BehindBlueI's
Grandmaster
- Oct 3, 2012
- 25,897
- 113
That's sorta but not exactly it. Its more like when I run your driver's license, it checks your driving status but it also checks you for warrants. That doesn't make the warrant database a subset of the BMV records, its just one check is querying multiple sources. Similarly, a NICS check apparently queries your III from the NCIC. Acronyms are fun! Anyway, I'm no expert on NICS, but I am routinely using NCIC and its III capability. III is one function of NCIC, but NCIS also accesses it.
Anyway, to address the original question, arrests don't "age out" of III, but not all states entered arrests prior to its implementation into the system. Depending on your age and where you were arrested, its possible to have some old arrests that would appear on a local check but not on the III. I don't remember exactly, but I think you'd have to be in your late 60's or early 70's to have an adult arrest that wouldn't be entered.
**Caution, the following information is likely to bore the reader, do not operate heavy equipment while reading this post**
I am a full IDACS/NCIC operator. (Operators come in full and limited. Limited access lets you check for warrants, protective orders, and the like. Full lets you enter and remove warrants, stolen item hits, access III, etc.) NCIC (not to be confused with NICS) is sort of an Internet for criminal justice agencies. We can send each other messages, ask each other questions, query each other's records, etc. The III is one capability in that overall system. The III will show you what all states have a record on the particular person, and then you get what each state has on that person. You'll get their state criminal ID number, FBI number, date of arrests, charges, if they were found guilty or not from just about every state. Some states include more data. Not all states participate. Some automatically send you what they've got, others only indicate they have records and then you have to run another inquiry directly to that state to get their records. NCIC has lots of other uses. You can query almost any item to see if its stolen, you can query missing people (and missing parts of people..find an arm and want to see if it belongs to someone murdered in another jurisdiction? There's a NCIC check for that!), warrants, protective orders, etc. etc. If you want to see the full list of queries available: National Crime Information Center (NCIC) - FBI Information Systems
Every III ran is tracked and the Feds do audit to make sure the system isn't being abused. You must select the reason you are running the III (investigation, criminal justice employment check, etc.) and then notes as to why its relevant. If you are audited, they'll ask for proof it was relevant, so its a good practice to put the case number in the notes. It makes it easy for the compliance officer to pull the report that justified the check.
My record is over 70 pages on one person. He was a rather accomplished traveling grifter who was about 55 years old, conning the gullible into buying costume jewelry by leading them to believe he was a jewel thief and letting stuff go cheap so he could get out of town. He had decades of criminal history out of ten or eleven states.
