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Sequim records officer reports uptick in body‑worn camera requests, notes heavy staff time
Summary
Records Officer Talina Sandene told the Sequim City Council the city saw a rise in body‑worn camera requests and variability in processing time, noting NextRequest went live in 2023 and staff logged roughly '5,800' in records-related work; councilors asked about automation and reporting.
Records Officer Talina Sandene presented the City of Sequim’s 2025 public records request report on March 9, telling the council the city has seen an increase in body‑worn camera requests and a broad range in staff time required to fulfill requests.
"No — all requests are not created equal. One can take 16 hours, or one can take five minutes," Sandene said, describing the variability in effort needed to locate, redact and deliver records. Sandene said the city began using the NextRequest portal in 2023 and that staff have tracked an increase in requests this year compared with the same point last year.
Sandene said police‐related requests are the largest category and that the city received about 71–73 body‑worn camera requests last year; she said the police department accounted for 261 of the requests recorded and that the office documented roughly "5,800" in staff time for the legal/records workload in the reported period (Sandene stated that number as read). She added the city recovered nearly $500 in fees for records production this year.
Council members asked whether software or keyword searches could ease the workload. Sandene said NextRequest supports keyword searches and can search email attachments, but staff must still open and convert Outlook PST/email messages to PDF before uploading; she said NextRequest does not yet accept Outlook message (.msg) files and the vendor is working on that capability.
Sandene also said the portal sometimes deflects requests because users find prior closed requests online, though she has no precise metric for how many requests are avoided that way. She cautioned that police reports contain sensitive data (driver’s license numbers, juvenile records, Social Security numbers) and will not be fully exposed on the portal for privacy reasons.
The report was informational; no formal action was taken. Sandene said staff expect an increase in dash‑cam requests when those systems go live and that the city will continue tracking time and volume to inform staffing and process decisions.
What’s next: Sandene said staff will continue to refine tracking and will present further updates as data accumulate.
