Has a TSA screener ever tried to pull the "professional courtesy" card during a stop. I know a lot of LEOs aren't happy that they've been issued badges.

There is no reasonable suspicion required to run an NCIC check.

If a TSA employee found your $4000, called a LEO, and if a LEO showed up after wondering why they were being called because somebody had $4000 and not doing anything else, then yes you could be run NCIC. I have a feeling that most cops, however, would show up, wonder why they were there since carrying $4000 is not a crime, kick you loose, and then hopefully tongue lash the TSO for being a moron.

But so what if you were run NCIC? What information do you think is contained in NCIC that would paint you in a negative light?

What gets cops in trouble with CJIS is running people for personal reasons. They get into trouble when they start running their daughter's or son's new boyfriend/girlfriend. They get into trouble when they run vehicles in front of their ex girl/boy friend/wife/husband's place and then harass the new suitor.

Does not the Reasonable Suspicion standard apply before an investigation can be commenced and does not running someone through NCIC start that investigation?

Irrational fear that is easily solved, carry your ID with you, or if you choose not to, fine, that's your prerogative. If you are stopped for something and you don't feel that you should have to present your ID, tell the officer that you left it at home in your most sincere voice possible. Most cops are pretty reasonable, I'm sure that everybody has left their ID at home at sometime or another. If they still ask for your name and DOB, I'd suggest giving it to them. The ACLU and the courts will all tell you that the time and place to argue the Constitution is not on the sidewalk or in the street but in the courts. If you righteously feel that you were coerced or forced to give up your name and DOB when you shouldn't have had to, by all means file a complaint with the department that the officer works for. I can just about guarantee that in the hyper critical world most agencies will at the very least create a paper complaint that will get followed up on.

What information do you think is contained in NCIC or any CJIS for that matter that you are so concerned about? If you don't have any warrants, aren't on probation, don't have any restraining orders against you, and don't share a very common name and common DOB, guess what, the officer is going to start at about 7 blank pages of returns from various databases.

Nope. An officer can observe somebody walking down the street minding their own business, maybe it's somebody that they've talked to before, and know very well, think local Joe Dirtbag. He doesn't want to stop and talk to him because Joe smells bad, has hepatitis B, maybe the officer is on the way to code 7, or whatever reason but Joe's always in trouble and the officer wants to run him. The officer, knowing Joe Dirtbag's information from previous encounters can run him and see if Joe's collected any outstanding warrants since he last saw him. Similarly, an officer can observe Jane Dirtbag in a car driven by her boyfriend and run her information to see if she has any warrants or other wants. If anything an NCIC check can reveal information that provides further grounds for a detention or arrest such as a warrant, supervised release status (parole/probation), etc.

And to clarify, the officer doesn't even necessarily need to observe Joe or Jane Dirtbag to run them. He can run Joe or Jane at the start of his shift and then decide to go make it his job for the day to try to find them between calls for service.

So Reasonable Suspicion and Probable Cause are just words that have no meaning to "Officers of the Law"?

You're talking about the requirements to stop, detain, search or arrest somebody. Running an NCIC check on somebody does not qualify as a stop, detention, search, or arrest.

I believe it is a search!

Your local police or sheriff's department probably holds a citizen's police academy throughout the year. I'd recommend checking it out, but they'll run you through CJIS/NCIC I'm sure.

You can believe all you want to that it's a search but the courts have said no such thing. Trust me, if it constituted an illegal search you would have 4th Amendment violations every second of every day across the United States.

Think about it this way, an officer in AZ has a man named Michael Jackson DOB 01/01/1980 stopped for a traffic violation. The officer queries NCIC (a nationwide system), has the officer committed an illegal search against every other Michael Jackson with the same DOB in the United States? Of course not!

My father was a Deputy Sheriff, later a Federal LEO, my brother was a Federal LEO, my sister is currently a high ranking LEO in the DFW area and I work in conjunction with Federal LEO's.

I really don't care to expand my exposure beyond that.

I'm afraid that many LEO's have forgotten that they are Peace Officers.

If that's the case you have a surprisingly....uh, interesting view of what constitutes a search and what officers do in the course of performing their job functions.

In this case the officer would not have stopped the person unless Reasonable Suspicion had not already been present, i.e., a traffic violation.

That is a long way from running a person just because you feel like it.

I don't think so.

I see no reason for an LEO to interact with a person who has done nothing to attract attention or to "search" a criminal database just because the LEO is curious. Searching a database is clearly a search!

Now if RS or PC is developed then I have no issue with doing these checks.

edit to add: I am not anti-LEO. Believe me. But I do think LEO's in general have gone beyond what they should be doing. It is far to common for police to teach a perp a lesson. To shoot first instead of taking less lethal actions. I object strongly for police to have armored vehicles. That is not a police force but an army. I recognize that the threats are real, the bad guys have automatic weapons but some things done by police such as no knock warrants seems wrong to me. Dressing up like Ninjas and attacking in the middle of the night is wrong.

Just to 2 cents.