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Okay, you guys have me confused now.
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Understandable, DD; it is confusing.
How restricted the information is depends on the source providing it. A criminal history provided by NCIC (FBI) is highly restricted and a query must be justified by the LE agency requesting it through a case number or other legitimate reason. Non-LE has absolutely NO access this.
On the other hand, if you're a card carrying, paid member of Lexis-Nexis, or other, similar organizations, you, as non-LE, can access the same info, although how in blue blazes THEY get the info is a mystery to me
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Same thing with driver's license or vehicle registration info. If you walk into my cop shop and ask who a particular car belongs to, we cannot, by law, give you that information. Hell, it's a violation to even let you glance at the computer screen. That has to be shielded from public view.
But again, you can go to the state DMV, and request and get the same information, no strings attached! Go figure!
Every state LE agency is bound by the strictest of restrictions in criminal history queries. The reason is that every state and local LE agency that uses NCIC (that's the vast majority of them) is bound by the FBI's user agreement. A violation of the rules can land the officer involved a whopping big fine, or even imprisonment!
But other governmental agencies (non-LE) that don't subscribe to NCIC, aren't bound by those rules, and so can disseminate info much more easily.
I know; it confuses the hell outta me too sometimes
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