Last updated: May 2026
18.3% of all records requests processed by the Price County Sheriff’s Office come from commercial data brokers. Not lawyers. Not insurance companies. Not citizens. Corporations that resell your county’s incident reports for profit. LexisNexis alone filed 136 requests in five years. County staff spend 10 to 20 minutes on each one. And the county charges less than it costs to produce them.
The Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total records requests (2020-2024) | 882 |
| LexisNexis requests | 136 (15.4%) |
| Metropolitan Reporting Bureau requests | 25 (2.8%) |
| Combined commercial data broker requests | 161 (18.3%) |
| Sheriff’s staff time consumed by data brokers | 41.2 hours |
18.3% of all records request volume comes from two corporations whose business model depends on reselling public records. LexisNexis, owned by RELX (one of the world’s largest data and analytics companies (RELX plc)), sends a form letter via USPS. A clerk pulls the file. Makes the copy. Stuffs the envelope. Mails it back. LexisNexis then adds that report to its commercial database and sells access to lawyers, insurance companies, and background check services nationwide.
2020: The Year Nobody Got Billed
Here’s the part that should raise eyebrows. In 2020, the Sheriff’s Office processed 28 LexisNexis requests and issued zero invoices. Zero. No record of any fee being collected from anyone , not from LexisNexis, not from Metropolitan Reporting, not from anyone.
Starting in 2021, invoices suddenly appeared. 36 LexisNexis requests, 36 invoices. What changed? Who authorized fee collection to start? And where did 2020’s records revenue go , if it was collected at all?
| Year | LexisNexis Requests | Invoices Issued |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 28 | 0 |
| 2021 | 36 | 36 |
| 2022 | 28 | 28 |
| 2023 | 25 | 25 |
| 2024 | 19 | 17 |
The 2020 gap matters because LexisNexis wasn’t the only requester that year. 152 total requests were processed with no invoices. That’s potentially thousands of dollars in uncollected fees during a year when every county dollar counted.
The Cost to Taxpayers
Wisconsin’s public records law allows counties to charge “the actual, necessary, and reasonable cost” of reproducing records. Typical photocopy fees run $0.15 to $0.25 per page, with some counties charging a search fee on top. At $15 per request , a conservative estimate for what Price County charges . LexisNexis generated roughly $1,590 in revenue over five years.
But the cost to produce those records was higher. At $25 per hour for clerk time (a low estimate that excludes benefits, overhead, equipment, and supervision), the 41.2 hours spent on data broker requests cost the county $1,030 in labor alone. Add photocopying supplies, postage, and the hidden cost of pulling a clerk off other duties, and the county likely lost money on every single LexisNexis request.
Put another way: Price County taxpayers subsidize an $87 billion corporation’s data harvesting operation to the tune of hundreds of dollars per year.
The Double-Dip: 47 Cases Requested Twice
Here’s where it gets worse. LexisNexis requested records for 47 cases that were also requested by someone with a direct interest , the person involved, their lawyer, or their insurance company. That’s 37% of LexisNexis’s unique case requests.
What this means: a citizen or their lawyer contacts the Sheriff’s Office and pays for an incident report. Then LexisNexis requests the same report for $15 and adds it to their database. Your record is now a product. LexisNexis sells it to employers, data aggregators, and lawyers fishing for clients.
The county processed the same record twice. Staff spent time on it twice. A private corporation profits from records that citizens already paid for once.
Media vs. Data Brokers: 7-to-1
Over five years, national and regional media outlets filed 20 records requests with the Price County Sheriff’s Office:
- ProPublica (2 requests in 2022-2023): 911 response records and CAD data
- ACLU Wisconsin (3 requests in 2022-2023): ICE policies, voting policies, and citizen complaints
- The Badger Project (1 request in 2023): Booking photo
- Astro Project / USA Today (2 requests in 2023): Officer discipline records
- Wisconsin Watch (1 request in 2022): Voting information
- WSAW News (2 requests in 2020, 2024): Photos
- Price County Review (5 requests across multiple years): Incident reports, photos, and documents
LexisNexis filed 136 requests in the same period , nearly seven times the entire national press corps combined. The contrast is stark: journalists requesting records in the public interest are outnumbered 7-to-1 by a corporation requesting records for resale.
Citizens Get Denied. Corporations Don’t.
Our records analysis found a pattern worth watching. In February 2023, Brittany Volkman requested records related to a local case involving G. Pittman and K. Reinke. She was denied via email both times. That same year, LexisNexis had 25 requests fulfilled without a single denial.
