How to get police and traffic camera video of a crash in Oklahoma

The public records law that gets you the video

Oklahoma Open Records Act, 51 O.S. § 24A.1 et seq.

Prompt, reasonable access; no set days

A record includes any photograph, sound recording, film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form, created or received by public officials or public bodies in connection with public business (51 O.S. § 24A.3(1)); public bodies include state agencies, counties, cities, towns, school districts and their subdivisions (§ 24A.3(2)), and law enforcement agencies include police departments, county sheriffs and the Department of Public Safety (§ 24A.3(5)). Who may ask: all records of public bodies are open to any person for inspection, copying or mechanical reproduction during regular business hours, except records the law requires to be kept confidential (§ 24A.5), and the person or agency claiming a confidential privilege bears the burden of establishing it (§ 24A.2). Any reasonably segregable portion of a record must be released after exempt material is deleted (§ 24A.5(3)). How: an agency may require a records request form, and a request must describe the records with reasonable specificity, meaning a general time frame, identifiable records rather than general information, and search terms specific enough to find them (§ 24A.5(7)). Each public body must designate people authorized to release records, with at least one available during business hours (§ 24A.5(8)). Deadline: the Act sets no number of days. A public body must provide prompt, reasonable access; any delay is limited solely to the time required to prepare the records and avoid excessive disruption of its essential functions; a current request may not be unreasonably delayed behind a prior request that will take substantially longer; and posting records online meets the duty (§ 24A.5(6)). Fees: an agency may charge only the reasonable, direct cost of copying or mechanical reproduction, never more than 25 cents a page for paper up to 8 1/2 by 14 inches or $1 a page for a certified copy; it may charge a reasonable search fee only when a request is solely for a commercial purpose or would clearly cause excessive disruption, and never when release is in the public interest; it may require advance payment when the estimate exceeds $75 or you owe fees from earlier requests; fees may not be used to discourage requests; and an agency setting fees must post a written schedule at its principal office and with the county clerk (§ 24A.5(4)). DPS may not charge more than the direct cost of a computerized copy unless the law sets the fee (§ 24A.5(4)). The Act sets no separate fee for video. Example: DPS says there is no fee for Highway Patrol dashcam footage or 911 audio, and that its other records are provided digitally at no cost.

Police body camera and dashcam video

Dashcam open; body cam if events listed

Dashcam (51 O.S. § 24A.8(A)(9)): law enforcement agencies must make available for public inspection and copying, if kept, audio and video recordings from recording equipment attached to law enforcement vehicles, and associated audio from equipment on an officer’s person. Before release, the agency may redact or obscure specific portions that depict a death or dead body (unless caused by an officer), nudity, acts of severe violence resulting in great bodily injury or great bodily injury (unless caused by an officer), would identify minors under 16 or undermine juvenile confidentiality, include personal medical information not already public, would undermine certain mental health or detoxification privileges, include personal information other than the name or license plate number of a person not arrested, cited, charged or warned (such as a government ID number, date of birth, address or financial information), or would reveal the identity of an officer under internal investigation until a final disciplinary decision. Body cameras (§ 24A.8(A)(10)): recordings from equipment attached to an officer’s person must be made available if they depict any use of physical force or violence by an officer, pursuits, traffic stops, any person being arrested, cited, charged or issued a written warning, events that directly led to that, detentions of any length to investigate, any exercise of authority that deprives a citizen of liberty, actions that have become the cause of an investigation or charges, recordings in the public interest that may materially aid a determination of whether officers are appropriately performing their duties, and contextual events before or after any of these. The agency may redact the same categories as for dashcam, plus portions that identify alleged victims of sex crimes or domestic violence, identify a person who gave information and asked for anonymity or whose safety would be endangered, undermine the informer privilege, or would materially compromise an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution (see the next section). Body camera video of a crash scene that shows none of the listed events is not on that list; for law enforcement records outside subsection A, an agency may deny access unless a court finds that the public interest or an individual’s interest outweighs the reason for denial (§ 24A.8(B)(1)). An agency must deny access to video depicting the death of an officer on duty unless a court finds otherwise (§ 24A.8(B)(2)). For the Department of Public Safety, no provision of Title 47 may be read to keep its audio or video recordings confidential beyond the Open Records Act’s exceptions (47 O.S. § 2-110(D)(1)). Retention: the Act imposes no new recordkeeping requirements, and absent a law setting a period, agencies keep records as long as needed for administrative purposes (§ 24A.8(C)); we found no statute setting a minimum retention period for police video, so ask quickly. Highway Patrol: DPS’s Dash Cam Video Production Unit handles dash camera, body camera and 911 audio requests through its online Dash Cam Request Form; DPS says portions of dash cam video are open record, requests are worked in the order received and can take up to 90 days or more, and all dash cam footage is provided by digital download at no cost (its fees page says the same for 911 audio; we found no DPS statement on a fee for body camera video), an OHP collision report or citation number helps, and requests without enough case information are returned. Questions: dashcam@dps.ok.gov. DPS says third-party video it holds requires a subpoena. City and county police take video requests under the same law; for example, Tulsa Police takes records and video requests through its online Open Records Center.

