Open Records Request "police auditor"
Hello, one of the city's that I represent recently got to experience one of
these "police auditors" last week. He stood outside a local bank with his
cell phone making a video recording of the bank, customers coming and going
etc. Eventually, one of the bank employees called the local police who
responded. The interaction between the police officer and a passerby with
the recording individual was posted to youtube. The next day the City and
the Bank started receiving several threatening calls. Now the person who
made the recording is making a request for the Police call recording and any
bodycam recordings. When the city sent him the Open Records Request form to
fill out, he refused saying he wasn't required to complete any form. The
city is willing to respond to the request which thankfully the city does not
maintain any recordings of calls to the police department and the bodycam
for the officer involved that day, had a bad battery so there is no
recording. Is it worth refusing to respond until he completes the regular
Open Records Request form that the City uses, or should we just go ahead and
answer his request?
Thoughts?
W. Lee Stout
WL Stout PC
112 S. Main St.
P.O. Box 262
Newkirk, OK 74647
(580) 362-2032
(580) 362-2035 Fax
I would go ahead and answer his request. In my experience, the more quickly you deal with this issue, the better off you will be. Just my thoughts.....
Beth Anne Childs
The Childs Law Firm, PLLC
1015 South Detroit Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 74120
(918) 521-3092
From: stoutlawoffice--- via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 11:48 AM
To: oama@lists.imla.org oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Open Records Request "police auditor"
Hello, one of the city’s that I represent recently got to experience one of these “police auditors” last week. He stood outside a local bank with his cell phone making a video recording of the bank, customers coming and going etc. Eventually, one of the bank employees called the local police who responded. The interaction between the police officer and a passerby with the recording individual was posted to youtube. The next day the City and the Bank started receiving several threatening calls. Now the person who made the recording is making a request for the Police call recording and any bodycam recordings. When the city sent him the Open Records Request form to fill out, he refused saying he wasn’t required to complete any form. The city is willing to respond to the request which thankfully the city does not maintain any recordings of calls to the police department and the bodycam for the officer involved that day, had a bad battery so there is no recording. Is it worth refusing to respond until he completes the regular Open Records Request form that the City uses, or should we just go ahead and answer his request?
Thoughts?
W. Lee Stout
WL Stout PC
112 S. Main St.
P.O. Box 262
Newkirk, OK 74647
(580) 362-2032
(580) 362-2035 Fax
I second Beth Anne’s suggestion. It’s not worth the mental effort. Respectfully respond despite the lack of a written request.
JTH
John Tyler Hammons
Hammons Hamby & Price, PLLC
(918) 683-0309
Sent from my iPhone
From: Beth Anne Childs via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 1:10:53 PM
To: oama@lists.imla.org oama@lists.imla.org; stoutlawoffice@att.net stoutlawoffice@att.net
Subject: [Oama] Re: Open Records Request "police auditor"
I would go ahead and answer his request. In my experience, the more quickly you deal with this issue, the better off you will be. Just my thoughts.....
Beth Anne Childs
The Childs Law Firm, PLLC
1015 South Detroit Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 74120
(918) 521-3092
From: stoutlawoffice--- via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 11:48 AM
To: oama@lists.imla.org oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Open Records Request "police auditor"
Hello, one of the city’s that I represent recently got to experience one of these “police auditors” last week. He stood outside a local bank with his cell phone making a video recording of the bank, customers coming and going etc. Eventually, one of the bank employees called the local police who responded. The interaction between the police officer and a passerby with the recording individual was posted to youtube. The next day the City and the Bank started receiving several threatening calls. Now the person who made the recording is making a request for the Police call recording and any bodycam recordings. When the city sent him the Open Records Request form to fill out, he refused saying he wasn’t required to complete any form. The city is willing to respond to the request which thankfully the city does not maintain any recordings of calls to the police department and the bodycam for the officer involved that day, had a bad battery so there is no recording. Is it worth refusing to respond until he completes the regular Open Records Request form that the City uses, or should we just go ahead and answer his request?
Thoughts?
W. Lee Stout
WL Stout PC
112 S. Main St.
P.O. Box 262
Newkirk, OK 74647
(580) 362-2032
(580) 362-2035 Fax
There may be some relief in dealing with unreasonable requests with the passage of SB 535. I am not sure if it has an emergency or not, but it provides some good tools to help cities and town deal with these types of requests. Here is some info from the slides I had in a recent Open Records presentation that touched on the bill.
Encouraging Government Entities to Reasonably Engage with Requestor SB 535 (Passed 5/19/2025)
Sent to Governor
May require a records request form.
May ask the requestor to clarify the request.
Reasonable specificity, a request shall:
a. specify a time frame requested records would have been created or transmitted,
b. seek identifiable records, rather than general information, and
c. include specific search terms to assist in identifying the requested records.
If a public body has engaged with the requestor, including providing the requestor with general topics or a specific list of records related to the request, the request may be denied if it is still not reasonably specific;
Jeff H Bryant
Director of Legal Services
Associate General Counsel
jbryant@omag.orgmailto:jbryant@omag.org
[OMAG Small Logo Smooth]
3650 S. Boulevard
Edmond, Oklahoma 73013
Phone: 405-657-1419
Fax: 405-657-1401
Cell: 405-830-8672
www.omag.orghttp://www.omag.org/
From: John Hammons via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 1:57 PM
To: Beth Anne Childs bethanne@thechildsfirm.com; oama@lists.imla.org; stoutlawoffice@att.net
Subject: [Oama] Re: Open Records Request "police auditor"
I second Beth Anne’s suggestion. It’s not worth the mental effort. Respectfully respond despite the lack of a written request.
JTH
John Tyler Hammons
Hammons Hamby & Price, PLLC
(918) 683-0309
Sent from my iPhone
From: Beth Anne Childs via Oama <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 1:10:53 PM
To: oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>; stoutlawoffice@att.netmailto:stoutlawoffice@att.net <stoutlawoffice@att.netmailto:stoutlawoffice@att.net>
Subject: [Oama] Re: Open Records Request "police auditor"
I would go ahead and answer his request. In my experience, the more quickly you deal with this issue, the better off you will be. Just my thoughts.....
Beth Anne Childs
The Childs Law Firm, PLLC
1015 South Detroit Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 74120
(918) 521-3092
From: stoutlawoffice--- via Oama <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 11:48 AM
To: oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org <oama@lists.imla.orgmailto:oama@lists.imla.org>
Subject: [Oama] Open Records Request "police auditor"
Hello, one of the city’s that I represent recently got to experience one of these “police auditors” last week. He stood outside a local bank with his cell phone making a video recording of the bank, customers coming and going etc. Eventually, one of the bank employees called the local police who responded. The interaction between the police officer and a passerby with the recording individual was posted to youtube. The next day the City and the Bank started receiving several threatening calls. Now the person who made the recording is making a request for the Police call recording and any bodycam recordings. When the city sent him the Open Records Request form to fill out, he refused saying he wasn’t required to complete any form. The city is willing to respond to the request which thankfully the city does not maintain any recordings of calls to the police department and the bodycam for the officer involved that day, had a bad battery so there is no recording. Is it worth refusing to respond until he completes the regular Open Records Request form that the City uses, or should we just go ahead and answer his request?
Thoughts?
W. Lee Stout
WL Stout PC
112 S. Main St.
P.O. Box 262
Newkirk, OK 74647
(580) 362-2032
(580) 362-2035 Fax
