined problem is the system intended to solve?
2. What baseline measure and success metric will be published?
3. What independent evidence supports the claimed benefit?
4. What cases could not be handled by a narrower method?

SCALE AND COLLECTION
5. How many cameras exist, are planned, or are accessible through partners?
6. What data fields are captured beyond the plate?
7. What locations or sensitive areas are excluded?

ACCESS, SHARING, AND RETENTION
8. Who can search the system, approve accounts, export data, or create watchlists?
9. Which outside agencies, task forces, federal entities, vendors, or private parties can access data?
10. What is the default retention period, what exceptions extend it, and how is deletion verified?

ACCOUNTABILITY
11. Are all searches tied to a documented reason or case?
12. How often are audits performed, by whom, and will results be public?
13. What has happened after misuse, improper sharing, or false alerts?
14. What public body can suspend access or terminate the system?

COST AND ALTERNATIVES
15. What is the total multi-year cost?
16. What less-invasive alternatives were evaluated?
17. What sunset date and public reauthorization process apply?

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Questions before an ALPR vote

Use this list to test necessity, proportionality, access, sharing, and enforceability.

EDITABLE TEXT

BEFORE VOTING, ASK:

• Is the proposal a contract, ordinance, grant acceptance, pilot, renewal, expansion, or all of these?
• Are the contract, policy, map, data-sharing terms, retention settings, and full cost public?
• How many cameras and partner cameras will be searchable?
• What measurable problem is each camera addressing?
• What evidence shows this deployment is necessary and effective?
• What is collected about drivers suspected of nothing?
• How long is routine data retained, including backups?
• Who can search, export, invite partners, create hotlists, or change settings?
• Does every search require a documented purpose and case connection?
• How far can data travel outside the jurisdiction?
• Are immigration, protest, reproductive-health, religious, and other sensitive uses prohibited where lawful?
• Will audits, search totals, outside access, misuse, and effectiveness be reported publicly?
• What happens after misuse?
• What less-invasive alternatives were considered?
• What sunset date requires a fresh public vote?
• Can the jurisdiction remove cameras or terminate the service without penalty?

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

City council email

A short email that asks for documents, delay, conditions, or rejection before a vote.

EDITABLE TEXT

Subject: Please require evidence and enforceable limits before voting on [PROPOSAL]

Council Member [NAME],

I am a [RESIDENT / CONSTITUENT / COMMUNITY MEMBER] writing about [PROPOSAL] scheduled for [DATE].

Please do not approve surveillance infrastructure without publishing the contract, total cost, camera count and locations where releasable, retention settings, search rules, outside-access list, audit requirements, and the evidence offered to justify the system.

At minimum, please ask:
• What measurable problem is each camera solving?
• Who can search the data and how are searches audited?
• How long is routine data kept and how is deletion verified?
• How far can the data be shared?
• What happens after misuse?
• What less-invasive alternatives were considered?
• What sunset date requires public reauthorization?

If those answers are not complete and enforceable, please delay or reject the proposal. Surveillance should be the exception, not permanent infrastructure built through routine procurement.

Sincerely,
[NAME]
[NEIGHBORHOOD OR DISTRICT]
[CONTACT INFORMATION]

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Community petition

Adapt this for a pause, reduction, removal, audit, or public-authorization campaign.

EDITABLE TEXT

PETITION: MAKE THEM JUSTIFY EVERY CAMERA

To: [GOVERNING BODY / AGENCY]

We, the undersigned residents and community members, ask [JURISDICTION] to [PAUSE / REJECT / REDUCE / REMOVE / AUDIT] the proposed or existing [SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM].

Before any approval, renewal, or expansion, the public deserves:
1. A specific, measurable statement of need.
2. Public contracts, costs, camera counts, policies, retention, access, and sharing rules.
3. Evidence that the system is effective and proportionate.
4. Independent audits and public reporting.
5. Enforceable consequences for misuse.
6. Consideration of less-invasive alternatives.
7. A sunset date and new public vote before continuation.
8. Removal of cameras or access that cannot be justified.

Our position is simple: collect less, keep less, share less, and track less. Surveillance expands when nobody is watching the vote. We are watching.

Name: ____________________
Neighborhood / District: ____________________
Signature: ____________________
Date: ____________________

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Meeting preparation checklist

Prepare before the agenda drops, speak effectively, and preserve the record afterward.

EDITABLE TEXT

ONE WEEK OR MORE BEFORE
[ ] Confirm the governing body, meeting date, agenda deadline, and comment rules.
[ ] Download the agenda packet, staff report, contract, ordinance, policy, and fiscal note.
[ ] Identify the exact action: briefing, hearing, consent item, vote, renewal, or grant acceptance.
[ ] Review public-records responses and official claims.
[ ] Contact the clerk about remote participation, accessibility, time limits, and document submission.
[ ] Coordinate speakers so comments cover different issues.

BEFORE THE MEETING
[ ] Draft a comment that fits the actual time limit.
[ ] Put the requested action in the first and last sentences.
[ ] Bring citations and printed copies of key documents.
[ ] Email written comments before the deadline.
[ ] Verify the agenda and location again; dates can change.
[ ] Prepare a backup if remote participation fails.

DURING THE MEETING
[ ] Record the motion, amendments, commitments, and unanswered questions.
[ ] Note who made factual claims and what evidence was cited.
[ ] Stay factual, nonpartisan, and focused on policy and institutional power.

AFTER THE MEETING
[ ] Save the video, minutes, agenda packet, and final motion.
[ ] Send written follow-up questions.
[ ] Request newly referenced records.
[ ] Publish what happened, what remains unresolved, and the next decision date.

SIGNATURE CHECKLIST

MAKE THEM JUSTIFY EVERY CAMERA

Ten questions that should follow every surveillance proposal, renewal, and expansion.

EDITABLE TEXT

SURVEILLANCE EXPANDS WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING THE VOTE.

Find an upcoming decision. Get the documents. Get the questions. Show up.

Watch Your Government Follow Campaign 001

DON’T JUST WATCH IT HAPPEN.

Choose the tool that matches the decision.

Get the contracts. Get the logs. Follow the data.

Generic public-records request

ALPR contracts and procurement

Camera location and inventory

ALPR search and audit logs

Retention policies

Data-sharing agreements

User and administrator accounts

Training materials

Vendor communications

Surveillance-system audits

Ask better questions. Show up prepared.

Three-minute public comment

Questions for a sheriff or police chief

Questions before an ALPR vote

City council email

Community petition

Meeting preparation checklist

MAKE THEM JUSTIFY EVERY CAMERA

SURVEILLANCE EXPANDS WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING THE VOTE.