Audio (telephone or radio) recordings or printed records may be obtained from the Public Safety Communications' Support Services division. When making a request, please be as specific as possible by including the case number (if available), names, dates, times, locations, etc.
Please do not email or fax requests. If you would like to make a request online, submit this form.
Please note, The City of Madison Police Department is the records custodian of their CAD record (Computer Aided Dispatch), that request can be made at: pdrecords@cityofmadison.com
Please drop off or mail your completed request form to:
Dane County Public Safety Communications
Records Custodian
City-County Building, Room 109
210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Madison, WI 53703
Dane County Public Safety Communications will no longer provide unredacted reports and supplements due to the fact that they may contain personally identifiable information of the parties. This is due to a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Senne v. Vill. of Palatine, 695 F.3d 597, (7th Cir. 2012 en banc, cert. pet. filed 11/5/2012). The Senne decision held that under the provisions of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), personally identifiable information derived from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is prohibited from disclosure to the public unless a DPPA exception applies. The exceptions can be found at 18 U.S.C. § 2721(b).
If you represent a law firm, an insurance company, or are a private investigative agency or licensed security service and are requesting records on behalf of a client, you are required to submit a completed DPPA Permissible Use Form with your records request for consideration by the Records Custodian.
These forms can be downloaded below:
Completed records requests will be mailed to the requestor, or can be picked up in person at the department's office in the City-County Building. Audio files will be emailed or burnt to a CD. We do not prepare transcripts of the audio recordings.
Business hours are 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
Requests will be fulfilled as soon as possible and without delay based on the order in which they were received. Audio records are normally available for 120 days from the date of the incident. Requesting an audio record does not preserve the information longer.
Note: Under Wisconsin law, a request for access to a public record may not be refused because the person making the request is unwilling to be identified.
Per Wisconsin State statute 19.53(3)(a), to cover the cost of staff time and materials in preparing records request responses, the following fees apply:
| Record Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| CAD or Other Printed Records | $0.25 per single-sided page |
| Standard Audio Recording (Telephone or Radio) | $15.00 each |
| Records Stored at Other Locations | Cost will be the actual cost associated with retrieval and processing, if the cost exceeds $50.00 |
| Complex Records | Cost will be the actual cost associated with retrieval and processing, if the cost exceeds $50.00 |
Please Note: Fees should be paid by check, made out to Dane County Public Safety Communications.
Requests in Excess of $5.00 may require prepayment.
A notice of the exact fee amount will be provided upon request.
If you have a question or comment regarding record requests, please call (608) 283-2903.
