All calls to 911 or to a police emergency number are recorded and logged. In most cases, the transcripts of calls and the logs summarizing calls to an emergency police number are considered public record. A member of the public may need a transcript of a call or a copy of the logs for a civil personal-injury lawsuit, as part of the defense in a criminal trial, or for any number of other reasons.
Determine what agency took the original call. Emergency calls may be handled by the county sheriff's department or by a city or township police department.
Locate the agency procedures for requesting a transcript of the call or of the logs. Most larger law-enforcement agencies will have a website that contains public records-request procedures. If you are unable to find the procedures online, contact the agency by telephone and explain that you want to make a public-records request and would like to know the procedure.
Read More: How to Get a Court Transcript
Complete the appropriate paperwork for your request. All public-record requests will require some type of written request. In some cases you may draft the letter requesting the records yourself, but in most cases the law-enforcement agency will require you to complete the request on a form provided by the agency.
Pay any required fees associated with the request. Requests for police logs will generally incur a small per-page fee, while an actual transcript of a call will likely incur a larger fee due to the fact that a transcriptionist must transcribe the call.