National Crime Information Center
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The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the United States' central
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
for tracking crime-related information. The NCIC has been an
information sharing Information exchange or information sharing means that people or other entities pass information from one to another. This could be done electronically or through certain systems. These are terms that can either refer to bidirectional '' inform ...
tool since 1967. It is maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) and is interlinked with federal, tribal, state, and local agencies and offices.


History

The NCIC database was created in 1967 under FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
. The purpose of the system was to create a centralized information system to facilitate information flow between the numerous law enforcement branches. The original infrastructure cost is estimated to have been over $180 million. In the mid-1990s, the program went through an upgrade from the legacy system to the current NCIC 2000 system. A 1993
GAO Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...
estimate concluded that in addition to the costs of the upgrades, the FBI would need to spend an additional $2 billion to update its computer system to allow all users workstation access.


Records

The NCIC makes available a variety of records to be used for law enforcement and security purposes. The NCIC database includes 21 files: 14 person files and seven property files. Person files: *
Missing Person A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as Life, alive or Death, dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accide ...
File: Records on people—including children—who have been reported missing to law enforcement and there is a reasonable concern for their safety. * Foreign Fugitive File: Records on people wanted by another country for a crime that would be a
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
if it were committed in the United States. * Identity Theft File: Records containing descriptive and other information that law enforcement personnel can use to determine if an individual is a victim of identity theft or if the individual might be using a false identity. * Immigration Violator File: Records on criminal aliens whom
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
authorities have deported and aliens with outstanding administrative warrants of removal. * Protection Order File: Records on people against whom protection orders have been issued. * Supervised Release File: Records on people on probation, parole, or supervised release or released on their own recognizance or during pre-trial sentencing. * Unidentified Person File: Records on unidentified deceased people, living persons who are unable to verify their identities, unidentified victims of catastrophes, and recovered body parts. The file cross-references unidentified bodies against records in the Missing Persons File. * U.S. Secret Service Protective File: Records containing names and other information on people who are believed to pose a threat to the U.S. president and/or others afforded protection by the U.S. Secret Service. * Gang File: Records on violent
gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...
groups and their members. * Known or Appropriately Suspected Terrorist File: Records on known or appropriately suspected
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
s in accordance with HSPD-6. * Wanted Person File: Records on criminals (including juveniles who may have been tried as adults) for whom a federal warrant or a felony or misdemeanor warrant is outstanding. * National Sex Offender Registry File: Records on people who are required to register in a jurisdiction's
sex offender registry A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. Sex offender registration is usual ...
. *
National Instant Criminal Background Check System The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a background check system in the United States created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 to prevent firearm sales to people prohibited under the Act. The system ...
(NICS) Denied Transaction File: Records on people who have been determined to be classified as a " forbidden person" according to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and were denied as a result of a NICS background check. (, records include last six months of denied transactions; in the future, records will include all denials.) * Violent Person File: Once fully populated with data from the users, this file will contain records of persons with a violent criminal history and persons who have previously threatened law enforcement. Property files: * Article File: Records on stolen articles and lost public safety, homeland security, and critical infrastructure identification. * Boat File: Records on stolen boats. * Gun File: Records on stolen, lost, and recovered weapons and weapons that are designed to expel a projectile by air, carbon dioxide, or explosive action and have been used in the commission of crimes. * License Plate File: Records on stolen license plates and vehicles. * Securities File: Records on serially numbered stolen, embezzled, used for ransom, or counterfeit
securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
. * Vehicle and Boat Parts File: Records on serially numbered stolen vehicle or boat parts for which the
serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
may have been altered or removed. * Vehicle File: Records on stolen vehicles (and their license plates), vehicles involved in the commission of crimes, or vehicles that may be taken from the owner by force based on federally issued court order.


Validity

There have also been issues and concerns regarding arrests and seizures pursuant to mistaken beliefs in the existence of warrants and warrantless
probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the legal standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal and for a court's issuing of a search warrant. One definition of the standar ...
based on inaccurate NCIC information. Queries for immigration status have also been shown to have
false positives A false positive is an error in binary classification in which a test result incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition (such as a disease when the disease is not present), while a false negative is the opposite error, where the test res ...
.


See also

* Criminal Justice Information Services Division *
Interstate Identification Index The Interstate Identification Index (III; pronounced "triple-eye"), AKA “FBI Triple I Teletype”, is a national index of state and federal criminal histories (or rap sheets) in the United States of America, maintained by the Federal Bureau of ...
*
Restraining order A restraining order or protective order is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation often involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and perso ...


References


External links


National Crime Information Center
{{authority control Government agencies established in 1967 Federal Bureau of Investigation Law enforcement databases in the United States Missing people organizations based in the United States Criminal records databases Forensic databases