How should confidentiality of criminal records be maintained?

• A. Access is allowed for any employee with a badge
• B. Records are public records
• C. All requests for information must be for law enforcement purposes only
• D. Confidentiality is not required for non-criminal data

Answer: (C)

Confidentiality of criminal records rests on who can access the information and for what purpose. The best approach is to require that all requests for information have a legitimate law enforcement purpose. This keeps sensitive data from being spread beyond those who need it to do their jobs, protects individuals’ privacy, and helps prevent misuse.

In practice, records may be shared with other agencies, or released for specific compliance like background checks for certain jobs or under a court order, but only with proper authorization and documentation. This approach uses a need-to-know standard and enforces controls to verify the purpose and restrict dissemination.

The other options violate this principle: giving access to any badge-wearing employee ignores the need-to-know requirement; treating criminal records as public would disregard privacy protections; and saying confidentiality isn’t needed for non-criminal data misapplies the rule to a different category of information.