The Record Album

Looking for a record to make your day? Take a spin through this record album to find something that will help you in your career and personal life. Each of the 100 entries explains how the record is useful and where to get it. Information provided by David Cuillier.

1. 911 Logs

To spot trends in crime, medical calls and response times by police officers and fire trucks. They typically list time/date, location, call type and responding units, and are public in Arizona. Tucson’s emergency dispatch is handled by the city’s Communications Division. (Also, see “crime logs”)

2. Abandoned buildings

Identify trends in deteriorating neighborhoods. In Tucson it is illegal to have a building vacant and boarded up for more than 180 days. The city tracks vacant and open buildings through the Department of Neighborhood Resources, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop Sentinel Building, 2^nd Floor. The department also tracks housing code violations, junk cars, and other neighborhood nuisances.

3. Air quality

Air quality violators are fined by county and state air quality departments (see an example of Maricopa County settlements at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/air.html). In Pima County, the Department of Environmental Quality maps ozone levels and provides other records of air quality, such as dust complaints (http://www.airinfonow.org/). (Also, see “Environment”)

4. Airplanes

To identify airplane crash trends and find pilots and plane owners. The Federal Aviation Administration accident and incident reports are available at http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/. Also, the FAA Aircraft Registry includes owner name and pilot information at landings.com: http://www.landings.com/evird.acgi$pass*98655654!_h-www.landings.com/_landings/pages/search.html.

5. Airport noise

Airports track noise complaints from neighbors when jets fly low or are particularly noisy. This is particularly important in Tucson where an Air Force base and commercial airport keep planes humming over an urban area. Get flight maps and noise maps at http://www.tucsonairport.org/community/html/community_environment_noise.html. For Davis-Monthan Air Force Base’s noise information, see http://www.dm.af.mil/units/communityinterests/. (Also, see “Odor complaints”)

6. Appeals

To find conflicts and problems between citizens and their government. When someone objects to a decision a government agency makes, they often are able to make an appeal. Some agencies have formal appeal procedures, depending on the issue. Check with the agency’s attorney.

7. Arrest reports

Verify the arrest of a specific person in connection with a specific event. Available at local law enforcement offices, usually from a public information officer or officer in charge. If the case is still under investigation (someone’s still on the loose or they haven’t forwarded the information to the prosecutor yet for potential charges), then policy may keep some of the information secret IF it would harm the investigation, Police sometimes don’t apply that balancing test and say everything is secret if it’s still under investigation, but they are supposed to be able to demonstrate that the information would hurt the investigation. If they can’t, the information should be public, even if still under investigation. If a person is wrongfully arrested they can request that the records be purged (A.R.S. 13-4051).

8. Arrest warrants

To ensure fairness in the arrest of suspects and get a lead on potential big busts. An arrest warrant is signed by a judge authorizing the arrest of someone for probable cause. It usually allows police to barge into a house and make an arrest when there is reason to believe the person has committed a crime (drug house, homicide, etc.). Often warrants have a lot of information because police are trying to justify to a judge the need to arrest the person. These are similar to search warrants, which also require justification and approval by a judge. Warrants are usually made public once the person is served (arrested or searched), or when it appears it won’t be able to be served. Warrants are kept in criminal files at the court clerk’s office at the county courthouse.

9. Audits

To monitor problems in government agencies, particularly financial woes. The Arizona Office of the Auditor General audits state and local agencies and provides its findings online (http://www.auditorgen.state.az.us/). Look carefully to find any irregularities – often clouded by vague terms and wishy-washy language. Ask to get more details.

10. Autopsy reports

Confirm cause of death or circumstances of a person’s death and evaluate the quality of medical examiners. Autopsy reports are public records in Arizona, and available from the County Medical Examiner’s Office.

11. Bank records

To examine the saliency of the banking industry. While an individual’s bank records are secret, as well as most State Banking Department records (A.R.S. 6-129), many documents filed by enterprises with the State Banking Department are public (A.R.S. 6-129.01). See http://azdfi.gov/ for state records.

