National Crime Information Center — FBI's National Criminal Database

The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the FBI's computerized index of criminal justice information — wanted persons, missing persons, stolen property, gang members, criminal histories, and protective orders — accessible to virtually every law enforcement agency in the United States around the clock. With roughly 14 million transactions processed each day by 18,000+ criminal justice agencies, NCIC is the backbone of real-time law enforcement information sharing in America: the database a patrol officer queries during a routine traffic stop, and the same system an airport screener can use to check a traveler's background.

Current Law (2026)

Legal Authority

• 34 U.S.C. § 40301 — Establishes the Attorney General's authority to acquire, collect, and preserve criminal identification records and make them available to authorized agencies; the original basis for NCIC

• 34 U.S.C. § 40302 — Requires the Attorney General to acquire records of federal criminal history, exchange those records with state agencies, and establish standards for NCIC participation

• 34 U.S.C. § 40316 — Privacy provisions: individuals have the right to review and challenge the accuracy of their own NCIC records; agencies must adopt procedures for record challenges

• 28 U.S.C. § 534 — The original FBI authority to maintain national criminal identification records, exchange information with state agencies, and establish the national crime information system

• 28 CFR Part 20 — Criminal Justice Information Systems (18 sections — the DOJ regulation governing the security, accuracy, and access rules for criminal history record information (CHRI) maintained in NCIC and the Interstate Identification Index (III); authority: 34 U.S.C. § 40316; 28 U.S.C. § 534):

  • § 20.1 — Purpose: ensure that CHRI is collected, stored, and disseminated in a way that protects individual privacy and civil liberties — CHRI is sensitive data that can prevent employment, housing, and professional licensing if inaccurate
  • § 20.3 — Definitions: "criminal history record information" is arrests, charges, dispositions, and other information collected by criminal justice agencies about individuals; does not include investigative reports or intelligence files; the definition determines what is regulated and what is not
  • § 20.20 — State and local applicability: all agencies collecting CHRI with federal funding assistance must comply with Part 20; compliance is a condition of receiving OJJDP and Bureau of Justice Assistance grants
  • § 20.21 — Criminal History Record Information Plan: each state must submit to DOJ a plan describing how it collects, stores, and controls access to CHRI; the plan must include procedures for access limitation, security safeguards, and individual challenge procedures
  • § 20.24 — State privacy and security laws: where state law provides more protection for CHRI than federal regulations, the state law controls; Part 20 sets the floor, not the ceiling, for CHRI privacy protection
  • § 20.25 — Penalties: agencies or individuals violating Part 20's nondissemination requirements face civil penalties; using CHRI for non-criminal justice purposes (background checks for personal use, stalking, harassment) is a federal violation
  • § 20.30 — Interstate Identification Index (III): Subpart C specifically governs the III system — the national criminal history pointer network; records in III may only be accessed by authorized criminal justice agencies for authorized purposes; public access is prohibited

  28 CFR Part 20 is the legal backbone of the NCIC privacy framework. Every law enforcement agency that contributes records to NCIC or queries the system must comply with Part 20's access limitations and audit requirements. The regulation requires agencies to keep records complete (particularly dispositions — conviction or acquittal — which are often missing, leaving only arrest records and creating false impressions of criminal history). No major amendments since the 2004 update adding III system procedures; 69 FR 58879 (October 2004).

• 18 U.S.C. § 1030 — Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: unauthorized access to NCIC or other protected computer systems is a federal crime; used to prosecute officers who misuse NCIC access for personal purposes

How It Works

NCIC is organized into 21 active files covering different categories of information. The Wanted Person File is the most operationally significant: when police in Phoenix want to arrest a suspect but don't know the person's whereabouts, they enter a warrant into NCIC and any officer anywhere in the country who runs that person's name will receive a "hit" indicating an outstanding warrant. Similarly, the Stolen Vehicle File allows officers to check any license plate or VIN against a national database of reported stolen vehicles — a standard part of any traffic stop. The Protective Order File contains court-issued restraining orders, allowing officers responding to a domestic violence call to know instantly whether a restraining order is in effect.

The Interstate Identification Index (III), the criminal history component of NCIC, links state-level criminal history records into a searchable national index. Before III, a state could only access the criminal history records it had itself compiled; a California prosecutor had no practical way to check whether a defendant had a felony conviction in Georgia. III changed this by creating a pointer system: each state maintains its own records but registers them with the FBI's index, so a query to the FBI returns pointers to the relevant state repositories, which then provide their records. The system holds 150+ million criminal history records, making it one of the largest law enforcement databases in the world.

