Help us get records in states that restrict access to their own residents
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Alabama, Delaware, Tennessee, Virginia, and Nebraska all have something in common: if you don't live there, you have no right of access to their public records. That reality makes it much more difficult for us to obtain records from those states. But if you live in one of those states, you have a right of access to those records. And it's perfectly legal for you to submit a request on our behalf.

If you live in Alabama, Delaware, Tennessee, Virginia, or Nebraska and you are you willing to serve as a proxy for some of our public records requests in your state, let us know using this form. Important: you will be required to prove your residency to records custodians.

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In 2013 the Supreme Court of the United States issued its unanimous opinion in the case McBurney v. Young. The Court ruled against Mark McBurney, upholding Virginia and all other states' right to restrict public records requests to their own residents. What that practically means is that unless you live in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Tennessee, Virginia, or Nebraska, you are not entitled to any public records from those states. And that isn’t some technicality. You won’t get them.

That’s not to say that state residents will get the records they request. It simply means that they can’t be turned away at the door. Their request has to at least be processed in accordance with the state's access to public records statute.

We managed to solve the problem of non-resident access in Arkansas by having Real World Media, LLC register as a "foreign corporation" and obtain a business license in the state (read: pay Arkansas money), but that was only possible because the Arkansas Supreme Court had previously decided that foreign corporations registered to conduct business in Arkansas are considered "citizens" for the purposes of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. That is either not possible or is prohibitively expensive in the other states.

That is where you come in. We can't submit a request and have it processed, but if you live in one of the states listed above, you certainly can. And it doesn't matter if the request is from you or if it's a request that we emailed you. If you submit it, the request gets processed. (Not necessarily granted, but processed.)

So if you live in Alabama, Delaware, Tennessee, Virginia, or Nebraska and you are willing to serve as a proxy requestor for our requests in your state, please fill out the form below. It's an enormous help. Depending on the number of responses we receive we may not need to tap your residency at all. If that ends up being the case, thank you for having offered. We couldn't do this without people like you.

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Q1 Will I have to tell you where I live?
A1 Probably not, but you will almost certainly have to tell the custodian of records where you live, and we will  likely see your communications with them. We will not intentionally retain any record of your personal information beyond what you send us in this form. (Also, we don't care about where you live, as long as it's in the state you are signing up for.)

Q2 Do you need anything specific from us?
A2 Apart from working cooperatively with us to submit the occasional request, we ask that you not discuss the subject of our requests with other parties until we have published whatever story is associated with the records we are after. In the news business, being first matters.

A bit more about coordination: In our experience, there is a pretty decent chance that once the records custodian verifies your residency and understands that you are submitting a request on our behalf, they will be fine with handling the rest of the request directly with us. In other words, all we may need is the introduction. Believe it or not, most bureaucrats try avoid unnecessary paper-pushing when they are able.

Q3 Will this cost money?
A3 Yes, but it won't cost you money. There will be fees. We will pay all of them. You won't have to pay anything.

Q4 What do you mean fees? Aren't these public records?
A4 People often think that "public records" means "free records." Sometimes it does, but anyone who requests public records (particularly video records) without bringing their wallet is in for a surprise. In 2019 we spent more than $25,000 in fees for access to the underlying footage we turn into Real World Police.

Q5 Continuing to get off topic, I understand that public records are not free, but why would videos be more expensive?
A5  Each state has its own statute governing access to public records and every state’s public records law allows - in many cases requires - that fees be charged for those records. How much can be charged and under what circumstances varies between states, but the most common arrangement calls for charging the β€˜actual cost’ of producing the requested records. Videos are uniquely expensive because every second of every released video needs to be carefully reviewed to ensure that it doesn't contain material that is confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure. (And when it does, the video generally gets edited to redact that material.) It's just as illegal for a public body to release confidential information as it is for them to withhold information that must be released, and realistically, their legal exposure is greater for the former. You are generally billed for all of the review and redaction time, occasionally at an attorney rate.

Q6 Will someone definitely be contacting me?
A6 No. We will only contact you if and when we need your residency. If for any reason we don't end up contacting you, thank you so much for volunteering!

Q7 What if I only want to help you with [What You Haven't Seen] / [Real World Police]?
A7 Works for us. Make sure to let us know below.
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Which state do you live in? *
By what name and pronoun do you want to be addressed? *
What is the best email address for us to reach you? *
I think I would be willing to submit *
Our plan is to minimize the extent to which we need your involvement, but we recognize that some people might *want* to be more involved, either to learn, to help out, or for another reason. We can try to accommodate your preferences. If you are interested in being more actively involved over the request cycle, let us know here.
Is there anything we haven't asked that you think we should know?
You've reached the end! Have yourself an unlisted video.
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