12. Bankruptcy files

To identify trends in bankruptcies, spot fraud, and find people with unfortunate financial pasts. Chapter 7 is a straight bankruptcy and Chapter 11 is a reorganization that usually allows them to stay in business. Businesses in bankruptcy lose a fair amount of privacy as the files list assets, how they got into trouble and what they intend to do to get back on their feet. U.S. Bankruptcy Court maintains records. Some can be found online at http://www.azb.uscourts.gov.

13. Birth certificates

To verify the identity, birth date and birthplace of someone. Arizona is a closed state, so the only people allowed to get a copy are the actual person, parent, spouse, adult children, siblings and some other limited persons. For more info, see http://www.azdhs.gov/vitalrcd/birth_index.htm. Can see birth certificates from 1887 to 1931 at http://genealogy.az.gov.

14. Boat registration

Find trends in boating and owners of watercraft. Contact the state Department of Game and Fish at http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/agency_directory.shtml.

15. Boating accidents

To analyze boating accident trends. The Arizona Department of Game and Fish (http://www.azgfd.gov/) collects about 250-300 boating accidents report a year from sheriff’s departments and other agencies. The agency then forwards the information to the U.S. Coast Guard, which has the information for the entire nation (http://www.uscgboating.org/).

16. Border Patrol

To examine trends in border issues, including drug seizures, border waits, and deportations. It can be tricky dealing with federal agencies, particularly those with law enforcement missions crossing over with homeland security. But local journalists have been able to get at this information. Contact the Tucson Sector office at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/border_patrol_sectors/tucson_sector_az/. Also, the Pima County Medical Examiner maintains records detailing border crossers who die in the dessert (the Arizona Daily Star compiles them with other counties’ border death files at http://regulus.azstarnet.com/borderdeaths/search.php).

17. Bridge inspections

To assess the safety of bridges in the community. Inspection records are maintained by states and the Federal Highway Administration (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/britab.htm – click on “Download NBI ASCII files”). Also can search the data at the Arizona Daily Star at http://www.azstarnet.com/special/bridgedatabase.

18. Broadcaster files

The Federal Communications Commission requires broadcasters to keep records available to the public, including educational programming they are required to air. Should be available at the station.

19. Budgets

Detailed budgets are available before and after approval. Can be helpful to see what departments are getting more money over time and what areas are getting less funding. Get them from the agency’s budget officer.

20. Calendars

To find out how top officials are spending their time. Look at their calendars, or day schedules, to see who they are meeting with and the extent of their workload. Should also be able to get travel expenses. Request from the office you are interested in, such as the mayor’s office if you want to see the mayor’s calendar.

21. Campus crime

To find out serious incidents happening on crime. It must be released by campus police because of the federal Clery Act. Get police logs and incident reports (if it’s not under investigation) at the campus police department. Also can get statistics online for all universities and compare nationally at http://www.securityoncampus.org/crimestats/index.html or at the Department of Education at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_09.html. Note, though that studies have shown universities to under-report their violent crimes.

22. Census

Demographic data available down to the block group level and over time can be used to analyze shifts in community demographics, including in migration, income, race, education, gender, and age. Challenging to burrow through the Census Web site (www.census.gov), but it’s all there.

23. Charities

To find out whether someone asking for money is registered with the state. The Arizona Secretary of State collects information about charitable organizations and posts basic contact information online at http://www.azsos.gov/scripts/Charity_Search.dll. The state, however, does not determine whether the charity is legitimate. Complaints are investigated by the Attorney General (http://www.azag.gov/consumer/charitable.html).

