By Lisa Rein and Tracy Rosenberg

Updated December 5, 2020

New! Updated Templates for December 2020 and beyond.

Welcome! We are very excited to be able to offer these newly updated templates that can be used to file requests with both Police (for the city) and Sheriff (for the county) – in California and other states.

These new letter templates have the same language as the previous letters ask for documentation from 2017 forward.

So, if you need documentation for a time earlier than that, feel free to change that date in the letter, after you paste it into Muckrock, before submitting your PRA request.

These requests ask for information, using just the right language, to successfully compel these agencies to send you the requested documentation regarding every currently-known piece of surveillance equipment. (See the list of all the equipment covered.)

I have provided complete step-by-step instructions at the top of each template.

Here is a zip of the templates in PDF Format.

Here is a zip of the templates in DOC Format.

The templates are numbered 1-10 for ease of use. I would literally use a checklist, so you can cross off each one by name. Or, at the very least make a list from 1 to 10 on a piece of paper. This makes it very easy to find your place in case you get interrupted in the middle of filing all 10.