Filing FOIA requests is 90% paperwork. Public Records Machine automates the paperwork.
It drafts properly-worded requests for the right agency and jurisdiction, tracks the legal response deadline for you, and OCRs and organizes every document that comes back into a searchable, indexed archive — so you spend your time reading records, not filing and filing cabinets.
No credit card. Built for newsroom and research workflows.
Pursuant to Harbor County Public Records Act §12.3, requester seeks all body-worn camera activation logs for Patrol Unit 14 between March 1–March 31, 2026. Requester seeks a fee waiver as this request is in the public interest…
From request to searchable archive, without the busywork
Public Records Machine handles the mechanical parts of the records lifecycle — the parts that eat hours and don't require a reporter's judgment.
Describe what you need
Tell PRM what you're after in plain language — a dataset, a set of emails, incident reports for a date range — and which agency you think holds it.
PRM drafts the request
It writes a properly-worded request citing the correct statute for that agency's jurisdiction — state public-records law, FOIA, or a local ordinance — ready for your review and signature.
PRM tracks the deadline
The legal response clock starts on filing. PRM tracks the statutory deadline for that jurisdiction and reminds you before it lapses — no spreadsheet required.
Documents arrive, get organized
When a production lands, PRM OCRs every page and files it into a searchable, indexed archive — organized by request, date, and document type.
A real request, from draft to deadline
A reporter investigating patrol overtime spending requests body-camera activation logs from a county sheriff's office. Here's what PRM produces and tracks.
Harbor County Sheriff's Office
Records Custodian, Public Records Unit
400 Courthouse Square, Harbor City
Re: Public Records Request — Case No. FOI-2026-04871
Pursuant to the Harbor County Public Records Act, §12.3, I request copies of the following records: all body-worn camera activation logs (metadata only, not footage) for Patrol Unit 14, covering the period March 1, 2026 through March 31, 2026, including activation timestamps, officer badge ID, and duration.
I request a waiver of search and duplication fees, as disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and is not sought for commercial purposes. If a waiver is denied, please notify me of anticipated costs above $25.00 before proceeding.
Under §12.3(d), the agency must respond within 10 business days of receipt. Please respond in writing, including any assertion of exemption with citation to specific statutory authority.
Respectfully,
— drafted by Public Records Machine, pending reporter review
- Case
- FOI-2026-04871
- Agency
- Harbor Co. Sheriff
- Filed
- 2026-08-07
- Statute
- HCPRA §12.3(d)
- Due
- 2026-08-21
Every mechanical step of the records process, automated
Five capabilities cover the full lifecycle of a request, from the first draft to the searchable archive you actually use for reporting.
Auto-drafting by agency and jurisdiction
PRM matches your request to the correct statute — federal FOIA, a state public-records act, or a local ordinance — and drafts language, exemption citations, and fee-waiver boilerplate suited to that specific agency's format and history of responses.
Deadline tracking
Statutory response clocks start automatically on filing, with reminders before they lapse and an audit trail if an agency goes silent.
OCR on arrival
Scanned PDFs, photographed pages, and image-only productions are converted to searchable text the moment they land, no manual upload step.
Indexing & search
Every production is filed and indexed by request, date, agency, and document type — full-text search across everything you've received.
Export for the newsroom
Push a clean, organized case file — request, correspondence, and indexed documents — to your CMS, shared drive, or collaborators in one export.
Built for people who file records requests as part of the job
Anyone who has ever lost track of a fee waiver, missed a deadline, or spent a Sunday indexing a PDF dump by hand.
Investigative reporters
Run a dozen open requests across multiple agencies at once without a shared spreadsheet falling out of date. Get notified before an agency's window closes.
Legal & policy researchers
Build a defensible, well-cited record of what was requested, when, and under which statute — useful for litigation support and policy reports alike.
FOIA-heavy newsrooms
Standardize how the whole newsroom files and manages requests, so institutional knowledge about agency quirks doesn't leave when a reporter does.
Get Public Records Machine before general release
We're onboarding newsrooms and research teams in small batches. Join the waitlist and we'll reach out with access details and onboarding.