24. Child-care complaints

To assess how well child-care (daycare) is handled in your community and how well the government monitors child care. Records handled by the Arizona Department of Health Services. See data acquired by the Arizona Daily Star at http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/childcare/

25. Civil lawsuits

To make sure civil cases are handled equitably and disputes resolved fairly. When a person sues another person, the case ends up in civil court. Examples of civil cases include malpractice, child support, divorce, libel, paternity, property rights, restraining orders and breach of contract. Superior Court handles big cases and municipal courts (small-claims) handle the little things (like you see on Judge Judy). Cases can be found by searching business name or person’s name at http://www.cosc.co.pima.az.us/home.asp?include=pages/record_search.htm for Pima County or http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/justiceCourts/courtsandsections/smallclaims/ for Maricopa county.

26. Claims

If someone feels a government agency owes them compensation for damages (slipping on a sidewalk, hit by police car, etc.), they often file a claim before filing lawsuit. Check with the risk management officer or attorney for the agency. For Tucson, that would be at the finance department at Tucson City Hall, 255 W. Alameda (http://www.tucsonaz.gov/finance/).

27. Code enforcement

To examine trends and fairness in applying local nuisance laws. Code enforcement records detail noise violations, illegal businesses in residential zones, illegal dumping, huge signs, and other problems. Check with the city code enforcement office (http://www.tucsonaz.gov/esd/Codes_/codes_.html).

28. Concealed weapon permits

To see who is packing heat. Used to be public, but is now secret in most states, including Arizona (A.R.S. 13-3112(J)).

29. Contracts

Allows you to find out who is benefiting from government projects. Should include the amount agreed upon, the amount paid (often more), who the money went to, etc. Contact an agency’s business office. To find whether a contractor is licensed and contact information, see the state contractor database at http://www.azroc.gov/clsc/AZROCLicenseQuery.

30. Corporate records

To spot connections between public companies and identify key officers. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission provides a wealth of information on public companies online, including initial public offering files (Form S-1), quarterly reports (Form 10-Q), annual reports (Form 10-K), and top officer information (Form DEF 14A). Can search the clunky Web site www.sec.gov or also search EDGAR (www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar) and enforcement records for folks who got in trouble (www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/txt-srch-sec). To find out owners and incorporation dates for Arizona companies, search by name online at the Secretary of State’s Web site, http://www.azsos.gov/scripts/TNT_Search_engine.dll. (Also, see “incorporation records”)

31. Crime log

A barebones list of incidents, usually including address, time/date, one-word description, and disposition. Also called a “police blotter.” Basic crime records and statistics are also put online by the Tucson Police, including a crime map, at http://tpdinternet.tucsonaz.gov/Stats/. The Arizona Republic provides crime maps for the Phoenix area at http://www.azcentral.com/CrimeMaps/. The FBI keeps crime statistics (Uniform Crime Reports) for all cities, and provides data online for cities over 100,000. See examples at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/fbi_crimestats.html.

32. Criminal records

To find trends in crime, monitor the criminal justice system, and find backgrounds of individuals. Can look up court cases in Pima County at http://www.cosc.co.pima.az.us/home.asp?include=pages/record_search.htm and then get details in the paper files at the court clerk’s office at the county courthouse, 110 W. Congress St. Compilations of criminal histories held by the state, however, are secret (A.R.S. 41-619.54(C)). Basically, you can gather information from individual courthouses, but you can’t see combined “rap sheets” already put together by the state. That follows the thinking from a U.S. Supreme Court case DOJ v. Reporters Committee).

33. Court records

To find if someone has a criminal background or has been sued in civil court. Also to monitor trends in a variety of criminal justice issues, including crime, sentencing, racial profiling (speeding tickets), and judge performance. In general, court records are public unless they have been sealed by a judge for a specific reason. Look up civil and criminal records at the court clerk’s office or search by case numbers and other basic information online at http://www.cosc.co.pima.az.us/home.asp?include=pages/record_search.htm (Pima County). Also you can look up cases statewide at http://www.supreme.state.az.us/publicaccess/notification/default.asp.

34. Death certificates

To explain causes of death. Even though traditionally the dead have been considered to have no right to privacy, in Arizona these records are kept secret except for family members. For more information, see http://www.azdhs.gov/vitalrcd/death_index.htm. Can find death certificates from 1878 to 1956 at http://genealogy.az.gov/.

