National Crime Information Center

The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the United States' central database for tracking crime-related information. The NCIC has been an information sharing tool since 1967. It is maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (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. 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 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: 12 person files and seven property files.
Person files:
Property files:
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 based on inaccurate NCIC information. Queries for immigration status have also been shown to have false positives.