How to Request Police Body Camera Footage in Texas (2026 Guide)

The tape is the tape.

It does not care who is lying. It does not need a press secretary. It is the closest thing to proof of what happened, and it sits on a server until somebody asks for it the right way.

Most people ask the wrong way.

They call the department. They ask the officer. They mail half a letter to the wrong address. Then they get nothing and figure the system won.

This is the right way. Step by step. With the actual Texas law linked, so you can check every word I say.

One disclosure before I start. I have active cases in Texas. I am not discussing them here. This is about the statute, and about you getting the tape.

Updated September 23, 2026. I am not a lawyer. This is the law, linked, in plain English.

The law moved in 2025. Most guides did not.

For years, the Texas rules for requesting bodycam footage sat in the Occupations Code, Section 1701.661. Search it today and most of what you find still cites that section.

It is gone.

The Legislature repealed it effective January 1, 2025, through House Bill 4504, and re-enacted the same rules, nearly word for word, in the Code of Criminal Procedure:

• Article 2B.0112: what your request must include, and what can be released.
• Article 2B.0113: the longer deadlines for bodycam.
• Article 2B.0114: what counts as a voluminous request.

Cite the new articles. It tells the records clerk you know exactly what you are asking for.

Step 1. Put these three things in writing

Article 2B.0112(a) says anyone who submits a written request for bodycam footage must include:

1. The date and approximate time of the recording.
2. The specific location where the recording happened.
3. The name of one or more people known to be a subject of the recording.

That is the whole list. Nail all three.

• Time. Give a window, not a guess. "Between 9:40 p.m. and 10:15 p.m." beats "that night."
• Location. Street address, intersection, parking lot, mile marker. Specific.
• Names. You do not need the officer's name. If you were the one stopped, name yourself. If it was someone else, name them.

Miss one and it is not fatal. Subsection (b) says a request missing information does not stop you from asking again for the same recording. But a complete request gives them no excuse.

Step 2. Know when the tape is actually public

This is the part nobody explains.

Under Article 2B.0112(c) and (d), bodycam footage falls under the Public Information Act's general right of access when it is or could be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution. Footage outside that line is not covered by that general right, though the agency is still allowed to release it after redacting what the law makes confidential.

Two more rules can stop a release cold:

• Private spaces and fine-only stops. Under subsection (f), the agency cannot release any part of a recording made in a private space, or a recording of a fine-only misdemeanor that did not end in an arrest, without written authorization from the person who is the subject of that part of the recording.
• Recordings nobody required. Under subsection (h), a recording is confidential if it was not required by law or agency policy and does not relate to a law enforcement purpose.

Step 3. Send it to the right place

Under Government Code Section 552.234, a written request can go by U.S. mail, email, hand delivery, or another method the agency has approved, like its website portal.

Here is the trap.

An agency can designate one mailing address and one email address for public information requests. If it posts those addresses on its website or its required public notice sign, it does not have to respond to a request sent anywhere else, other than hand delivery or a method it approved.

So do not email the chief. Do not message the department's Facebook page. Find the designated address. Agencies have to report those addresses to the Attorney General by October 1 every year, and the law requires the Attorney General to keep a public database of them. When in doubt, call the records office and ask where public information requests go.

Step 4. Start the clock and write it down

On a normal public information request, an agency that wants to withhold something has 10 business days to ask the Attorney General for a ruling. Bodycam gets more time.

If the agency wants to withhold, it must	Standard request	Bodycam request
Ask the Attorney General for a ruling	10 business days	20 business days
Tell you in writing it asked, with a copy of its letter	10 business days	20 business days
Send the AG its reasons, your request and the records	15 business days	25 business days
Send you a copy of its written reasons	15 business days	25 business days

Standard deadlines come from Government Code Section 552.301. The bodycam deadlines come from Article 2B.0113.

Business days an agency gets before it must act

Standard requestBodycam request

Source: Tex. Gov't Code 552.301 and Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2B.0113 ↗

Mailing it? Under Section 552.301(a-1), if the agency cannot establish when your mailed request actually arrived, it counts as received on the third business day after the postmark. That is why email or hand delivery, with a copy you keep, beats the mailbox.

Step 5. If they blow the deadline, the law flips

Read this one twice.

Under Government Code Section 552.302, if an agency does not ask the Attorney General for a decision as required and give you the required notices, the information is presumed public and must be released unless there is a compelling reason to withhold it.

For bodycam, "as required" means inside the 20 and 25 business day windows above.

That is why you write down the day you sent it. The calendar is evidence.

Step 6. What it costs

The Attorney General's fee rule for bodycam copies, 1 Tex. Admin. Code Section 70.13, sets the charge at:

• $10 per recording responsive to your request, plus
• $1 per full minute of video or audio footage, if the same footage has not already been obtained by another member of the public.

What you ask for	How the rule adds it up	Charge
One camera, 10 minutes	$10 plus 10 minutes at $1	$20
One camera, 30 minutes	$10 plus 30 minutes at $1	$40
Two cameras, 30 minutes each	$20 plus 60 minutes at $1	$80

Three more things the rule says:

• The agency can give it to you free or at a reduced charge if it decides that is in the public interest. So ask for a waiver, in writing, and say why the public should see it.
• If you are not allowed to get a copy at all, the agency cannot charge you under this rule.
• The rule was adopted in 2016 and still cites the old statute number. The dollar amounts above are what the published rule says today.