35. Development

To identify development trends and potential building that could impact the community or a neighborhood. Find out what permits for development have been submitted and approved for an area. Go to the city planning and development department to see development plans. Some of the information is available online in Tucson, at http://www.tucsonaz.gov/webapp/DevSvcsWebApp/addrs/devactionsrch.html.

36. Discrimination

To track trends in discrimination. The Tucson Office of Equal Opportunity Programs (http://www.tucsonaz.gov/eoo/) enforces equity policy for the city to make sure city employees aren’t discriminating based on race, age and other factors. While identities might not be public, general description and trends should be available.

37. Divorce cases

To see if men and women are treated equally in divorces and to examine backgrounds of prominent individuals. Available at the court clerk’s office on the second floor of the Pima County Courthouse, 110 W. Congress St. Can look up names and get case numbers online at http://www.cosc.co.pima.az.us/home.asp?include=pages/record_search.htm , then view the paper files in person at the courthouse.

38. Driving records

To examine the safety record of individuals or a group of drivers, such as cabbies or bus drivers. While personal driver’s license information is generally not public (except for special access through contracts with commercial companies), it is usually possible to find driving violations, such as speeding. In Arizona, look up a person’s driving violations, including parking tickets, at http://www.supreme.state.az.us/publicaccess/notification/default.asp .

39. Drug houses

Find location of homes that were once used as meth labs or other clandestine drug labs. To identify trends in drug houses. Can also see if any homes in your neighborhood had drug problems (or a house you are thinking of buying). Provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at http://www.dea.gov/seizures/arizona.html.

40. Educational records

Anything related to the education of a student is secret because of FERPA, except for directory information, including name, year, home address, phone number, date of birth etc. (unless the parent or adult student wishes the information to not be disclosed). See http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html. Also, serious criminal incidents are public as per the Clery Act.

41. E-mail

To monitor government function and make sure business that should be conducted in public isn’t being handled secretly via e-mail. In Arizona e-mail of public officials is considered public (Star Publishing v. Pima County Attorney’s Office, 1994).

42. Elections

Who is funding candidates and campaigns? State campaign data is kept by the Arizona Secretary of State (http://www.azsos.gov/election/ and federal candidate information is maintained by the Federal Election Commission (http://www.fec.gov). National data also are kept by Project Vote Smart (http://www.vote-smart.org/) and the Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org).

43. Employees

To identify cronyism and find former employees. Can request records of employee names, titles and salaries. Employee home addresses and home phone numbers, however, are generally not public (and secret by law for police officers, judges, etc.).

44. Environmental

To assess environmental problems in a community. Superfund sites in Arizona are available at http://www.epa.gov/region09/cleanup/arizona.html. Toxic release inventory information provides what bad stuff different companies and industry release in your community. A good site to find that EPA information is at the Right to Know Web site: http://data.rtknet.org/tri/. Government also monitors other environmental hazards, such as leaking underground gas tanks (see state program at http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/ust/index.html and Arizona Daily Star story: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/leakingtanks/15655), tainted wells and groundwater (http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/index.html).

45. Expense reports

To monitor government spending and see if government employees are cheating the system. Check with the business office of an agency. Can ask for credit-card logs as well.

46. Fire incident reports

To monitor fire departments and spot trends, such as arson, dangerous homes, public buildings that are hazards, etc. Check with the fire agency (such as Tucson Fire Department, http://www.tucsonaz.gov/fire/ or Phoenix Fire Department http://phoenix.gov/FIRE/)  to examine incident reports.

47. Foreclosures

To spot trends in home foreclosures (particularly nowadays). Can identify areas that are hardest hit and types of people losing their homes. These are civil court files held at the county courthouse. Check out a story the Arizona Daily Star did noting more than 5,000 foreclosures in Pima County in the first nine months of 2007: http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/213294. Also, check out home mortgage lending trends (and whether minorities are denied home loans more often than whites, called “red lining”), by examining Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data (http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/).

