How to file an ALPR open record request

One way to find out is to submit a written open records request. In Iowa, cities, counties, and even public universities have contracts with companies that provide ALPRs and the accompanying software and databases.

You can get information on your local ALPRs from your city government, county government, or public university.

The University of Iowa Technology Clinic and ACLU of Iowa sent off 48 of these open records requests in the Fall of 2025, resulting in a report of our findings.

But any member of the public can submit an open records request. If you're interested in submitting one, here's some guidance and tips:

1. First, check to make sure the documents you want to request are not already public. You can review our online folder with files for each community that responded to our 2025 open records requests for the report. We may already have some of the documents you’re looking for—like the contract, invoices, use policy, etc.

Additionally, your city or county may already publish documents such as a Flock transparency portal (example here), its 'use policy,' or the camera locations on the city or county’s website. If you cannot find these documents, that’s a great place to start with your request.

Another resource is MuckRock- a website where you can search other public records requests that have been submitted to Iowa agencies.

2. Then familiarize yourself with how to submit an open records request in Iowa. Some fees may be incurred to cover staff time but they should be "reasonable." The ACLU of Iowa is unable to assist with fees associated with open records requests. However, if you feel the fees assessed are unreasonable, please let us know, as this may be an open records law violation. You can also reduce the scope of your request to try and reduce the fees or request a fee waiver (check out our template for an example).

Here are some instructions from the Iowa Public Information Board on how to submit open records requests.

You can find additional information in this Open Records Handbook from the Iowa Freedom of Information Council under the section on Chapter 22, which is the name of Iowa's open records law.

If possible, send the request to the open records "custodian" for the agency or office you are seeking the records from. To find out who that is, you may need to call the government entity (city, county, etc.) and ask for the name and contact information. Some agencies may have a records request section on their website that provides this information.

3. Draft your records request. You are welcome to adapt the letter we sent to Iowa law enforcement agencies for our report for your own request. You are welcome to adapt the letter we sent to Iowa law enforcement agencies for our report for your own request. You can view it here.

These are some key documents you can request to better understand ALPR usage in your community:

• Contracts (ask for all contracts with all ALPR vendors)
• Invoices (ask for invoices for all ALPR vendors)
• ALPR use policies
• Search audit logs (showing the ALPR system searches conducted by your local law enforcement and by other agencies)
• Email communication between government employees and company employees about ALPRs
• Tip: add a time period to this request (i.e., from 1/1/2026 to 5/1/2026) and ask for email domain names like @flocksafety.com.

4. Send and monitor. We recommend emailing your open records request to the appropriate staff person. Under Iowa law, a government entity has 10-20 days to determine whether the requested record is confidential and to communicate that information to you.

The city/county/etc. may deny parts of your request or take longer to provide the requested records based on the size of the request. If you don’t hear back, follow up!

And please consider sharing your findings with us to help us add to our resources to share publicly! You can email us at outreach@aclu-ia.org.