When police can hold video back

Body cam may be held during a case

Body cameras (51 O.S. § 24A.8(A)(10)(b)(12)): an agency may temporarily withhold portions of a body camera recording that would materially compromise an ongoing criminal investigation or ongoing criminal prosecution. Ten days after the formal arraignment or initial appearance (whichever comes first) of a person charged in the case, the recording must be made available with no redaction of those portions, unless the prosecutor or the accused’s lawyer asks the district court for an extension; the recording may then be withheld until the court rules, after a hearing weighing the public’s interests against the parties’. Each extension is six months or less, and extensions may not total more than 18 months. If 120 days pass after the events recorded with no one criminally charged and release has been denied on this ground, you may appeal the denial to the district court, which must hold a hearing and either order release or extend the withholding by up to 12 months at a time, for no more than three years in total; charges being filed cancels any extension. This ground expires completely four years after the recording was made. Dashcam: the redaction list for vehicle recordings in § 24A.8(A)(9) does not include an ongoing-investigation ground. What must always be released: besides recordings, subsection A requires law enforcement agencies to release, if kept, a chronological list of incidents with initial offense report information (offense, date, time, general location, officer and a brief summary) and radio logs listing the calls dispatched (§ 24A.8(A)(3), (4)); the section has no provision written specifically for crash records. Other records: except for the records subsection A lists and records made open by other laws, law enforcement agencies may deny access to law enforcement records unless a court finds that the public interest or an individual’s interest outweighs the reason for denial, and records once made available to the public cannot later be denied on that basis (§ 24A.8(B)(1)). District attorneys, municipal attorneys and the Attorney General may keep their litigation files and investigatory reports confidential (§ 24A.12). A record that is otherwise open may not be denied because an agency took it for investigatory purposes or placed it in an investigation file, though a law enforcement agency may deny a copy from its investigative file if a true and complete copy is open at another public body (§ 24A.20).

Do traffic cameras in Oklahoma record?

ODOT said in 2015: cameras do not record

In its November 10, 2015 Transportation Commission release (PR# 15-046), the Oklahoma Department of Transportation said its traffic cameras, placed on major highway corridors and interchanges for first responders to assess accident scenes and for the public to check congestion, “are part of ODOT’s Intelligent Transportation System and do not record video or images,” with camera views at www.oktraffic.org. We found no more recent ODOT statement, and found nothing on recording on the current OKTraffic site or ODOT’s records page, so ask promptly if you think a state highway camera captured your crash. ODOT takes records requests through the online form on its Open Records Request page, for information about the state highway and bridge system; it says information about city or county streets and bridges must come from the city or county, and that response times vary with the volume and scope of the request. ODOT’s office: 200 N.E. 21st Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73105, (405) 522-8000. City traffic cameras are run by the cities, so ask the city’s traffic or police department as well. Turnpikes: digital audio and video recordings of the Oklahoma Transportation Authority’s toll collection and safeguarding activities are confidential, and its electronic toll vehicle movement records are confidential unless another law requires disclosure (51 O.S. § 24A.5(1)(g), (i)). License plate readers: data collected under the Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Program is exempt from the Open Records Act except data kept as evidence of an insurance violation (47 O.S. § 7-606.1(F)(2)).