48. Gas-pump inspections

To make sure gas stations aren’t ripping off consumers. The Arizona Department of Weights and Measures (http://azdwm.gov/) inspects each gas pump in the state. See data collected by the Arizona Daily Star at http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/gaspump/.

49. Graffiti

Track decaying neighborhoods and hooliganism. The city of Tucson covers over graffiti about 15,000 times a year. Make sure you don’t buy a house that is on this tag list every week. Contact the Department of Neighborhood Resources, 320 N. Commerce Park Loop Sentinel Building, 2^nd Floor.

50. Hospitals

While medical records are usually not public, you should be able to get financial records about public hospitals. Non-profit hospitals file tax returns, which are public (see Non-profits).

51. Income taxes

Individual and corporate income tax returns are private. However, income tax returns for nonprofits are public (see Nonprofits). Also, when a taxpayer wants to challenge the IRS it does so in U.S. Tax Court, and those records are public (see http://apps.irs.gov/news/efoia/determine.html).

52. Incorporation records

To find out who owns a business. Look up city business licenses at the finance department at Tucson City Hall, 255 W. Alameda (http://www.tucsonaz.gov/finance/), or state articles of incorporation at the Secretary of State (http://www.azsos.gov/scripts/TNT_Search_engine.dll). This is helpful if you are trying to figure out who is really behind a business name.

53. Jail records

To see who is jailed and oversee jail operations. The Jail log is a list of people booked in the jail, including name, time/date, and charge. More detailed information can be found in the booking sheets. Also can get jail mugs and examine budgets, jail population statistics, and overtime to monitor operations. Get basic jail log information from the Pima County Jail’s online inmate lookup (http://www.pimasheriff.org/jail.htm). To find a person in a state prison, go to http://test.azcorrections.gov/isearch/inmate_datasearch/index.aspx.

54. Juvenile records

To monitor the juvenile justice system to make sure its working well. Juvenile criminal records, including arrest records and disposition hearing summaries, are public (A.R.S. 8-208).

55. Lawyer discipline

To find lawyers who have been disciplined and monitor the oversight of attorneys. The State Bar of Arizona provides online a lawyer locator and reports for each year detailing lawyers that have been reprimanded, suspended, disbarred and reinstated (http://www.azbar.org/WorkingWithLawyers/reports.cfm).

56. Legislative records

To examine the voting records of legislators, bill wording, legislators’ attendance, and find people who testify on issues. Find bill and vote information at http://www.azleg.gov/.

57. Liquor licenses

To identify bars and restaurants that are nuisances (have a lot of bar fights and problems for neighbors) and not following liquor laws. Request liquor licenses and suspensions from the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control (http://www.azliquor.gov/).

58. Licensing

The state monitors a variety of professionals, including barbers, beauticians, accountants, appraisers, chiropractors, nurses, Realtors, etc. See if a person is licensed or has had a license revoked. Go to http://az.gov/webapp/portal/subtopic.jsp?id=1168&name=Business. For contractors, check at http://www.azroc.gov/clsc/AZROCLicenseQuery.

59. Lottery winners

To make sure the lottery is being handled fairly (and that the employees’ friends and families aren’t winning). Also to see how sales are affecting different parts of a community. Often can get winner name, date, amount, and retail outlet where ticket was sold. Should be able to get lottery ticket sales and payouts by retail outlet as well. Contact Arizona Lottery Commission (http://www.arizonalottery.com/).

60. Marriage licenses

To monitor marriage statistics and find current and ex-spouses. They are kept by the court clerk. For more information in Tucson, see http://www.cosc.co.pima.az.us/home.asp?include=pages/marriage_licenses.htm.

61. Medical devices

To identify medical devices that have failed, how they failed and the manufacturer. The “MAUDE” database is maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Also maintains the Adverse Event Reporting system that flags safety issues regarding pharmaceutical drugs. Check out http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/search.cfm.

