Paper / Video Discovery

Video Discovery Request Instructions

1. To request Video Discovery, click on the link below for the arresting agency. Fill out the form and choose the types of discovery you are requesting. 
2. It is highly recommended that you first order the paper discovery and read through that before requesting video discovery. That will tell you what type of discovery is available for your case. Please do not just check every box as this will delay you receiving your requested materials. 
3. Emails regarding video discovery will come from [email protected] or [email protected].

Please download and save a copy of this discovery packet to your computer. The link will de-activate in 30 days.  Once this link expires, any request to resend discovery will not be expedited.

Video Discovery Request Process

The Linn County Attorney's Office does not have the video discovery. That information is maintained by the arresting agency. 

When the form is submitted each agency gets notified of the materials that are needed from their agency. For example, someone in Mount Vernon spots a vehicle with someone driving erratically and they are concerned that the driver may be impaired. They call 911 to report what they saw. An officer gets dispatched. He/She/They find the vehicle and driver and after investigating they have suspicion that the driver us under the influence. The driver is arrested and taken to the Linn County Jail for further testing. In this example when you are filing for Video Discovery you would choose the Mt. Vernon l Lisbon Police Department link below, since they were the arresting agency. You would fill out the form and for requested material you could check the box for the 911 Call (since we know a 911 call was made). You would probably also request the car and body cam of the officer(s) involved and you would probably request the OWI processing video since the subject was taken to the Linn County Jail for further testing. This example call involves 3 different agencies, the Mt. Vernon/Lisbon Police Department, the Linn County Sheriff's Office since they would be the ones receiving the 911 call, and the Linn County Jail as they are the ones that process the alleged OWI driver.  

In this scenario when you submit the request form a copy of the form gets sent to the MT. Vernon/Lisbon PD requesting the officer(s) car and body cams. Another copy gets sent to the Linn County Sheriff's Department requesting the 911 call from them plus a copy of the form is sent to the Linn County Jail requesting the processing video. This is all done automatically when the request is submitted. This way you do not have to fill out 3 different forms from the 3 different agencies. 

When the Mt. Vernon/Lisbon Police Department has gathered their car and body cam(s) they will send those videos over to the Linn County Attorney's Office. Once each of the three agencies have sent their requested materials to the Linn County Attorney's Office the material is packaged in to 1 file and sent via Evidence.com (unless package size is too large) to the requesting party. Materials are not sent out individually. They are kept until everything requested is received and then sent. So, if you were to request say Photos or Audio recordings for instance the agency/department will also receive a request for material that do not exist. They will spend their time looking for materials that don't exist and may forget to notify the Linn County Attorney's Office that there weren't any photos taken and there aren't any separate audio files. In this case the Linn County Attorney's office will be sitting on the request expecting photos and additional recordings when in fact all available material has been received and could be sent to the requesting party.

Hopefully, this explains the process a little and helps in making the decision on what to request.

We would also like to advise you that some requests take longer to fulfill. For example, if a request for a 911 call is made from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, they have to look at the approximate date and time entered on the request form and manually listen to each and every recording until they find the requested call. If there are multiple calls, they may be intertwined with other non-related calls. This can be a very time consuming process.  Please be aware that if you request 911 calls, it will delay your receipt of the discovery package.