Public records are one of the most useful tools in this campaign.

They are also easy to misuse by requesting far more than we need.

Our approach is staged and practical:

look online first, identify the real gap, request the smallest useful set of records, then follow the evidence.

What records matter most?

Start with records that answer campaign questions.

1. Current executed contract

This may include:

  • order form;
  • master services agreement;
  • statement of work;
  • renewal;
  • amendment;
  • addendum;
  • or successor agreement.

2. Renewal and termination terms

We need to know:

  • current term;
  • expiration date;
  • auto-renewal provisions;
  • required nonrenewal notice;
  • termination rights;
  • and any early-termination cost.

3. Cost records

Invoices, purchase orders, check registers, grant records and budget lines can show what the system actually costs.

4. Current product list and inventory

How many devices? Which products? Which software subscriptions?

5. Policy

Search, sharing, retention, audit and misuse rules.

6. Sharing and access

Which agencies can access local data? Which outside sources can local personnel search?

7. Audit and usage records

Where appropriate, records showing how often the system is searched, alert use or audit history may help evaluate actual use.

St. Clair Shores provides a useful example of why to request these records separately. A September 2026 records-based briefing identified 147 Michigan organizations authorized to search the city’s Flock-camera data. That roster answers who could search on the date of the snapshot. It does not establish which organizations actually searched. A focused follow-up should seek a privacy-minimized audit showing organization, date, search type, stated reason, complaint number and review result.

See the St. Clair Shores access-versus-use example →

8. Votes and decision records

Meeting packets, minutes, memos and presentations can reveal what officials were told before approving the system.

Search before requesting.

Before filing FOIA:

  • check the agenda center;
  • search meeting packets;
  • search minutes;
  • search budgets and check registers;
  • search the police policy library;
  • search procurement pages;
  • and use a normal web search with the municipality’s domain.

You may find the record without creating any government workload.

Michigan FOIA has a privacy tradeoff.

Michigan’s FOIA statute generally requires a non-indigent requester to provide identifying information including a complete name, address and contact information. Entity requesters generally must identify an individual agent with required identifying information.

That means an ordinary request may expose your identity to the public body and potentially become part of the public record.

Do not use a fabricated legal name or fake requester identity.

If you are uncomfortable filing personally, first check whether someone else in the campaign already requested the record.

Ask for records, not answers.

A strong request identifies existing records.

Avoid:

Explain why you bought Flock.

Try:

Please provide the current executed contract, order form, renewal, amendment, addendum and other controlling agreement governing the municipality’s use of Flock Safety (or other vendors) automated license plate reader services.

Government does not have to create a new explanation merely because we ask a question.

Keep it narrow.

Broad requests can produce delays, fees and mountains of irrelevant material.

Instead of:

Give me every email about Flock ever sent.

start with:

Current executed agreement and any amendment, renewal or successor agreement.

Then see what the contract tells you to request next.

A basic contract request

A useful starting request might say:

Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, please provide the current executed contract, order form, master services agreement, renewal, amendment, addendum, statement of work, or other controlling agreement currently governing the municipality’s use of Flock Safety (or other vendors) automated license plate reader services.

Please include any document establishing the current term, expiration date, automatic renewal, nonrenewal notice requirement, early termination right, current products/services, and current price.

If the responsive records are available electronically, I request electronic delivery. If estimated fees will exceed $25, please provide an itemized estimate before processing further.

Tailor the wording to what you already know.

Michigan response timing

Michigan FOIA generally requires a public body to respond within five business days after receiving a written request, subject to statutory rules.

For a request sent by email, fax or another electronic transmission, the statute generally treats the request as received one business day after transmission. If an emailed request lands in a spam or junk folder, receipt is delayed until one day after the public body first becomes aware of it. Keep the sent message and any delivery acknowledgement.

The public body may issue a notice extending the response period by up to 10 business days under the statute.

A response may grant the request, deny it, grant it in part and deny it in part, or invoke the extension.

Because the law can change, verify current statutory requirements before relying on a deadline in a dispute.

Read MCL 15.235, including electronic receipt and response timing

Fees

Public bodies may charge fees permitted by Michigan law.

If a fee could become meaningful, ask for an itemized estimate before processing beyond a threshold you are willing to pay.

Michigan law includes rules governing labor, copying and deposits. A public body may require a good-faith deposit in certain circumstances when the estimated fee is sufficiently large.

Do not guess at the law in an argument with a records coordinator. Check the current statute.

Be nice to the FOIA coordinator.

The records coordinator is not automatically the person who bought the cameras.

A clear, professional request is more effective than treating every administrative interaction like a fight.

If something is ambiguous, ask whether narrower wording would help locate the record.

Preserve the response.

Keep:

  • the original request;
  • date sent;
  • recipient;
  • acknowledgement;
  • extension notice;
  • fee estimate;
  • denial or partial denial;
  • records received;
  • and follow-up communication.

That creates a clean research trail.

Search the contract for these words

Once you receive it, search for:

term
renewal
automatic
notice
terminate / termination
cancel / cancellation
retention
share / sharing
data
audit
subprocessor
license
subscription
price / fee
amendment

The most important sentence may be a boring renewal clause on page 17.

If the request is denied

Read the denial before getting angry.

Identify:

  • which records were denied;
  • which exemption or reason was cited;
  • whether the entire record or only part was withheld;
  • whether a narrower record could answer the same question;
  • and what appeal rights apply.

Do not assume every denial is improper.

Do not assume every denial is proper either.

If the issue appears significant, bring the response to DeFlock Metro Detroit for another set of eyes. Where useful, we can seek broader DeFlock guidance or qualified legal assistance.

We do not promise legal representation.

A pending Genesee County case tests vendor-hosted accountability.

On August 18, 2026, Kettering University student and Genesee County resident Josh Tewolde filed a Michigan FOIA lawsuit in Genesee County Circuit Court. The complaint seeks camera-location records, access audit logs and records of scans involving his own vehicle after the county produced some records but withheld those categories.

Tewolde’s lawyers allege the county said Flock owned the withheld information even though the county’s contract says the customer owns the data. Genesee County told WNEM it would respond through the legal process and would not discuss pending litigation. As of this review, the case is pending: the filing establishes the allegations and dispute, not a court ruling that the county violated FOIA.

The accountability lesson is broader than either party’s current legal position. When a government surveillance system is hosted by a private vendor, residents should ask who possesses each record, who controls retrieval, what the contract says about ownership and whether audit logs and detections remain available to the public body.

FOX 2: Kettering student sues Genesee County over Flock records →

Case page and filed complaint: Tewolde v. Genesee County →

WNEM: allegations and the county’s response →

If a public body says the vendor has a requested record, preserve that response, compare it with the contract and policy, and get qualified help before asserting the denial is unlawful.

Coordinate requests.

If somebody already requested the current agreement, wait for it.

Five identical requests do not make the record arrive five times faster.

The campaign needs a lightweight record of:

  • request wording;
  • requester or responsible volunteer;
  • date;
  • public body;
  • status;
  • fees;
  • result;
  • and useful follow-up leads.

The goal is not paperwork.

The goal is to answer questions such as:

When does this contract end?

Who can stop it?

How much does it cost?

What does the city actually have?

Who can search the data?

What is the next decision point?

Request the records that answer those questions.