Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
California police, relying upon information in the NCIC, twice arrested and jailed
Roberto Hernandez as a suspect in a Chicago burglary case. The first time he was jailed
for 12 days, while the second time he was held for a week before he was freed. They had
confused him with another Roberto Hernandez, who had the same height and weight.
Both Hernandezes had brown hair, brown eyes, and tattoos on their left arms. They
also had the same birthday, and their Social Security numbers differed by only a single
digit [3].
Someone used personal information about Michigan resident Terry Dean Rogan
to obtain a California driver's license using his name. After the person with the falsi-
fied driver's license was arrested for two homicides and two robberies, police entered
information about these crimes into the NCIC under his false identity. Over a period
of 14 months, the real Terry Dean Rogan was arrested five times by Los Angeles police,
three times at gunpoint, even though he and Michigan police had tried to get the NCIC
records corrected after his first arrest. Rogan sued the Los Angeles Police Department
and was awarded $55,000 [2].
Stepping away from a requirement of the Privacy Act of 1974, the Justice Department
announced in March 2003 that it would no longer require the FBI to ensure the accu-
racy of information about criminals and crime victims before entering it in the NCIC
database [4].
Should the US government take responsibility for the accuracy of the information
stored in NCIC databases?
The Department of Justice argues that it is impractical for it to be responsible for the
information in the NCIC database [5]: Much of the information that gets entered into
the database is provided by other law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The FBI
has no way of verifying that all the information is accurate, relevant, and complete. Even
when the information is coming from inside the FBI, agents should be able to use their
discretion to determine which information may be useful in criminal investigations. If
the FBI strictly followed the provisions of the Privacy Act and verified the accuracy of
every record entered into the NCIC, the amount of information in the database would
be greatly curtailed. The database would be a much less useful tool for law enforcement
agencies. The result could be a decrease in the number of criminals arrested by law
enforcement agencies.
Privacy advocates counter that the accuracy of the NCIC databases is now more
important than ever, because an increasing number of records are stored in these data-
bases. As more erroneous records are put into the database, the probability of innocent
American citizens being falsely arrested also increases.
Which argument is stronger? Let's focus on one of the oldest NCIC databases: the
database of stolen vehicles. The total amount of harm caused to society by automobile
theft is great. Over one million automobiles are stolen in the United States every year.
Victims of car theft are subjected to emotional stress, may sustain a financial loss, and
can spend a lot of time trying to recover or replace the vehicle. In addition, the preva-
lence of automobile theft harms everyone who owns a car by raising insurance rates. In