Step 7. Why they can still say no, and what pushes back

The answer you will hear most comes from the law enforcement exception, Government Code Section 552.108:

• (a)(1) Release would interfere with detecting, investigating or prosecuting a crime. This is the "open investigation" answer.
• (a)(2) The information relates to an investigation that did not end in conviction or deferred adjudication.

Read (a)(2) again. If your charge was dismissed, the agency can point to the dismissal as a reason to keep the tape.

Two things push back:

• Basic information has to come out. Section 552.108(c) says the exception does not cover basic information about an arrested person, an arrest or a crime. The agency must release that promptly, even while it asks the Attorney General about the rest, unless another part of the Act lets it withhold that basic information.
• The (c-1) exceptions. The (a)(2) exception does not apply if a person described or depicted in the record, other than a peace officer, is deceased or incapacitated. It also does not apply if every person described or depicted, other than someone deceased or incapacitated, consents to release.

My read of that consent route, labeled as mine: the text says "each person," and unlike the first clause it does not carve out peace officers. That can mean the officers on the tape. It is a high bar. It is still in the statute, and you should know it exists.

Step 8. Keep it narrow so it does not become "voluminous"

Article 2B.0114 treats a bodycam request as voluminous if it:

• covers more than five separate incidents,
• is one of more than five bodycam requests from the same person in 24 hours, or
• adds up, across one person's requests in 24 hours, to more than five hours of footage.

A voluminous request gives the officer for public information until the 20th business day to produce it and still count as prompt.

Want it on the normal clock? One incident. A tight time window. The cameras that matter.

Before you hit send

Run this list. Every line.

• Date and an approximate time window
• The specific location
• The name of at least one person on the recording
• A citation to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 2B.0112 and Government Code Chapter 552
• A request for the complete footage with audio, in its native format with metadata
• A request that they preserve all related footage, dispatch records and 911 audio
• A request for a fee waiver in the public interest, and an itemized estimate before any charge
• Your signed written authorization, if it is you on a fine-only stop
• The agency's designated public information address
• The date you sent it, with 20 business days counted out on your calendar

The generator builds the base letter in seconds. For a bodycam request, make two edits before you send it: put the approximate time right next to the date, and hold them to the Article 2B.0113 bodycam windows of 20 and 25 business days instead of the general 10 day line.

Bodycam questions people ask me

How long does a Texas agency have to answer a bodycam request?

If it wants to withhold the footage, it has 20 business days to ask the Attorney General for a ruling and notify you, and 25 business days to send the Attorney General its reasons and copy you. If it plans to release, the Public Information Act requires prompt production, and a request that counts as voluminous under Article 2B.0114 gets until the 20th business day.

Do I need the officer's name?

No. You need the name of one or more people known to be a subject of the recording. That can be you.

Can I get the bodycam from my own traffic stop?

If it was a fine-only misdemeanor that did not end in an arrest, the agency cannot release it without written authorization from the person recorded. If that person is you, sign one and send it with the request.

They said it is part of an open investigation. Is that the end?

No. That is Section 552.108(a)(1). If they want to withhold, they still have to ask the Attorney General inside the bodycam deadlines, and basic information about the arrest or crime still has to be released.

My case was dismissed. Can they still refuse?

They can try, under Section 552.108(a)(2), which covers investigations that did not end in a conviction or deferred adjudication. Read subsection (c-1) for the situations where that exception does not apply.

How much will it cost?

Under the Attorney General's rule, $10 per recording plus $1 per full minute of footage, unless the agency waives or reduces the charge in the public interest.

What about jail video or dashcam?

The Chapter 2B rules above are written for body worn camera recordings. Dashcam video and jail surveillance video are requested under the regular Public Information Act, so the regular 10 and 15 business day deadlines apply, and exceptions like Section 552.108 can still come up. The records request generator has boxes for dashcam, use of force reports and grievances too.

Fighting a jail over records? Keep every grievance and every answer. I have been publishing mine.

What if they miss the deadline?

Under Section 552.302, if the agency fails to request an Attorney General decision and give you the required notices on time, the information is presumed public and must be released unless there is a compelling reason to withhold it.

The bottom line

I am not asking anyone to take my word for anything.

I am asking for the tape.

You should too.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name.

Read the law. Send the request. Keep your copy.

Send receipts. Send evidence. Put eyes on the record.

Sources

• Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2B.0112, Release of Information Recorded by Body Worn Camera
• Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2B.0113, Request for Attorney General Decision
• Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2B.0114, Voluminous Requests
• Tex. Occ. Code 1701.661 (2023), repealed effective January 1, 2025
• Tex. Gov't Code 552.108, Law Enforcement Exception
• Tex. Gov't Code 552.234, Method of Making a Written Request
• Tex. Gov't Code 552.301, Request for Attorney General Decision
• Tex. Gov't Code 552.302, Presumption That Information Is Public
• 1 Tex. Admin. Code 70.13, Fee for a Copy of a Body Worn Camera Recording
• Texas Attorney General: How to Request Public Information
• Free records and bodycam request generator