Are there any polices against running a random persons name.
LEO: “I wonder how Zach is doing from high school searches his name up” is there a record of every name ran through the database ? Or could LEOs just do this ?
Running a persons name.
r/AskLEO
Comments
Thank you for your question, GoBestfriend-! Please note this subreddit allows answers to law enforcement related questions from verified current and former law enforcement officers as well as members of the public. As such, look for flair verifying their status located directly to the right of their username.
While someone without flair may be current or former law enforcement unwilling to compromise their privacy on the internet for a variety of reasons, consider the possibility they may not have any law enforcement experience at all.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
I was a dispatcher Missouri years back (doubt that it’s changed however) and you were absolutely only allowed to run names in the course of the job.
Otherwise, if you randomly run Zach’s name and he has a warrant, the agency that issued it is automatically notified. Then you’re forced to explain yourself.
Theres NCIC and then there’s in house databases. The rules are standard for NCIC (checking name DOB for warrants and/or criminal history). For in house stuff it’s department policy.
When referring to “running a name”, people are generally referring to the NCIC database.
Running names outside the performance of a law enforcement function through NCIC is against federal guidelines. The likely result would be the officer being terminated and the department being audited by the state or federal government.
Very much so. Everything you run in fcic/ncic is logged. If you’re found to have looked something up for no legitimate reason you are at the very least stripped of your certifications and automatically fired at basically every department. I believe it’s also criminal, so you could either be fined or arrested.
In my agency a few years ago a dispatcher ignored the plethora of training and warnings everyone is given about that topic and looked up another dispatcher to find out her middle name. I believe they work at Walmart now.