62. Medical records

In general, individual medical record information is not public information. State statutes and HIPAA make most medical information private. Disciplinary records against doctors by the Arizona Medical Board are public (see data provided online by Arizona Republic at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/bomex.html).

63. Meeting minutes

To monitor city councils, school boards and other government bodies. Meeting notices, agendas and minutes are almost always public. Check with the clerk’s office at the respective agency.

64. Name change

To see if someone is hiding under a new identity. Records are usually held by the court clerk.

65. Nonprofit 990 forms

To make sure nonprofits are actually not out to make a profit and just using 501c(3) status to avoid paying taxes. Also can find a variety of information about nonprofits’ income, expenses and officers through the 990 forms they file annually. To see 990 forms, go to www.guidestar.com. You have to register but most of the site is free.

66. Nursing home inspections

To identify unsafe nursing homes. Pending investigations are not public (A.R.S. 36-446.10). Can get comparisons nationally by Medicare at http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/SearchCriteria.asp?version=default&browser=IE%7C7%7CWinXP&language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home&CookiesEnabledStatus=True. Also, the Arizona Republic provides enforcement actions against long-term care facilities, which it acquired from the Arizona Department of Health Services, at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/longterm_care.html. Similar data regarding assisted-living facilities are at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/assisted_living.html.

67. Odor complaints

Most municipal sewage treatment plants, including Pima County, track complaints of their sewage stink, which enables people to identify trends and know where not to buy a house. Contact the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department (http://www.pima.gov/wwm/). A UA journalism student examined three years worth of stink complaints in 2007 to discover the cloud of stench doubled in size every year.

68. Parking tickets

To identify parking scofflaws and trends and fairness in ticketing (any special persons get their tickets waived?). Get a database of parking tickets from the city of Tucson or the University of Arizona. The university has been reluctant to provide names, saying that parking tickets are protected under FERPA because they are “educational records.” However, their position is tenuous and when the same argument has been used in other states courts (such as Maryland) have ruled against universities. Also, get disability parking permits and see if there are people who have them who aren’t disabled (who are using deceased relatives’ permits).

69. Party violations

To assess trends in partying near the University of Arizona and make sure police are enforcing the “red-tag” laws fairly. The Tucson Police Department tracks each time a house is tagged for excessive party noise. The records are also forwarded to the university for potential punishment in addition to potential fines.

70. Personnel records

Confirm whether someone is a public employee and identify bad workers through disciplinary records. Not always public in Arizona, so can be difficult to get, such as disciplinary actions against teachers. Easier to get for high-ranking officials because a greater public interest.

71. Pet licenses

To examine trends in pet ownership and dog bites. Includes information about licensed animals (name, breed, last rabies shot, etc.), as well as name of owner, address and phone number. To request pet license information (or the whole pet license database), contact Pima County Animal Control (http://www.pimaanimalcare.org/). Also, the agency tracks dog bites in the county in a database (see example of data and its use by Arizona Daily Star at http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/158747).

72. Price-scanning inspections

To assess which stores might be ripping off consumers. The state Department of Weights and Measures (http://azdwm.gov/) inspects store pricing scanners to make sure they are accurate.

73. Probate

To make sure possessions are disbursed fairly and find family members of the deceased. When someone dies and leaves property or doesn’t have a will, it goes through probate – the government has to figure out how to fairly divvy up the goods. Probate records are kept at the Pima County Superior Court clerk’s office, 110 W. Congress St. Look up a name online at http://www.agave.cosc.pima.gov/PublicDocs/.

74. Product recalls

To monitor the safety of consumer products, including food and medicine (FDA), consumer products (CPSC), meat (USDA), cars (NHTSA), pesticides (EPA) and boating safety (Coast Guard). Check out recalled products for all these agencies at http://www.recalls.gov/search.html.

