DOJ Launches Database to Track Officer Incidents
The Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a first of its kind database to centralize federal law enforcement records, including tracking incidents involving officers.
The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) will include instances of law enforcement misconduct as well as records of commendations and awards for federal law enforcement officers.
The goal is to improve transparency and improve hiring, by ensuring that agencies are not blindly hiring personnel involved in certain incidents.
“No law enforcement agency — including the Justice Department — can effectively do its work without the trust of the public,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This database will give our law enforcement agencies an important new tool for vetting and hiring officers and agents that will help strengthen our efforts to build and retain that trust.”
Database Records
The database was required under President Biden’s executive order on accountable policing.
It will include records of misconduct for current and former federal law enforcement officers that occurred over the past seven years. Misconduct includes criminal convictions, suspensions, terminations, civil judgments related to the officer’s duties, resignations or retirements while under investigation, and a sustained complaint based on a finding of serious misconduct. Regular audits of the data will be conducted.
As of now, just records for DOJ law enforcement officers in the database. Other executive branch law enforcement agencies are required to report their data by February 16, 2024.
Law enforcement groups, including the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), say it was a balancing act to both promote transparency and protect officer privacy.
“The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association represents more than 32,000 law enforcement officers employed by 65 different agencies. As such, we fully understand that only those officers with good morals, ethics, and integrity should be granted the privilege of serving the American people. Last week our leadership team met with key stakeholders within the current Administration. Together, we worked to ensure this Executive Order balances needs of the Government with the privacy concerns of individual employees. As a non-partisan professional organization, we will continue to work to protect employees’ rights while simultaneously strengthening public safety,” said Albert Mascera Jr. FLEOA Vice President of Legislative Affairs.
That view was echoed by Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). “With respect to whatever negative information is in there, as long as it is fully adjudicated and they have due process and all their appeals have been exhausted, we’re fine with it,” Pasco told the Washington Post. “We feel the way it is written should protect people’s rights.”
No Public Access
As of now, the database is only open to government officials and is off limits to the public to protect privacy. The Bureau of Justice Statistics plans to publish an annual public report of aggregated data about the program.
Critics have expressed concerns over the lack of public access as well as the lack of data on state, local, and tribal police in the database.
DOJ officials said they will provide federal grants and partner with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards (IADLEST) to try and bolster an existing national decertification database for local police.