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The influx of phones and other digital devices creates complexity in records retention, but there are solutions.įirst, agencies need to have policies and procedures in place that cover what type of business conduct (if any) is appropriate for text messaging on employee work and personal cellphones, and lay out the rules for the capture and retention of text messages. Text messages aren’t governed like email or even social media records, leaving organizations vulnerable to significant risks when facing an open records request, e-discovery event, or litigation.īest practices for text message retention

However, many organizations aren’t paying attention. With the public’s right to a transparent government, all records/transcripts that a public employee prepares, owns, uses or retains in the course of their job may be considered a public record.Īs a result, an official’s text messages can be requested as part of an investigation, e-discovery event or litigation. The case went to the Supreme Court, where the prosecutor was ordered to produce work-related text message content, hand it over to the county, so it could be sent to the Pierce County Sheriff detective. The detective sued the county, arguing that the records related to the prosecutor’s work should be made public. But the logs did not include the contents of the messages, even though the prosecutor acknowledged some were work-related. The prosecutor handed over a call and text message log to the county that contained dates and times of messages and associated phone numbers. The detective had sued the county, claiming the prosecutor banned her from his office when she criticized him and then backed his opponent, and that he sent and received text messages in his official capacity to “take actions retaliating against her and other official misconduct.” The case stems from a Pierce County Sheriff detective’s request for a prosecutor’s call and text records. Most recently, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a public employee’s work-related text messages sent and received on a private cell phone are public records. If texts are related to government business, it doesn’t matter whether an employee uses a personal or government-issued cell phone. More courts are ruling that text messages must be preserved and able to be produced as well. For public sector organizations, email isn’t the only type of electronic communications record that needs to be archived.