NCIC "hits" — positive matches — carry significant real-world consequences. When an officer runs a name and gets a hit on an outstanding warrant, that person can be arrested on the spot. The FBI requires agencies to "confirm" a hit before making an arrest in most circumstances — i.e., contact the agency that entered the warrant to verify it is still active and extradition is authorized — but in practice, confirmation often happens quickly and the arrest proceeds within minutes. False hits, stemming from data entry errors, outdated records, or identity confusion between people with similar names, can result in wrongful arrests and detentions. People who have been wrongfully arrested due to NCIC errors have limited legal recourse, as courts have generally held that officers acting in good faith on an NCIC record are protected from liability even when the record turns out to be wrong.

Key Numbers / Facts

• 14 million NCIC transactions processed per day — roughly 162 queries per second around the clock
• 18,000+ criminal justice agencies have authorized NCIC access, covering virtually every law enforcement jurisdiction in the United States
• 150+ million criminal history records in the Interstate Identification Index
• 21 active NCIC files, including Wanted Person, Missing Person, Unidentified Person, Foreign Fugitive, Immigration Violator, Supervised Release, Protective Order, Convicted Sexual Offender Registry, Gang Member, Terrorist Screening, Stolen Articles, Stolen Vehicles, Stolen Guns, Stolen Boats, Securities, and Identity Theft
• NCIC is separate from NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System for firearms purchases) — NICS queries portions of NCIC but they are distinct systems with different legal authorities and access rules
• Documented misuse cases include officers running NCIC queries on domestic partners, celebrities, and personal acquaintances — a violation that has resulted in termination and federal prosecution

How It Affects You

If you've ever been arrested, convicted, or had a warrant issued: Your record is almost certainly in NCIC. That means any officer anywhere in the country who runs your name or plates during a traffic stop, a field interview, or a call-for-service sees what's in the database in seconds. An outstanding warrant from a different state — even one you thought was resolved — can result in immediate arrest. If you believe there's an error in your criminal history record, you have the right to request your own Interstate Identification Index (III) record from the FBI; contact the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) for the challenge process. Records that were expunged or sealed at the state level may not automatically be removed from NCIC — you must notify both the originating agency and, in some cases, CJIS directly.

If you've obtained a domestic violence protective order: Your protective order is (or should be) in NCIC's Protective Order File, which is visible to officers in every jurisdiction in the country. If an abuser crosses state lines, any officer who encounters them can see the order and act on it. Ask your local law enforcement agency or court clerk to confirm that your order was submitted to NCIC after it was issued — not all jurisdictions submit promptly. Updated VAWA (2022) requirements improved submission standards but compliance still varies.

If you've been wrongfully arrested due to an NCIC error: Courts have generally held that officers acting in good faith on an NCIC record are shielded from liability even when the record is wrong — a doctrine established in Arizona v. Evans (1995). If you're arrested on an erroneous record, the immediate priority is to document the error and get the originating agency to correct or remove the record. Civil claims against the government for wrongful arrest based on a database error are difficult to win but not impossible if you can show the originating agency was negligent in maintaining the record.

Recent Developments

Between 2023 and 2025, the FBI expanded the NCIC Protective Order File as part of a federal push to improve enforcement of domestic violence restraining orders across state lines. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization (2022) included provisions requiring better data sharing for protective orders, and the FBI updated NCIC submission standards to capture more detail about the terms of each order — including geographic restrictions and firearm surrender requirements — so officers in the field have actionable information during calls.

The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, which integrates biometric data (fingerprints, palm prints, facial recognition, iris scans) with NCIC's text-based records, has continued expanding. NGI now holds over 170 million fingerprint subjects and is used to match crime scene fingerprints against the national database and to verify identities at border crossings, airports, and police encounters. Privacy advocates have raised ongoing concerns about the accuracy of facial recognition matching in NGI — particularly for dark-skinned individuals, where error rates are disproportionately higher — and the lack of statutory authorization for facial recognition specifically within the NCIC/NGI framework.

Related Topics

• NICS & Brady Act — Federal Firearms Background Check System
• DNA Databases, CODIS & Forensic Science Programs
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• SORNA & Sex Offender Registration
• Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)