- Rank
- A 0–100 composite: audience signal (45%), how many independent source types corroborate the incident (15%), and obtainability (40%). The whole thing decays with the incident’s age, halving every 72 hours, so a stale case sinks even if it was once hot.
- Virality
- Where this case sits against every other currently-ranked case on engagement growth over the last 24 hours — a percentile, not a view count. “Surging” means it is climbing faster than most of the board right now. It is a measure of attention, not a prediction of your views.
- Obtainability
- An estimate of how likely the footage is to actually be released: the state’s public-records posture, how responsive that agency has been to previous requests, critical-incident disclosure deadlines, and any request window that may be closing. It is an estimate, not a guarantee — release, redaction and fees are the agency’s decision.
- Kit status
- Where the case is in our pipeline. “Researching agency” means we are still identifying the records custodian and the governing statute. “Kit ready” means the drafted letter, verified contact, fee and timeline estimates are all in place.