Someone claiming to be 'In Law Enforcement' accesses information on a neighbor (for personal reasons).

Bueno or No Bueno?   I thought that was forbidden?

(They are apparently NOT a Police Officer, but have access to court records and criminal records/databases).

Firing Offense in a lot of places.

Yep, fireable offense.  sometimes even criminal charges.

Accessing for personal reasons is prohibited.

Bear in mind, there is a ton of open source info out there if you know how to find it and that would not be prohibited.

I've seen that...it's scary how much is out there.

I'll tell the guy to shut up (not sure if accessed a database or just an internet search, but probably smart to not talk about stuff if you have access that could be questioned).

Depends on what it is.

Are we talking about stuff that wouldn't be generally available even to FOIA requests, or just general info on what calls happen in the neighborhood?

NCIC and state CJIS records are protected by law against unauthorized access, local files are usually protected by agency policy. Depends on the information accessed, which is almost always logged.

You can do a search on most members on this site and within about 15 mins you can have their name, address, pictures of their house, and family members names. Spend a little more time and you can have court records (if they exist) and much more. All openly available information.

It’s all in knowing how to search and how to connect the dots. Some people hide their internet presence really well. Most do not.

Now imagine what’s available if you start out knowing their names and addresses. That’s just open source info and knowing how to use it.

Some people get off on pretending to be something they are not. Pretending you have access to data not available to the general public gives some people the psychological boost they think they need to function in life.

What kind of info did this person provide that they claimed was LE only info?

They didn't...made a comment that they were 'In Law Enforcement' in one conversation.

Then in a different conversation talked about something (knowing the age(s) of those involved...just wondering if they looked it up somehow (certainly could be facebook, etc.).

can be a criminal violation in certain jurisdictions depending on what database was accessed, at minimum severe discipline up to and including termination most places

Gotcha. Sounds like the person is full of shit. Sounds like a few people who post in GD.

Wait...you mean GD isn't the Font of All Knowledge?

Lol, 'law enforcement'... That's about as long as it is wide. Usually, if a person is a police officer, or a deputy, or a trooper, that's what they say.

yeah, no go. straight fired.

75% of whats available in NCIC and NLETS (state LE data base) is available by public records searches.

Attorneys have access to paid services like PACER which is court records, and most states DMV records are available to the public through a FOIA request.
Things like Thompson Reuters CLEAR are paid services, that search hundreds of public data sources.

So very limited amount of info is actually LE restricted. Lots of stuff available for free, even more if you are willing to use paid services.

We had an officer charged, tried, convicted and appeal denied several years ago for using the system for non le purposes.

Federal(CBP) clearly prohibited , literally addressed yearly in training. As in  2 year written reprimand -14 days Leave without pay first offense. second is 15 to  firing.
you look it up on google, yahoo, ect, nobody cares.  you use an official LEO system  without a good reason(IE they are standing in front of you, will be in front of you(arriving on flight later in day), ect) it can bite you, all transactions in the system are subject to recorded,  individual unique logins so no way anybody is going to be "i didn't look up Obama's passport application to get his birth certificate, musta been someone else...". Some systems are subject to audit a crazy high % of query requests like 5%.


During CLEAR training, the instructor actually had us look ourselves up(WILDLY prohibited by regs, will throw a flag in the IA office from rumor ive heard). Whole class was like "say again, you sure???" . Instructor was aware of this and explained that CLEAR was open source IE NOT government/LEO data and thus wasn't a violation of regs. Chief in front row confirmed.  Still was a "uhh what" moment.

Depends. If it was like an online records search, public information court database or any of the hundreds of other public accessible sources, nothing illegal there.

Run LEIN/NCIC or DMV stuff (at least here in Michigan) and you will likely be fired, have your access privileges revoked, possibly have your LE License revoked and the investigation will be sent to the prosecutors office for review.

J-

In a world where the majority love to tell everyone about themself on the internet, you can find tons of stuff legally, easily, and free of charge.  It really helps if you know where to look and what to do with certain information.

There are also legal ways to pay for information as well.

However, actually using an LE database for personal reasons is a great way to get fired and potentially prosecuted where I come from.  Several of them even make you acknowledge that every time you log in.

I would guess that the person you are asking about is full of it.