Red-light and speed cameras

No red-light or speed camera law found

Red-light and speed cameras: we found no Oklahoma statute that authorizes them, and none that expressly bans them, in OSCN’s section indexes for Titles 11 (cities and towns), 47 (motor vehicles), 69 (highways) and 70 (schools). Two 2026 bills on automated work zone speed enforcement did not become law: Senate Bill 1434 was placed on the Senate’s General Order on February 11, 2026 with no later action, and Senate Bill 1610 was referred to the Aeronautics and Transportation committee on February 3, 2026 with no later action. School bus stop arm cameras (47 O.S. § 11-705(E)): a school district may install and operate a video-monitoring system on its buses or stop arms, or contract with a vendor, to record drivers who pass a stopped school bus with its red loading signals on. District staff extract the violation data, which must at minimum include an image of the license plate, an identifiable picture of the driver’s face, the status of a warning device, and the time, date and location, and submit it to the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction; if that agency finds enough evidence to identify the vehicle and driver, it goes to the district attorney for prosecution. A conviction carries a fine of at least $100 plus a $100 special assessment (§ 11-705(A)). The statute does not address who else may see the recordings; ask the school district in writing promptly, since a bus camera may also have caught a nearby crash. Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Program (47 O.S. § 7-606.1): district attorneys and participating agencies may use automated license plate reader cameras to enforce the compulsory insurance law, but only after the Insurance Department verifies the conditions in subsection H; the data may not be used for other purposes except as the law permits, and it is exempt from the Open Records Act except data kept as evidence.

If your request is denied

Ask AG within 30 days of denial, or sue

Public Access Counselor (51 O.S. § 24A.40, created in 2025): if a public body (other than the Legislature and its committees and agencies) denies your request, you may file a request for review with the Public Access Counselor in the Attorney General’s office no later than 30 calendar days after the date of the denial, in writing on the Attorney General’s form, signed, with a copy of your request and any responses. You may also ask for review if your request has not been answered in a prompt or reasonable manner, or if the agency treated it as a commercial request; a request made for a commercial purpose cannot otherwise be reviewed. The Attorney General’s office takes these through its online Public Access Counselor complaint form and says it will explain and take no further action if a complaint is unfounded. Otherwise the Counselor forwards the request to the public body within seven business days, the body must respond in writing within seven business days, and the Attorney General must issue an advisement within 60 calendar days of receiving the request; if it concludes no further response is required, you may file suit (§ 24A.40(F), (G)). Court (§ 24A.17): anyone denied access may sue for declaratory or injunctive relief, limited to records requested and denied before the suit, and is entitled to reasonable attorney fees if successful; you must notify the public body and the Attorney General in writing of your intent to sue 10 business days before filing, and a public body that defends a clearly frivolous suit is entitled to its fees. If you sue while a Counselor review is pending, notify the Counselor, who will stop the review (§ 24A.40(H)). For law enforcement records, a court may order release when the public interest or yours outweighs the reason for denial (§ 24A.8(B)(1)), and for body camera video withheld 120 days with no charges, you may appeal to the district court (§ 24A.8(A)(10)(b)(12)(b)). A willful violation of the Act by a public official is a misdemeanor (§ 24A.17(A)). You may want to ask a lawyer before going to court.

What to do now

1. 1

   Send written requests today

   Write to each agency that responded, citing the Open Records Act. Give the date, time, exact location and case or citation number, and ask for dashcam, body camera and 911 audio.

2. 2

   Use the DPS Dash Cam form for troopers

   For a Highway Patrol crash, request dash and body camera video and 911 audio on DPS’s Dash Cam Request Form. DPS says dash cam footage is free but can take 90 days or more.

3. 3

   Cite the events the video shows

   Body camera video is open when it shows a traffic stop, a citation or an arrest, among other events. Say which of those happened at your crash.

4. 4

   Denied? 30 days to the AG

   File a Public Access Counselor review within 30 calendar days of a denial, or give the agency and the Attorney General 10 business days’ notice before suing.

5. 5

   Look for private footage now

   ODOT said in 2015 that its cameras do not record. Post the crash on the bounty board: nearby dashcams often hold the only footage of what happened.

Frequently asked questions