Editor’s Note: Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Editor’s Note 05/20/24: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”.
1) As written it is unclear what specific, searchable public records the sender would like to receive, to what specific entity the request should be sent, and to what specific time period the responsive records should apply.
– Is each aspect of this request intended to be related to North Carolina only? The entire United States? etc.
– We are not familiar with some of the types of records the sender is seeking. We spent time just now researching what “39 USC 3001” is, and compared that info with what is being requested in the sender’s Message. We don’t know how many records a request like this may potentially include, but due to the long time period(s) of 16+ months and what’s being requested — as written we find the request to be overly broad / unclear.
Clarifying the specific records you’re seeking will help to greatly narrow the scope of the request, and will also reduce the amount of time it takes the Disclosing Agency (as well as our team) to process the request.
2) Sunshine Request is a site built to make requests for public records (recorded info such as documents, emails, and data sets) to government entities. We are a small 3-person team, running the website in addition to our primary business. Due to our availability, the volume of requests we receive, and the time required to fulfill each one — our focus is on fulfilling requests which are in the public interest and evaluating if there is a public benefit to that info being available.
– Before submitting another request, please take a moment to review our FAQs and Policies pages. These pages clarify the types of requests we will not fulfill.
– Due to the broad and personal nature of the request above, we recommend that the sender checks to see if the responsive info is already publicly available on the entity’s website. Additionally, please reach out directly to the appropriate Government entity for assistance with the request.
Sunshine Request will not fulfill the following types of requests:
☀️ Requests for public safety information specific to a single individual, address, incident or name.
This includes police reports, calls for service, complaints / incident reports / citations, criminal / arrest type records, or camera footage. We will, on a case by case basis, fulfill public safety related requests that focus on system-level trends and data.
Due to the personal nature of this type of information, we recommend that the sender reach out directly to the appropriate entity for assistance with the request.
☀️ Requests that are incomplete, non-specific, or vague.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific information the requester hopes to receive. In this case, the sender may rewrite and resubmit the request.
It’s the requester’s responsibility to write the request in a manner that clearly specifies a record that is being requested, and to what government entity it should be sent.
☀️ Please be specific:
It is important that what you are requesting is specific and reasonable, and is an actionable records request. Please specify the exact type of records you’d like to receive, rather than any “possible” or “potential” info that could be searched. Remember that the larger your request, the more time it usually takes to fulfill. Specificity will often help reduce the amount of time needed to process the request.
It is important that a request has a clearly written and complete Subject and Message, and also specifies the Government Entity (or entities), City and/or County, and State to which the request should be sent. If applicable, please also include any responsive timelines for the info that should be requested.
While we do proofread requests we receive for general spelling and clarity, we may choose not to fulfill the request if it is incomplete, or it is unclear what specific info the requester hopes to receive, or if it violates our policies.
Before submitting a request, please take a moment to review our tips for How to write and make a successful request. If you have additional questions about our site or how to make requests, please check out our FAQs or Policies page.
☀️ Code of Conduct: Please do not use Sunshine Request or any of the results of public records requests to harass government entities / employees, businesses, private citizens / individuals, or otherwise.
☀️ Please note that we cannot pay any fees / associated costs related to any of the requests on our site. If it is not possible for a Government Agency to process our request without incurring fees, then it is the responsibility of that Agency to let us know what the potential costs may be — at which point we will ask that they cease processing the request. We will mark the request as “Completed” on our site, and the sender can contact the Government Agency directly, should they wish to further pursue a request.
Thank you for using Sunshine Request!