75. Property taxes

To assess whether everyone is paying their fair share of property taxes and also to find who is buying what in the community. Property tax records are public at county courthouses. You can find out how much homes in your neighborhood are worth, what they sold for, along with details, such as the homes’ square footage and number of bedrooms. This helps you in buying or selling a home to compare homes and values. In Pima County, this information can be found online with a keyword search (including name), at http://www.asr.pima.gov/APIQ/index.aspx.

76. Public records requests

To find what public records are being requested by businesses, citizens, government employees and journalists. Request from the public records officer copies of the public records request and any log used to track requests.

77. Restaurant inspections

To make sure the public is protected from unsanitary conditions at restaurants and other venues. Find the worst restaurants. In Pima County, check a restaurant’s health inspection reports at http://www.pimahealth.org/restaurants/ratings/index.asp. In Maricopa County, search here: http://www.maricopa.gov/envsvc/envwebapp/business_search.aspx?as_page_title=Food%20Establishments%20Search&as_type=Food.

78. Retention schedules

To find out what records an agency keeps and when it purges them. Most public agencies have established retention schedules to determine how long they will keep different records and when they can get rid of them. Check with the individual agency to find its retention schedule, usually held by a clerk or records officer.

79. Salaries

To find cronyism and disparity in pay. Names, titles and salaries of public employees are almost always available. Also, get overtime pay and actual pay (not just budgeted salary) to find janitors who make more than the mayor. Also, a good way to find former employees by looking at lists from prior years. For example, see Arizona university employee salaries at http://azstarnet.com/special/universitysalaries, and see state employee salaries provided by the Arizona Republic at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/salaries_az.html.

80. School test scores

To identity poorly performing schools. Can find school “report cards” at http://www.ade.az.gov/srcs/find_school.asp.

81. Sex offenders

To find if sex offenders live close to vulnerable populations. In Arizona, as in most states, it’s easy to look up sex offenders (the most dangerous ones, usually level 2 & 3) online. Go to http://az.gov/webapp/offender/main.do to find sex offenders by zip code or other search functions. Note that a variety of studies have found registries to be relatively inaccurate, so the person may or may not actually live where the registry says the person lives.

82. Stolen vehicles

To identify trends in vehicle theft. Request stolen vehicle data to analyze popular makes, models and locations of car thieves. To look up a specific plate number or VIN number, go to http://theftaz.azag.gov/.

83. Street maintenance

Examine trends in bad streets and who gets them fixed and who doesn’t. Street departments, such as Tucson’s (http://dot.tucsonaz.gov/streets/), track pothole complaints and other problems.

84. Tax refunds

To find whether someone is scamming the system by setting up dummy corporations to get bogus property tax refunds. The Washington Post analyzed Washington, D.C., tax refunds in 2007 to find that nearly $32 million had been refunded illegally to government employees and their friends, including to a fictitious company they established called “Bilkemor LLC.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111302394.html?referrer%3Demailarticle&sub=AR). Check with the Pima County Assessor’s Office (http://www.asr.pima.gov/) for assessment appeals, and the treasurer’s office (http://www.to.pima.gov/) for refunds.

85. Taxi inspections

To assess the safety of taxis. The Arizona Department of Weights and Measures (http://azdwm.gov) inspects taxis. See an example of the data at http://www.azcentral.com/news/datacenter/taxis.html.

86. Telephone records

Telephone records of public employees on their work phones, including cell phone records, can identify corruption and questionable connections by listing who the employee talked to along with the time and date. In some states, such as Texas, courts are ruling that messages regarding work topics of public officials are open, even when sent on personal cell phones and Blackberry devices.

87. Traffic accident reports

To find out dangerous intersections and stretches of roads. Can be difficult to get accident reports in Arizona if they are required to be filled out by a city or town (A.R.S. 28-671), but are still available. For example, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office provides its accident reports online, searchable by name of driver, date of accident or other search terms (http://pimacsdaz.policereports.us/). The only hitch is it costs $5 per report. Also, you can analyze the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System data for every fatal accident in the nation going back to 1975 (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx).

