Are Pinellas County Records Public?

Yes, as long as the record is legally restricted, Pinellas County Records are public records, so they are accessible under Florida law. Public records are accessible to the public in Florida and other states of the United States to ensure accountability and transparency of government processes and other public offices.

The Florida Public Records Act or Sunshine law (Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes) gives the public the right to inspect and copy public records of various formats as long as it was created or filed by a public agency during their official business. Under the Public Records Act, Pinellas County's public agencies allow inspection and copying of their public records as long as the record has not been exempt from disclosure. Some of these records include Pinellas county court records, criminal records, vital records, property records and related documents.

What is Exempted Under the Florida Public Records Act?

To protect individuals' privacy, safety, and the integrity of public offices and procedures, certain public records are restricted from public disclosure. These exemptions are governed by Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes and aim to enforce transparency of government offices without compromising sensitive information. Under this law, some records that are exempt from public disclosure include the following:

• Personal information (social security numbers, passwords, bank details, medical records
• Victim Information of some crimes (assault)
• Information on minors
• Witness information or information on people under protective custody
• Proprietary business information
• Attorney-client records
• Security-related information of critical public infrastructure
• Student records (under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

If the record an individual requests is exempted from public disclosure and they want to challenge this, they can first seek justification from the record custodian and if not satisfied, they can take the issue to court for judicial review.

Pinellas County Public Records Search

Individuals can search for public records online using various tools provided by record custodians in Pinellas County. Some resources for finding public records include the following:

• Public Records Request Center: Individuals can submit a public records request using this platform. They are, however, required to register on the platform and sign in to keep track of their record request.s
• Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller website: These resources provide access to public records, including court records, deeds, and mortgages. On this website, record requesters can either conduct a public search or register as users for more detailed results.
• Pinellas County Appraiser: Individuals can use this online resource to find property-related records in the county. The Appraiser's Office can be visited in person for a more exhaustive search.
• Pinellas County Sheriff's incident reports Office: They are the best resource for finding local criminal records, including arrest records and incident reports. It is important to note that public records from this custodian may have additional procedures and eligibility criteria to access.

To ensure that their public record search is as effective as possible every time, individuals should ensure that the details of their record search (name, date, case numbers) are as exact as possible, and that the record they are requesting does not have restricted access. For assistance in retrieving a record, the requester can always visit the office of the record custodian.

Find Public Records For Free in Pinellas County

While an individual has legal authority to search for public records from the official government record custodian, Chapter 119.07 of the Florida Statutes allows these agencies to charge fees for completing the search and copying the record. To avoid paying these fees and having their search limited by proximity to the government agency, individuals can find public records online using third-party websites.

Third-party websites are websites not owned by or affiliated with any government agency that aggregate different types of public records from different counties and states in the United States and compile them into a single searchable resource. Using basic information like the names of parties involved in the case, a person can retrieve a public record for any county for free from these websites. Their advantage is that they improve record accessibility and reduce record request time, as most records searched for are made available instantly. The official record custodian does not own these websites. So information from them may vary in completeness and accuracy when compared to information from the official source.

How to Remove Information From Public Records Free

As public records and their custodians vary, so does the process of accessing a record from a record custodian. For an individual to remove their information or redact it from unauthorised public access, they need to submit an appeal to the custodian holding the record, state their grounds for the record to be removed or redacted, and pay any applicable fees to complete the process. Popular reasons why an individual may want to remove their information from public records include expungement, personal information being included in the record, or inaccuracies in a public record.

Who Can Access Pinellas County Public Records in Florida?

The Florida Statutes authorize agencies to grant access to public records to anyone requesting it as long as the record is not confidential or has not been legally exempted. These requesters can include residents and non-residents of Pinellas County. Per the law, a person is not required to have or state a reason for wanting to access public records. Records can be requested from the custodian by phone, email, fax, or in person.

To complete a record request, individuals must pay the associated administrative staff costs and copying costs incurred to complete their request. While there is no specific response time for the record custodians to complete the record request, according to the law, they are expected to make every reasonable effort to complete the request as long as it exists. As long as a record has not been restricted, it is eligible for access as long as the record custodian has not put specific accessibility restrictions on it. Individuals should confirm that they are eligible to access a particular record from the appropriate record custodian before making a record request to prevent their request from being denied.

What Happens if I Am Refused a Public Records Request?

Public record requests are not always honored by the government agency holding the record. This may be due to a variety of reasons, including the following:

• It is a burdensome public request (a request with no reasonable limitation)
• The requester has a history of FOIA abuse (abusing the Public Records Act)
• The information is exempt from public laws under state and Florida laws
• The requester’s verification documents were incomplete or missing
• The request was not made to the appropriate agency.

Florida has no duration within which public agencies are required to respond to a record request, but in the case of an exemption, the agency must respond to the request with the basis for the denial. If a person reviews their denial and finds that the reason for refusal is not justified, they can start a court process to enforce compliance with the public records law. The court will order the release of the record if the record of the basis for denial is not established. The Florida State Attorney General's Office also has a Mediation Program for individuals who received a public records request denial (Fla. Stat. § 16.60.).