National Crime Information Center Research Paper

National Crime Information Center is a computer database that tracks fourteen different person files and seven kinds of property files and is available for use by numerous law enforcement branches at various levels of government. The computer system is thought to be the most comprehensive investigative tool in determining criminal backgrounds of individuals. This computerized database is in severe need of various types of upgrades that are estimated at $2 billion dollars.

Main Text Multijurisdictional criminal databases are some of the amazing analytical tools used by tribal, local, state, and federal law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. There are even some foreign entities allowed limited access to the protected database.
This NCIC database contains criminal record history information, records on fugitives, stolen properties or if they are recovered, and unidentified/missing persons. There are strict rules for usage in place to prevent abuse or illegal use of protected information. Laws prohibit unauthorized access and to secure the database there are many technical security shields and defenses in place. (Sullivan 2009:568) The National Crime Information Center was created by J.
Edgar Hoover, FBI director, in 1967. The National Crime Information Center is managed and supported by (CJIS) Criminal Justice Information Services Division. NCIC was created with the primary purpose of creating a flow of information between the many and varied law enforcement branches. There was an upgrade approximately 30 years ago, in the mid 1990’s; this brought the entire system up to the current operating NCIC 2000 system. This system is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year; always facilitating communications between agencies. The information obtained from NCIC can be used in a variety of ways; but its purpose is to assist authorized agencies in returning stolen property, apprehending fugitives, identifying and locating missing persons as well as a variety of other uses. The astonishment is the amount of information that NCIC tracks. There are in total twenty-one files that NCIC stores information on; seven being on property files, and the remaining fourteen files are on
persons. The person files track victims and perpetrators alike. The missing person database even records data on children when adult or child is reported missing to law enforcement. There has to be a reasonable concern for their safety to warrant entry into this database, so once entered it will never expire, the missing person record will have to be intentionally & actively removed from NCIC when the case is cleared. Similarly to the missing person file; NCIC also has an Unidentified Persons file. These two files automatically cross reference each other. This file is kept on deceased persons who are unidentifiable, on recovered body parts, and also on living persons who are unable to verify their identities. Several of the database files are kept on foreigners, much to the chagrin of foreign agencies.
Various other files on foreign persons are quite interminable; they include domestic and foreign possible threats in the form of foreign fugitive files, and U.S. Secret Service Protective files. The Known or Appropriately Suspected Terrorist file is another tedious and in-depth file that records all finite details on foreign parties that may pose a threat. A newer file is the (NICS) National Instant Criminal Background Check system was created for the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and who was denied the ability to purchase a weapon due to their background. This file keeps a “denied transaction list” now includes all denials. This is the act that was introduced and approved after President Reagan was shot, along with this press secretary Jim Brady, a secret service agent, and a police officer in 1981. There have many proposals on improving the use of the NCIC database, even now there are a few privatized databases that are claiming to be the latest and greatest. Undoubtedly is the use of the database being the greatest investigative and policing tool of the 50 years. There is an outcry for necessary updates, and the most reliable information. Initial police reports are based on preliminary investigations and the information entered into NCIC can quickly become obsolete. Therefore a necessary review of all information entered into NCIC should be done by the investigating
detective, and all records that are pertinent be linked. Many of the abuses of NCIC are exploitation and snooping of confidential information on those that law enforcement officers have personal conflicts, persons whom they have an inquisitive curiosity about, or romantic disagreements. There are no best monitoring and tracking practices for such abuses, and how frequently sidestepping NCIC policies actually occur. Some of the worst cases of abuse have been officers stalking or harassing their victims, or selling the confidential information.