ABSTRACT
NCIC, a division of the FBI, is a massive, rapid-response criminal justice database that was originally developed to enhance officer safety. The first version of NCIC was an information clearinghouse (i.e., a data bank whose participants communicated via teletype); it was established in January 1967 after extensive development in conjunction with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. NCIC operates on a 24/7/365 basis; it never closes or goes offline. As of December 2011, it contained 11.7 million records in 19 files and hosted an average of 7.9 million transactions per day.* The current record for entries in a single day, 12.2 million, was set on July 2, 2012.† CJIS, another FBI division, refers both to the department and the online system it oversees.
