State Records

Much like the FOIA and PA, every state level jurisdiction in the United States has their own local Freedom of Information statute.  Sometimes called “sunshine laws” or “Freedom of Information Laws” (FOIL), these local statues are very similar to their federal counterparts.  Both the local and national-level information access laws have similar goals of producing records that a person is subject of and allowing for the public to know how the government operates.

State-level records requests that Rights to Records has commonly assisted with are Police Body Cameras, investigations, voter policies, government deliberative materials, school board internal memos, and countless others. 

Rights to Records has found that state-level information access laws often have much quicker mandatory response times, less rules for redactions, and no fees that can be incurred.  Rights to Records has successfully assisted dozens of requesters seeking these types of records.

Also of note, state-level records often are incorporated into federal investigatory records like CID, NCIS, OSI or the FBI; particularly as local jurisdictions have much different standards to bring cases.  As an example, a member of the military may be subject to a court-martial or administrative separation based on a civilian law enforcement encounter...or a civilian complaint may be received... but because a member of the military is involved, that local jurisdiction simply kicks the case on-base for adjudication.

Getting the federal investigation could be difficult as the CID, NCIS, OSI or the FBI could claim the case is ongoing and elect not provide it.  However, the underlying state investigation is often immediately releasable and typically serves much, if not all, of the basis for a corresponding federal case with CID, NCIS, OSI or the FBI simply doing follow up interviews before trial or board.  For example, it is common to see local police body camera footage released days after an incident.  A similar federal record often takes months, if it is ever released at all.  Rights to Records can quickly submit a request and assist in further steps in getting the state-level records you seek.

This is key to a federally/military accused or victim because of the length of non-local case is often very, very long and witnesses can often change their minds, forget things, or become biased...even worse, with some cases the evidence disappears.  If you can gain access to the local records, you can better investigate your own case and prepare for your defense, or in the case of a victim, stand up for your rights and make sure that your case is not buried by federal authorities.  Rights to Records are experts in these types of local requests and challenging any redactions.