File a records request 15 minutes, no cost
Any person can request a town's plate reader contracts, payments, and use policy under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act. You do not have to live in the town. You do not have to explain yourself beyond the request itself.
Paste this
I'd like copies of: (1) any contracts or agreements with Flock Safety or any other automated license plate reader vendor, including the original agreement and any renewals or amendments; (2) any invoices, purchase orders, or payment records under those agreements; and (3) any policy, ordinance, or written guidance the town or police department has adopted governing use of license plate reader cameras, including retention periods, data sharing, and audit procedures.
Electronic copies by email are preferred. If any part of this request would involve a fee, please provide an estimated cost before proceeding. This request is for personal, noncommercial civic purposes.
Keep that last sentence. Danville declined a request in July 2026 on a commercial-purpose basis under a provision of the Act aimed mainly at bulk resale of records. Stating your purpose inside the request settles the question before it comes up.
The phrase "or any other automated license plate reader vendor" matters too. Plainfield turned out to hold a second contract with a different company, worth roughly $28,000 a year, which a Flock-only request would have missed entirely.
Where to send it
- Avon Online form.
- Brownsburg Laserfiche form. Fulfilled a request in July 2026 without difficulty.
- Danville Online form.
- Plainfield Online form. Produced contracts, invoices, and a written policy.
- Hendricks County Sheriff The county's largest deployment, and nobody has asked yet. Contact details at co.hendricks.in.us.
- Pittsboro and Lizton No request has been filed with either town yet.
If they ignore you or deny it
Two things are worth knowing, and neither involves a lawyer.
- The 30-day benchmark. The Act does not set a hard deadline, but Indiana's Public Access Counselor treats roughly 30 days from receipt as a reasonable response time, weighed against how big the agency and the request are. Small towns run on small staffs, and a delay is more often a backlog than a refusal.
- The complaint is free. The Public Access Counselor takes formal complaints at in.gov/pac. The office asks the agency to respond and issues a written opinion. The opinion is advisory rather than enforceable, but it is official, public, and citable, and agencies frequently produce the records once a complaint lands.
Send what you get either way. A denial letter is a record too.
Speak at a meeting 2 to 3 minutes
A full room changes the tone of a meeting even when nobody says anything. If you do want to speak, the three asks on the overview page are a ready outline and the case page has the sourced version.
Schedules change. Confirm against the posted agenda, which usually appears about a week out, before making the drive. Danville's procedure is confirmed: a request-to-speak form at the door before 7 PM, three minutes per speaker. For the others, check with the clerk's office.
What actually lands, and what does not
- Lead with the local document, not the national story. A town's own records carry more weight in its own chamber than a statistic from another state, and citing them is not an accusation, just a reading of the paperwork.
- Separate the technology from the department early. Councils hear most criticism of a police program as criticism of their police. Making clear at the start that the objection is to the system and the outside access, not to local conduct, keeps the rest of the time on the substance.
- Ask answerable questions. What is the retention window today? Who reads the audit logs? Did the council vote on this? Questions get further than charges, and a question a council cannot answer in the room tends to get answered later.
- The hardest point to answer is the scope of access. A council can speak for its own department. It cannot speak for agencies in thirty other states, for the vendor's security practices, or for whoever has bought credentials on a criminal forum.
- Expect the phone comparison. It is one of the most common responses to this argument and it is usually offered in good faith. The reply is on the case page.
- Follow up in writing. Send your sources to the clerk afterward for the record. What is said out loud gets forgotten. What is emailed is a document.