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For Norfolk public records, use the City Clerk for the official municipal-code record and other appropriate Clerk material, and use the Police Records function for police-held records. Preserve the city office behind each source so an administrative record and a law-enforcement record are not collapsed into one search.
Norfolk publishes separate custody clues for administrative and police records
City Clerk / official code
- The City says the official municipal-code record is maintained by the City Clerk’s Office.
- Use the Clerk source when the target is the official city-code record or another Clerk-maintained administrative item.
- Preserve the official-record source rather than relying only on a convenient web display.
Police Records
- Norfolk lists Police Records as a separate department contact.
- Police-held material should be requested or researched through the Police Division’s records function.
- A police source should not be presented as a search of City Clerk records.
A web copy of the municipal code is useful, but Norfolk identifies the Clerk’s version as the official record
Norfolk makes an important verification distinction on its city-code site: the online information is provided for public use, while the official municipal-code record is maintained by the City Clerk’s Office. When exact wording, status or provenance matters, preserve that official-record cue instead of treating the web interface itself as the final custody statement.
The city’s department contacts also separate the City Clerk from Police Records. That organizational detail is useful well beyond phone routing. It shows that a request concerning an administrative city record and a request concerning police-held material begin in different city functions, even though both are records of the same municipality.
Choose a Norfolk record route from the city function
1
Decide whether the target is an official city administrative record or police materialThis first split determines whether the Clerk or Police Records function is the better starting point.2
Use the City Clerk when the official municipal-code record is at issueKeep the official-record status with any citation or copy used in the research.3
Use Police Records for records maintained by the Police DivisionPreserve report or incident identifiers when the police system supplies them.4
Do not merge the two responsesA Clerk result and a Police Records result can relate to the same subject while proving different things about separate city systems.A Norfolk research file should retain the office behind the record
| Source | Best use | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| City Clerk official record | Municipal-code provenance and Clerk-maintained administrative material | Does not show what Police Records maintains |
| Police Records function | Police Division records and report-centered research | Does not establish the official content of Clerk records |
| Public city website display | Convenient discovery and navigation | Should not replace the official custodian when the city identifies one |