Liberty Over Surveillance ★ Project

Sunlight Is a Statute

Public Records Library

Every state has a public-records law, and it belongs to the people. Chapter-specific guides are collected here as chapters grow. The first, from our founding chapter, is Oklahoma's.

Oklahoma Chapter Guide

Oklahoma Open Records Act, in Plain Terms

  • Citation: Oklahoma Open Records Act, 51 O.S. § 24A.1 et seq.
  • Who can ask: any person. No purpose statement required, no magic words. Requests may be written or oral - written creates a record, so write.
  • Deadline: there is no statutory response deadline. Public bodies must provide "prompt, reasonable" access; delay is limited to the time needed to prepare records without disrupting essential functions.
  • Fees: only reasonable, direct copying costs - capped at $0.25 per page (documents up to 8.5x14) and $1.00 for certified copies. Search fees are allowed only for commercial or excessively disruptive requests, and fees may not be used to discourage requests.
  • Enforcement: civil suit for declaratory or injunctive relief (a prevailing requester can recover fees); willful violation is a misdemeanor.

The Oklahoma City route

OKC requests go through the Office of the City Clerk via the city's online JustFOIA portal: oklahomacityok.justfoia.com (linked from okc.gov Records Request). The city's stated estimate is about 7 business days for typical requests, and about 30 business days when legal review is needed.

Expect the location exemption - aim past it

Oklahoma agencies (Edmond and Tulsa among them) invoke the Act's public-safety and terrorism-prevention exemptions to withhold camera locations. Expect that, and do not let it end the request. Target what is much harder to exempt: contracts, invoices, use and retention policies, audit logs, usage and search statistics, data-sharing agreements, and Flock network-audit reports.

The Model Letter

Copy, Paste, Adapt, Send

Replace the bracketed fields. Keep the tone exactly this even: you are not asking a favor, you are exercising a statute.

To: [Records custodian / City Clerk, name and address] From: [Your name and mailing or email address] Date: [Date] Re: Open Records Request - Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Program Dear Records Custodian: Pursuant to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, 51 O.S. Section 24A.1 et seq., I request access to and copies of the following records of [agency name]: 1. The current contract with Flock Safety or any other automated license plate reader vendor, including all amendments, renewal agreements, and attached exhibits; 2. All policies governing ALPR use, including use policies and data-retention policies; 3. All data-sharing agreements concerning ALPR data, and any list of agencies or entities with access to search this agency's ALPR data; 4. Audit logs of ALPR searches, including the stated purpose or reason codes recorded for each search; 5. Records identifying the funding sources for the ALPR program, including grants, invoices, and budget line items. If any portion of a record is claimed exempt, please cite the specific statutory exemption relied upon and release the remainder of the record. Please advise me of copying fees in advance if they will exceed $[amount]; per 51 O.S. Section 24A.5, copying fees are capped at $0.25 per page. The Act requires prompt, reasonable access to records. I look forward to your response. Respectfully, [Your name]

Three Minutes at the Mic

Speaking to the OKC Council

  • When and where: Tuesdays at 8:30 a.m. (generally every other week), Council Chamber, 3rd floor of City Hall, 200 N Walker Ave. Check the public meeting calendar for exact dates.
  • Agendas: posted at okc.primegov.com and on okc.gov.
  • Scheduled appearances: contact the City Clerk's Office at (405) 297-2397 before 4 p.m. Tuesday one week before the meeting. Remarks are limited to three minutes.
  • Agenda-item comments (how roughly 30 residents spoke against the Flock renewal on August 18): speakers sign up to be heard on a specific item. Confirm the current sign-up mechanics by phone with the Clerk at (405) 297-2397 before you go - the city's rules govern.

A sample three-minute statement

Built entirely on verified facts. Read slowly; three minutes is about 400 words.

Mayor and Council, my name is [name], and I live in [ward or neighborhood]. I am here about the Flock camera contract. I want to start by acknowledging something: when residents raised concerns, this council responded. Retention was cut from thirty days to seven. Automatic national sharing was turned off, and the City now holds the authority over federal sharing. Those guardrails exist because people stood at this microphone. Thank you for listening then. I am asking you to keep listening now. Here is the problem guardrails cannot fix. These cameras scan every car, every day - people suspected of nothing. One scan is a moment. But a network of scans, searchable by plate, becomes a record of where we work, where we worship, where we see a doctor, and whose homes we visit. Nobody consented to telling their government that. It falls out of the mathematics of collection. The Supreme Court has held, in Carpenter and again this year in Chatrie, that assembling a person's location history implicates the Fourth Amendment. Communities in at least twenty-three states have stepped back from these programs - not on ideology, but on privacy, data sharing, accuracy, and trust. So I am asking for three things. First, do not renew this contract when it expires. Second, until then, publish the contract, the policies, and the audit logs, so residents can verify the guardrails are real. Third, before any surveillance technology is purchased or renewed again, hold an open public hearing first. A five-to-three vote means this council is close. I am asking you to finish the job: let the contract end, and let Oklahoma City be known for constitutional policing, not permanent surveillance. Thank you.

The Library

Documents We Obtain Will Be Archived Here

No documents yet - the first round of records requests is being prepared (targets: OKC amendment and audit terms, Edmond device counts and audit reports, Tulsa contract and camera-count reconciliation). Every document published here will carry: the requesting date, the receiving date, the custodian, any exemptions claimed, and a plain-language summary that distinguishes what the document says from what we conclude.

Obtained a record yourself? Share it with the project - we verify and archive with credit or anonymously, as you prefer. In another state? The model letter adapts to any public-records statute - start a chapter and we will help you build your state's guide.