The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division is our nation’s central records management for the information system assisting state’s law enforcement, governmental, public, and private entities sharing information for criminal justice (CJ) and noncriminal justice (NCJ) purposes.
The FBI designates one criminal justice agency on the CJIS network as the CJIS Systems Agency (CSA). The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) serves as the CSA for the State of North Carolina.
The CSA is duly authorized to oversee the security management of all Criminal Justice Information (CJI) exchanges within its state and is responsible for setting, maintaining, enforcing and reporting compliance to the FBI CJIS Division for such exchanges.
Criminal history record information (CHRI) maintained by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (NCSBI) may only be released to entities having statutory authority to access that information or pursuant to a judicial order or subpoena.
North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) defines the “qualified agencies” that are eligible to access criminal history record information (CHRI). Access to CHRI for employment or licensing is permitted only if there is a state statute, federal mandate, or local ordinance of a NC State town, city or county that specifically authorizes a fingerprint-based criminal history record background check.
Every agency or organization authorized to access CHRI has a contract with NCSBI known as an “Access Agreement.” This agreement outlines the responsibilities of NCSBI and the entity authorized to access CHRI.
Agencies or organizations seeking access to CHRI must provide the statutory authority authorizing record checks on applicants/employees. If your agency would like to like to request access to criminal history record information per NCGS, please send an email to the Access Integrity Unit at AIUHelp@ncsbi.gov