Chapter 119, Florida Statutes governs the public's right to inspect and obtain copies of public records. All Broward County records, unless exempt or confidential by state or federal law, are public records. Public records must be available for inspection, examination or copying by any person; requests may be submitted to any Broward County agency online, on the phone, in person, via mail or email. If there is a fee for the records, you will be notified in advance.
The easiest way to request a public record is through the online portal, powered by GovQA. You can open an account in GovQA to track your request and receive your records, or you can submit anonymously. If you choose to contact the agency directly, each County agency has a designated Public Records Request Coordinator. A list of agency Coordinators is posted online, and in each County administrative building where public records are routinely created, sent, received, maintained and requested.
Records will be provided in a reasonable period of time based on the volume and complexity of the request. Here are some tips:
- Before making the request, be sure Broward County is the custodian of the records you seek. For example, Broward County is not the custodian of law enforcement body camera footage, dash camera footage, mugshots, or 911 call recordings. Broward County does not photograph or record activity on its intersection traffic signal structures.
- Please prepare a clear, concise description of the records that you seek. Please avoid acronyms.
- If you are requesting email records, your request must specify a date range, identify email accounts and keywords that should be searched. Please consider carefully the information that will be useful to you. Very broad requests can take longer to fulfill and may become costly.
