And why they can matter more for your injury case than you think
Short version: You get them by filing a written public records request, called a Public Information Act request, with the police department or sheriff’s office that holds them. It’s usually free or cheap, you don’t need a lawyer to ask, and most Texas agencies now take the request through an online portal. The catch is knowing exactly what to ask for and which agency to ask.
Here’s how to do it right, and where people get tripped up.
What “calls for service” records actually are
A “call for service” is the record created every time someone calls the police or 911 and a unit gets dispatched. The underlying log is usually called CAD data, short for Computer-Aided Dispatch. It typically shows the date and time of the call, the address, the type of call (a wreck, a disturbance, a suspicious person, an alarm), which units responded, and the timestamps for when they were dispatched and when they arrived.
Think of it as the department’s activity diary for a location or an incident.
This is not the same as a crash report. If you were in a car wreck, the document you usually want first is the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, the CR-3. That’s a separate form, and Texas restricts who can get an unredacted copy to people with a direct interest, like drivers, passengers, owners, and their lawyers (Transportation Code § 550.065). Calls for service records are broader. They show police activity at an address or around an incident, which is a different, and sometimes more useful, thing.
Why these records matter for your case
People underestimate calls for service data. A few real examples of what it can prove:
- Response timing. In a wreck or an assault, the CAD log shows exactly when the call came in and when police arrived. That timeline can corroborate or contradict the other side’s story.
- A pattern at a location. In a premises liability case, say you slipped, were attacked, or got hurt at an apartment complex or store, a year of calls for service to that address can show the owner knew the place was dangerous. Repeated calls for assaults, robberies, or the same hazard are strong evidence of notice.
- Witnesses and details you didn’t have. The log can surface a 911 caller or a responding officer you never knew about.
If you’re building an injury claim, this is cheap evidence that’s often just sitting there for the asking.
Step 1: Figure out which agency actually has the records
Records live with whoever responded. City police keep their own. The county sheriff keeps theirs. State troopers (DPS) keep theirs. If your incident happened inside Houston city limits, that’s the Houston Police Department. If it happened in unincorporated Harris County, that’s the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Guess wrong and you’ll just get told they don’t have it. When in doubt, ask both the city and the county.
Step 2: Put your request in writing
Texas’s open records law, the Public Information Act (Government Code Chapter 552), only requires agencies to respond to written requests. A phone call doesn’t count. You can almost always submit:
- Through the agency’s online public records portal (most common now)
- By email to the records or open records division
- By mail, fax, or in person
In Houston, you file through the city’s Public Information Request Center, the GovQA portal. You can also walk into the HPD Records Division at 1200 Travis, 1st floor, and for a basic report you can sometimes get it same day. One thing to know: 911 call audio and dispatch recordings in Houston are handled separately, through the Houston Emergency Center.
Step 3: Be specific
The single biggest reason requests stall is that they’re vague. The agency doesn’t have to answer questions, do research, or create a new document. It only has to hand over records that already exist. So tell them exactly what you want:
- The address or location
- A date and time window (or a date range, like “all calls for service to 123 Main St. from Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2025”)
- The type of record: “CAD / calls for service records,” and if you want it, “the 911 call audio and the dispatch log”
- A case or incident number if you have one
The tighter your request, the faster and cheaper it goes.
What it costs
Usually very little. Under the Attorney General’s cost rules, standard paper copies run 10 cents per page. If pulling the records takes real time, agencies can charge labor at $15 per hour plus a 20% overhead charge, but they generally can’t bill you for the time a lawyer spends deciding what to withhold.
Two numbers to keep in mind:
- If your total is going to exceed $40, the agency has to send you an itemized cost estimate first and give you a chance to narrow the request.
- If it’s over $100 (or $50 for very small agencies), they can require a deposit before they start.
When you get an estimate, respond within 10 business days or your request is treated as withdrawn.
How long it takes
There’s no magic “10 days and you get it” rule, despite what people think. The law says agencies have to produce records “promptly,” meaning within a reasonable time.
The real 10-business-day deadline is on the agency’s side. If they want to withhold something, they have to ask the Texas Attorney General for a ruling within 10 business days of getting your request. Miss that deadline, and the information is presumed public. When they do ask the AG, the AG generally has 45 working days to rule (with a possible 10-day extension).
Translation: simple requests can come back in days. Anything they want to fight over can take a couple of months.
What they can hold back
Police don’t have to turn over everything. The biggest exception, the law enforcement exception (Government Code § 552.108), lets them withhold information that would interfere with an active investigation or prosecution. They can also withhold records from a closed case that ended in something other than a conviction or deferred adjudication.
Important limit: even in an open case, they still have to release “basic information” about an arrest, a crime, or an arrested person. So a pending investigation doesn’t black out everything. And 911 caller information can be redacted for privacy.
If any part of your request touches an open case, expect them to send it to the AG, and expect some redactions.
What to do if they say no, or go silent
You have backup. The Texas Attorney General’s Open Records Division runs a hotline for exactly this: (512) 478-6736 in Austin, or toll-free (877) 673-6839. If an agency blows past deadlines, ignores you, or withholds something you believe is public, that’s who you call.
The honest take
For a single address or one incident, filing the request yourself is realistic and worth doing. It’s not complicated, and the records are cheap.
Where it gets tricky is when the records matter to an injury or wrongful death claim, when an agency starts stalling, redacting, or running everything to the Attorney General, or when you need to lock down the evidence before it ages out of a system. CAD data doesn’t live forever, and a sloppy or late request can cost you proof you can’t get back. That’s the point where having a lawyer send the request, and chase it, pays for itself.
If you were hurt and you think the police records tell part of the story, we pull these records all the time, across Texas, and we know how to push when an agency drags its feet. Contact The Law Offices of Colby Lewis and we’ll go get them.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Open records rules and agency procedures change, so confirm the current process with the specific agency. If you have a potential injury claim, talk to a lawyer about your situation. Attorney advertising.
