unauthorized background checks

[htmncam]

I live in TX now ,my inquiry comes from an unusual expierence. My fiances dad got a hold of my license and I believe passed it on to some cop friends of his and had a background check run on me. He is a photographer for the FBI so I geuss he could have just as easily had it done at his office. My fiance and I have decided to stay together but with out involving her family, until recently. She has told her mother and she (her mother) made a comment suggesting that he (her dad) will have another background check run on me. Now I know that there is something wrong with that I just don't know exactly what the law states as far as that is concerned. As a result of the first background check I was arrested and put in jail for five hours, I am trying to avoid this happening again. Also just to finish this off I would like to know exactly what the law states as far as police sharing personal information with other individuals. I could really use some advice thank you.



CAM

[CdwJava]

If any law enforcement telecommunications system was used in the process, it is very likely that the law was broken.

There are many private firms where you can conduct background checks, so if anything was done that route, then all is well.

The bottom line is that if any avenue dedicated solely to law enforcement was used for a purpose not related to a legitimate law enforcement function, a crime was probably committed.

- Carl

[fairisfair]

Originally Posted by htmncam

I live in TX now ,my inquiry comes from an unusual expierence. My fiances dad got a hold of my license and I believe passed it on to some cop friends of his and had a background check run on me. He is a photographer for the FBI so I geuss he could have just as easily had it done at his office. My fiance and I have decided to stay together but with out involving her family, until recently. She has told her mother and she (her mother) made a comment suggesting that he (her dad) will have another background check run on me. Now I know that there is something wrong with that I just don't know exactly what the law states as far as that is concerned. As a result of the first background check I was arrested and put in jail for five hours, I am trying to avoid this happening again. Also just to finish this off I would like to know exactly what the law states as far as police sharing personal information with other individuals. I could really use some advice thank you.
CAM

Geez, I have had my background run about 100 times, and NEVER been put in jail for it. So how about the REAL story. why did you get arrested?

I, as an individual, could probably find out a plethora of information about you just with your name. I certainly wouldn't need the police to do it.

[CavemanLawyer]

It is against the law in Texas to run a "background check" via NCIC or TCIC and give that info to another party without justification or court order. If it was done by an officer of any kind I'm sure they ran such a check themself, since it'd be silly for them to use a general service that anyone can use. If this was done than yup, I'd say a law was broken but I'm not sure how far you'd get pursuing this. As a former prosecutor with many contacts still in law enforcement, I can tell you that this happens everyday.

[CdwJava]

California is pretty anal about this. If the CA DOJ gets involved, they will pull the records and they WILL come after the agency and the officer involved. I recently found that one of our employees was running DMV records for a private investigator, but this person did so out of ignorance and not malfeasance. They believed that only criminal history records could not be run and this is just not true.

As cavemanlawyer said, it's probably illegal. What you will do about this information is up to you.

- Carl