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GlossaryPublic records, privacy, and data quality

Records retention schedule

A records retention schedule sets how long records are kept and their authorized disposition. Learn why it differs from a website's available history.

A records retention schedule sets out how long categories of records must be kept and what happens to them afterward. It identifies the records covered and the conditions for authorized disposition, such as destruction or transfer for permanent preservation. The applicable schedule depends on the organization, record type, and governing rules.

A schedule is more than a number of years

For federal records, the National Archives and Records Administration explains that an approved schedule identifies whether records are temporary or permanent and when they may be destroyed or transferred. Its instructions also use a starting event or cutoff from which the retention or transfer period is measured. NARA scheduling guidance.

State and local records follow their applicable authorities and schedules. A retention period found in a federal example should not be assumed to govern a local dispatch recording or incident report.

Example

Hypothetical: A schedule says a particular administrative record is kept for three years after the matter closes. A record was created in 2021, but the matter closed in 2023.

The stated period begins with closure, not creation. Reading only the record's age would miss the schedule's trigger. This invented example illustrates how instructions are read; it is not an actual retention rule for police, fire, EMS, or court records.

Common confusion

A retention schedule is not an access exemption. A record may be retained while some or all of its contents are protected from disclosure. Conversely, a record's public availability does not establish that it must remain on a website indefinitely.

Online history and institutional retention are also different. A dashboard may display only recent years while the agency keeps older records elsewhere. The disappearance of a public page or row does not, by itself, establish that the original record was destroyed.

“Disposition” has a records-management meaning here. It concerns the eventual handling of records, not the outcome of a service call or court case.

Reading the right schedule

Check the record-series description, applicable agency, approval status, and whether the schedule has been replaced. A title that sounds similar may cover a different kind of record or copy. NARA notes that schedules can be superseded as agencies reschedule records.

For a particular record, the schedule and any other applicable preservation requirements must be considered together. An elapsed period alone should not be treated as authorization to delete material. For interpreting a public report, the main task is to identify the available history and avoid equating a website's display window with the agency's full records holdings.

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