National Crime Information Center

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Director: Robert Mueller
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity

Department: Justice
Divisions:
FBI Academy FBI Laboratory Criminal Justice Information Services
Major units:
Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) Counterterrorism Division (CTD) Law Enforcement Bulletin Unit (LEBU) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) National Security Service (NSS)
Lists:
List of FBI Directors List of FBI Field Offices
Programs:
Notable operations COINTELPRO Crime statistics NIBRS Uniform Crime Reports Most wanted FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
Key people:
W. Mark Felt Joseph L. Gormley
Miscellaneous:
FBI portrayal in the media
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The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the United State's central database for tracking crime-related information. The NCIC is maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) and is interlinked with similar systems that each state maintains. Most data is received from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as tribal law enforcement agencies and non law enforcement agencies such as state and federal motor vehicle registration and licensing authorities.

1 History of the NCIC
2 Component Information
3 Validity of Information
4 References

[edit] History of the NCIC

The NCIC database was created in 1967, under the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The purpose of the system was to create a centralized information system to facilitate information flow between the numerous law enforcement branches. The original cost of infrastructure for the NCIC system is estimated to have cost in excess of $180 million[1]. In the mid-1990s, the program went through an upgrade from the legacy system to the current NCIC 2000 system. A 1993 GAO 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[2].

[edit] Component Information

The NCIC makes available a variety of records to be used for law enforcement and security purposes. These records are made up of a variety of forms of personal and property records. Personal records:

Persons with active arrest warrants
Missing persons
Persons with active protection orders
Violent gang organizations and membership
terrorist organizations and membership
Secret Service protective alerts
Unidentified human remains information
Convicted Sex Offenders
Foreign Fugitives
Immigration violators
Parolees or people on Supervised Release

Property Records

Firearms records, including lost or missing firearms
Boat registration information
Vehicle registration information
Stolen vehicle and boat parts
Stolen property
Stolen, embezzled or counterfeit securities
Drivers licensing information and driving history (e.g. license plates, citations, suspensions, revocations, etc.)

[edit] Validity of Information

Recently, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has raised concerns over the validity of information in the NCIC database[3]. The FBI had the administrative authority of attempting to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in the database; a role which the Justice Department discharged the FBI from in 2003.