After you file your ticket to request a trial (or an early resolution meeting), you are entitled to disclosure — the evidence the prosecutor intends to rely on, most importantly the officer's notes. Send a written disclosure request to the prosecutor's office for the court location on your ticket, quoting your offence number and trial information, and ask for the officer's notes (both sides, typed if handwriting is illegible), any witness statements, and device records for speed-measurement cases. Disclosure is free. If it has not arrived by your court date, ask for an adjournment — repeated failures to disclose can ultimately get the charge stayed or dismissed.
- Once you contest a ticket, you have a constitutional right to disclosure — the evidence the prosecution intends to use, flowing from R. v. Stinchcombe.
- The core item is the officer's notes — request both sides of the notebook page and a typed or legible copy if the handwriting cannot be read.
- For speeding cases, also request the speed-measuring device information — device type, and the officer's testing/calibration notes.
- The request is a simple written letter or form to the prosecutor's office for your court location — it costs nothing.
- Send it as soon as your trial or meeting is confirmed, keep proof you sent it, and follow up — disclosure often takes weeks.
- If disclosure never comes, do not skip court: attend and ask for an adjournment; persistent non-disclosure can justify a stay or dismissal.
The Short Answer
Once you contest a traffic ticket, you are entitled to see the evidence against you. Send a written disclosure request to the prosecutor's office for your court location, quoting your offence number, and ask for the officer's notes (both sides, typed if illegible), any statements, and — for speeding — the speed-measuring device details and testing notes. It is free, it is routine, and it is the foundation of every serious defence. If it never arrives, ask for an adjournment rather than proceeding blind.
What Disclosure Is (and Why It Wins Cases)
Disclosure is the Crown's file: everything the prosecution intends to rely on to prove the charge. The right comes from the Supreme Court's decision in R. v. Stinchcombe and extends to provincial offences prosecutions. For a routine ticket, the file is thin — usually the certificate of offence and the officer's notebook entries — and that is precisely why it matters. Tickets are won and lost on what those notes do and do not say: a missing element of the offence, no note of how the officer identified the driver, no record of testing the radar unit, an estimate with no tracking history. You cannot find the gap without the notes.
What You Are Entitled To
- The officer's notes — complete, both sides of each page, including the shift notes around your stop. Ask for a typed copy of anything illegible.
- Statements — any witness statements or supplementary reports.
- Device information (speeding) — make and model of the radar/laser unit and the officer's before-and-after shift testing notes.
- Certificates and images (camera offences) — the certificate and photographs for red-light camera and speed-camera tickets.
- Anything else the prosecutor will rely on — collision reports, diagrams, CAD logs where relevant to the charge.
When You Can Request It
The practical trigger is filing your intention to contest — either the trial option or the early resolution option on the back of the ticket. Once the court has your matter in the system, the prosecutor's office can match your request to a file. Send the request the same week your notice arrives: offices commonly take several weeks to respond, and you want the material in hand early enough to review it, chase missing pieces, and prepare.
How to Send the Request, Step by Step
- Identify the prosecutor's office. It serves the court location printed on your ticket or notice. Most municipal court websites list a disclosure email address or online form.
- Write a short, complete request. Your full name, offence (ticket) number, offence date, court location, and a list of what you are requesting. One page is plenty.
- Send it in writing and keep proof. Email is ideal — it timestamps itself. Keep the sent message; it is your exhibit if disclosure never comes.
- Diarize a follow-up. No response in 3–4 weeks? Send a polite follow-up referencing the first request.
- Review immediately on arrival and request anything missing or illegible right away — a second, specific request reads far better in court than a first one made late.
Reviewing the Officer's Notes Like a Defender
Read the notes against the elements of your specific offence. For speeding: how was your speed determined — tracked, paced, or estimated? Is there a note of device testing before and after the shift? For sign-based offences: does the note establish the sign's presence and visibility? For any charge: how did the officer identify the driver, and does the description actually match you? Compare every detail — time, location, direction, vehicle, weather — against reality. Inconsistencies are not automatic wins, but they are the raw material of cross-examination, and material gaps in the elements can sink the prosecution's case entirely. If reviewing this feels beyond you, that is exactly the point where a paralegal or lawyer pays for themselves.
If Disclosure Isn't Provided
First rule: attend your court date regardless. Missing court over missing disclosure converts their problem into yours. At the appearance, tell the justice you requested disclosure — show your proof — and ask for an adjournment. Courts grant these readily on a first non-disclosure. If the pattern repeats, the remedy escalates: persistent failure to disclose that impairs your ability to make full answer and defence can ground a motion for a stay of proceedings, ending the charge. Prosecutors know this, which is why a documented, reasonable, persistent requester usually gets their disclosure.
Common Mistakes
- Never requesting it. The single most common self-represented error — walking into trial having never seen the officer's notes.
- Requesting by phone. Phone requests leave no proof. Writing only.
- Sitting on illegible notes. If you cannot read them, say so immediately and ask for a typed copy — do not discover the problem the night before trial.
- Skipping court because disclosure hasn't come. That path ends in a conviction in your absence — and a much harder reopening application.
- Over-asking. Demanding the officer's training file and ten years of maintenance logs for a minor ticket burns credibility. Ask for what matters; escalate only with reasons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Disclosure is the evidence the prosecution intends to rely on to prove the charge — for a typical ticket, the investigating officer's notes, any witness statements, and, in speed-measurement cases, information about the radar or laser device. The right flows from the Supreme Court's decision in R. v. Stinchcombe and applies to provincial offences prosecutions, including traffic tickets.
Send a written request to the prosecutor's office serving the court location shown on your ticket or notice of trial. Many municipalities provide an online form or email address; others accept a letter or fax. Include your name, the offence number, the offence date, and the court location, and describe what you are requesting. Keep a copy and proof of when you sent it.
No. Disclosure of the prosecution's evidence is your right, not a service you buy. If an office directs you to a records-request process with fees, clarify that you are a defendant requesting Stinchcombe disclosure for your own charge.
At minimum: complete copies of the officer's notes (both sides of each notebook page), a typed version if any portion is illegible, any statements the officer or witnesses made, and copies of documents the prosecutor intends to rely on. For speeding: the make and model of the speed-measuring device and the officer's notes on testing it before and after the shift. For camera offences: the certificate and images.
As soon as you have filed your intention to fight the ticket — ideally the same week your trial notice or meeting date arrives. Prosecutor offices can take weeks to respond, and you want time to review the material and follow up before your date.
You are entitled to disclosure you can actually read. Write back promptly, identify the illegible portions, and request a typed or transcribed copy. Courts have little patience for the argument that scribbles amount to meaningful disclosure.
Attend anyway — never skip a court date over missing disclosure. Tell the justice you requested disclosure (bring your proof), have not received it, and ask for an adjournment. If the prosecution repeatedly fails to disclose, you can bring a motion for a stay of the charge — persistent non-disclosure that prejudices your ability to make full answer and defence can end the case.
You can request the device information and the officer's testing notes, which are standard. Broader manuals and maintenance records are more contested territory — prosecutors often resist, and courts assess relevance case by case. Start with the standard items; escalate with the specifics of your case.
No. Disclosure requests are completely routine — prosecutors process them by the thousand, and no adverse inference flows from asserting the right. It is the single most normal step in fighting a ticket.
It helps. Knowing the strength of the officer's notes tells you whether the offered deal is good. That said, many people attend early resolution meetings without disclosure for minor tickets. If you are anywhere near a licence, insurance, or employment consequence, get the disclosure first.