How we did this story

On Jan. 12, reporters and other employees from 30 newspapers launched Florida's first statewide public records audit.

The idea was for reporters to shed their titles and discover how regular citizens asking for public records were treated.

The audit was organized by the Florida First Amendment Foundation, the Herald-Tribune> and the Florida Press Association.

Those organizations chose the agencies and records to audit and enlisted the help of newspapers across the state. They also created the protocol that audit volunteers were asked to follow.

The Herald-Tribune was responsible for analyzing the results of the audit. It included 62 of Florida's 67 counties and 234 of the 268 local agencies targeted. Volunteers in Baker, Citrus, Escambia, Madison and Putnam counties were unable to audit the 20 agencies in their communities in the time allowed. Of the remaining 14 agencies omitted from the audit: 11 were thrown out because the volunteer failed to follow the audit protocol; two were county administrators who said they had no written correspondence; and one was an agency that does not have an administrator to audit.

Most volunteers conducted audits from Jan. 12 to Jan. 16. Pinellas County was audited on Jan. 28. Volunteers requested the same documents from the same agencies in each county.

The documents, all public records under Florida Statute 119, were:

School districts -- The superintendent's latest cell phone bill. If the superintendent did not have a district-issued phone, the volunteer asked for the district's phone bill.

Municipalities -- The most recent job review for the city manager or other top administrator in each county seat. If there was no evaluation, the volunteer asked for the personnel file.

Sheriff's offices -- A log of calls made to the dispatch center over the previous 48 hours. When inspection of the log was allowed, the volunteer then asked for a copy of a specific incident.

County government -- E-mails or written correspondence between the county administrator and county commissioners over the previous week. If none existed for that time period, the most recent were requested. For this request, volunteers called in advance to give officials time to compile the records.

The newspapers also requested documents from a sample of state agencies:

E-mails between Gov. Jeb Bush and his chief of staff from the past month.

Education Commissioner Jim Horne's travel expenses from his most recent trip.

The most recent cell phone bill for Jerry Reiger, secretary of the Department of Children & Families.

Inspection reports from the Hazardous Materials unit of the Department of Transportation.

Citations from the Department of Environmental Protection.

A contract for flu vaccines from the Department of Health.

The protocol called for volunteers to pose as "regular citizens" with only a limited knowledge of Florida's public records law. They were instructed to be polite. To ensure the integrity of the results, volunteers were told that the audit must remain a secret.

State law does not require a person asking for public records to provide a name, a reason for the request, identification or a written request. To test the anonymity protected in the statute, volunteers responded to questions that could reveal their identity or intent by asking, "Is that information necessary for you to fulfill my request?"

If an official said a name was required, the volunteer was allowed to answer. When a reason was required, volunteers responded by saying they were simply interested in the information.

If officials insisted on a more detailed reason, tried to force the volunteer to provide identification, demanded to know who the volunteer represented or said a written request was required, the volunteer was instructed to politely refuse and leave. Those agencies were considered noncompliant.

Audit organizers determined that an hour was a reasonable amount of time to wait for access to the records.

If volunteers left an office with confirmation that the records would be provided at a later date, it was considered compliance. If an hour passed without an assurance that the request would be fulfilled, the visit was counted as non-compliance. Reporters were told not to lie about their occupation if asked.

Participating newspapers were: Bradenton Herald, Chiefland Citizen, The Daily Commercial (Leesburg), Daytona Beach News-Journal, News-Leader (Fernandina Beach), The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Florida Today (Melbourne), Fort Pierce Tribune, The Gainesville Sun, Herald-Advocate (Wauchula), Hernando Today, Highlands Today, Key West Citizen, Lake City Reporter, The Ledger (Lakeland), Ocala Star-Banner, Okeechobee News, The Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Pasco News, Press Journal (Vero Beach), Herald-Tribune, The Seminole Herald, The St. Augustine Record, St. Petersburg Times, The Stuart News, Sumter County Times, Tallahassee Democrat, The Tampa Tribune and Wakulla News.