We’re not suggesting the denials were improper , the District Attorney’s office may have had valid legal reasons. But the pattern is clear: individual citizens face more scrutiny and more denials than commercial data brokers who generate steady, predictable revenue. When a system treats corporate bulk requests as routine and individual requests as suspicious, something’s off.
What Other Counties Do
Wisconsin counties aren’t required to give away records at cost. The law allows charging for search time, reproduction costs, and even mailing expenses. Some counties have figured this out:
- Dane County charges $0.25 per page plus a $15 search fee for records that take longer than 30 minutes to locate
- Milwaukee County charges actual labor costs for extensive searches
- Several rural counties have adopted tiered fee structures that charge commercial requesters more than individuals
Wisconsin law already requires it. Under § 19.35(3)(f), authorities must impose higher fees for requests made for commercial purposes, including indirect costs, fringe benefits, and overhead — not just photocopying. Price County isn’t just choosing not to charge more; it’s failing to follow a statutory mandate that treats corporate data mining differently from citizen transparency.
What We’re Asking
We’ve filed a records request with the Price County Sheriff’s Office and County Clerk asking for:
- The current fee schedule for public records requests
- Total revenue collected from records request fees (2020-2024)
- Total staff hours dedicated to processing records requests (2020-2024)
- Any policies or guidelines regarding bulk commercial requests
- Whether the county has ever denied or placed conditions on a commercial data broker’s request
We’ll report what we find.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t just about LexisNexis. It’s about who gets access to your records and who profits from them. When a corporation can request your incident report for $15 and sell it to an employer running a background check, you’ve lost control of your own information. When the county spends more producing that record than it charges, you’re paying for the privilege.
Price County has 14,100 residents. In a community this small, the records the Sheriff’s Office keeps are intimate , they involve neighbors, relatives, coworkers. They shouldn’t be bulk-harvested by a London-based data conglomerate without the people in those records having any say in the matter.
Wisconsin’s open records law exists to ensure government transparency. It was not designed to subsidize corporate data mining. Under § 19.35(3)(f), the law already requires higher fees for commercial requesters — Price County just isn’t enforcing it. It’s time for the county to follow the law and charge commercial data brokers what the statute demands.
Data source: Price County Sheriff’s Office Records Request Tracking Logs (2020-2024), obtained via public records request. LexisNexis is a registered trademark of RELX Inc. Metropolitan Reporting Bureau is a commercial records retrieval service.
Stay updated on Price County news and investigations at Price County Fun. For local dining and community gathering in Prentice, visit Ripsaw Saloon.
Sources
- Price County Sheriff’s Office Records Request Tracking Logs (2020–2024), obtained via public records request
- Price County Sheriff’s Office fee schedule and invoice records (2020–2024)
- Wisconsin Statute 19.34 and 19.35 (Public Records Law — fees and cost recovery)
- Dane County fee schedule for public records requests
- Milwaukee County fee schedule for public records requests
- RELX plc, Annual Report 2025 (LexisNexis parent company valuation)
- Price County Fun public records request for current fee schedules, revenue collected, and commercial requester policies (response pending)
See also: our complete Price County fishing guide, our guide to free camping in Wisconsin, what makes Price County communities special, our guide to Price County public records and Who Is Price County’s New Coroner? What Amy Casey’s Appointment Means
See also: our guide to every town in Price County
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What percentage of Price County records requests come from LexisNexis?
A: According to Sheriff’s Office records, approximately 18% of all public records requests—roughly one in five—are submitted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. This makes LexisNexis the single largest requester of Price County public records.
Q: What types of records does LexisNexis request from Price County?
A: LexisNexis primarily requests incident reports, arrest records, and call-for-service logs. These records feed into commercial databases that LexisNexis sells to insurance companies, employers, and background check services.
Q: Does the Sheriff’s Office charge fees for commercial records requests?
A: Wisconsin open records law allows agencies to charge for the actual cost of locating and copying records. However, the Sheriff’s Office has discretion over fee structures. The high volume of commercial requests raises questions about whether taxpayers are subsidizing data broker access to public records.
Q: How can I submit a public records request to Price County?
A: Records requests can be submitted in writing to the Price County Sheriff’s Office at 164 Cherry Street, Phillips, WI 54555. You can also contact the records division by phone at (715) 339-3011. Wisconsin law requires a response within a reasonable time frame.
Q: What are data brokers doing with Price County records?
A: Companies like LexisNexis aggregate public records from thousands of jurisdictions into searchable databases. These databases are then sold to insurance companies for risk assessment, employers for background checks, and law enforcement agencies for investigative tools, often at prices far exceeding what the originating counties charge for the same records.