

March 21, 2023
Employer: Memphis Police Department |
January 7, 2023
Employer: Memphis Police Department Authority: Memphis Police Department |
Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-503 et seq.
The Tennessee Open Records Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels. Records in the possession of public agencies in Tennessee are open to perusal by the public unless they are specifically exempted by statute or case law. Records are defined as any documents, no matter the physical form which are "made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental agency."
Any citizen of Tennessee can request public records and a statement of purpose is not required. The Tennessee Open Records Act does not restrict the use of records and allows seven days to respond to records requests.
Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.
- William O. Douglas, Associate Justice (1939 - 1975)Supreme Court of the United States
We the People have a Right to Know according to the Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS], past Presidents (of both major political parties), Congress, and the United States Department of Justice. As an expression of that Right to Know, we have coordinated valuable information from a number of resources into a single, public-facing, searchable database.