user739637848906 :
My husband is in the midst of an open records request with our municipality about the recent installation of flock cameras. A tip that might be helpful; flock utilizes two internal dashboards, and information like contracts, audits, saved data, user information, communication regarding the cameras, agency collaborations, service terms, etc etc etc are stored exclusively on those dashboards, rather than on municipal property. This makes it very easy for a municipality to say that they have no responsive records, because technically, they don’t, in the traditional sense. (My husband’s initial, lengthy request returned a pdf of 10 documents, 4 of which were the front and back of checks.) The responsive documents live on flock’s dashboards. My husband is a web services professional/full stack developer who creates similar dashboards for a living, and he was able to find the specific identifying login credential for our municipality (it looks like a random alphanumeric code hidden in the single page purchase order for the cameras) that credential (plus the password held by the law enforcement entity) allows access to almost all of the responsive information, so he was able to further request that the sheriff/other stakeholders log in, capture the requested documents, and furnish them. If you’re attempting an open records request about flock and are being told that responsive documents do not exist, there’s your answer, they exist, but they’re with flock. It’s extremely underhanded. Today he sent a follow up request that included step by step directions for accessing, collating, and sharing the responsive documents he’d originally requested. We’ll see how it goes. This proves (at least to me) that flock is attempting to bypass open records laws and obfuscate both their conduct and the conduct of the agencies they partner with.
2026-08-19 18:20:22