88. Train wreck data

To identify the most dangerous train-road intersection in the community and other trends. The Federal Railroad Administration provides train wreck data back to 1975 online for downloading and analysis (http://www.safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/Downloads). Click on “Accident data on demand” then choose “Highway Rail Accidents.” Choose a year, your state and a format (Excel).

89. Tribal records

American Indian tribes are considered sovereign nations and not agencies subject to FOIA or state public records laws. Even tribal gaming records held by state agencies might not be considered public, according to an Arizona state Supreme Court ruling (although in Washington state they are public if held by a state agency, according to its supreme court). If a federal agency holds tribal documents those should be public if you request them from the federal agency that has them (as per U.S. Supreme Court case Dept. of Interior v. Klamath). For more information about access to tribal information, see the Reporter’s Guide to American Indian Law by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (http://www.rcfp.org/americanindian/index.html).

90. Truck accidents

To identify trouble spots in the community where semi-trucks tend to crash and burn (particularly on interstate highways). The U.S. Department of Transportation collects accident reports involving commercial trucks over 10,000 pounds. The agency now keeps secret hazardous waste information, citing national security reasons, so we don’t know what stuff is traveling on our freeways or how dangerous it is if the trucks crash. Check with Arizona Department of Transportation for information. Can also get federal data from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

91. Unclaimed property

To see what property and funds are owed to citizens by the government (and has gone unclaimed). Request records from the state Department of Revenue. You can also search for yourself or friends at http://www.azunclaimed.gov.

92. Uniform Commercial Code

To find what loans someone has for property, yachts, etc. Can search by debtor name at  http://www.azsos.gov/scripts/ucc_search.dll

93. University records

Universities collect tons of records about students, majors, staffing and research, including professor course evaluations. Student educational records are secret (FERPA), but operational records and statistical information about students is public. To get a sense of the information that is available, see the Office of Institutional Research and Planning Support (http://oire.arizona.edu/) and the Information Warehouse Office (http://www.iwo.arizona.edu/).

94. Use of force

Look at how police use – or overuse – force during arrests. Each time an officer uses a choke hold, gun, taser, police dog, baton or other use of force a form is filled out. Get them from the police department.

95. Utility bills

Personal use of electricity, water and other utilities generally isn’t public, even though it might be of public interest to know the big users of public water.

96. Victims

To make sure victims are being treated well by authorities. However, in 2007 the Arizona Legislature passed a law allowing victims to have their address and other contact information made secret so now all that is public is a name, which can also make it confusing to the public when reporting that “John Smith” was the victim of a carjacking.

97. Voter registration

To see whether people, particularly candidates, have voted or lived in a community. Also to prevent voter fraud (can check to see if dead people are voting). Voter registration records include name, address, year of birth, party affiliation, and whether a person voted in previous election (but not how they voted). Some people can ask a judge to make their information secret if there is good cause (A.R.S. 16-153). Pima County Recorder’s Office: http://www.recorder.pima.gov. Maricopa County Recorder’s Office: http://recorder.maricopa.gov.

98. Weather

To examine trends in climate change in the community and compare weather conditions in one neighborhood to another (weather can vary among different parts of town because of elevation, topography and pavement effects). The National Climatic Data Center provides tons of data summarizing temperatures, rain, wind and other conditions for each individual monitoring station going back more than 100 years. The agency also has a database of storms, including tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, flash floods and drought. See http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html.

99. Worker safety

To identify dangerous workplaces and trends in workplace accidents. State and federal agencies track injuries at companies. Look at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration records at http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/index.html.

100. Zoning

To analyze growth planning and find who is benefiting by development. Find out how land is zoned and what development is possible. Also look at comprehensive plans, which map out the general future of a community. Go to the city planning and development department to find zoning maps, comprehensive plans, and development plans. Some of the information is available online in Tucson, such as zoning maps at http://www.tucsonaz.gov/planning/maps/zoning/zonemaps.htm#TopOfPage and development permits at http://www.tucsonaz.gov/webapp/DevSvcsWebApp/addrs/devactionsrch.html