1. (1) Conflicts of interest. No member or employee authorized to access information available via NYSPIN should have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in any business or transaction or professional activity or incur any obligation of any nature, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties associated with accessing NYSPIN.

2. (2) Members and employees of an agency authorized to access NYSPIN information should not:

   1. (i) accept any employment or engage in any business or professional activity which will require them to disclose confidential information they have gained through NYSPIN;
   2. (ii) disclose confidential criminal justice information acquired by them in the course of their official duties, nor use such information to further their personal interests;
   3. (iii) use or attempt to use the ability to access NYSPIN to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for themselves or others; or
   4. (iv) by their conduct, give reasonable basis for the impression that any person can improperly influence them or unduly enjoy their favor in the performance of their official duties associated with NYSPIN, or that they are affected by the kinship, rank, position or influence of any party or person.

3. (b) The NYSPIN system is for official use only and may only be used for criminal justice purposes. Messages of a private, personal or social nature are prohibited. Transmissions of judicial or other subpoenae are prohibited. Death notification and funeral arrangement messages may be sent if the following conditions are met:

   1. (1) Death notification or funeral arrangement messages may only be sent for active and retired criminal justice officers.
   2. (2) Generally, such messages should be restricted to the region of origin, unless the message is of specific interest to other areas of the State.
   3. (3) Notifications may not be sent outside New York State except for police officers killed in the line of duty, in accord with NLETS policy (part 1, section 5.2).
   4. (4) A copy of all death notification and funeral arrangement messages must be sent to SP Albany NY (QHQT).
4. (c) Messages may only be sent and inquiries may only be made on the authority of a member of an agency assigned an agency identifier (ORI).
5. (d) Inquiries to NYSPIN may only be made for criminal justice purposes.
6. (e) No printed material obtained via NYSPIN (or copies thereof) may be delivered to persons or agencies outside criminal justice except as directed by an appropriate court or other proper legal authority. Requests for printed material (or copies thereof) pursuant to the Public Officers Law, article 6 (the Freedom of Information Law) need not be delivered to persons or agencies outside criminal justice if exemptions listed under section 87, subdivision 2(a-i) of such law apply. If you have any doubt that the Freedom of Information Law request is valid, assistance is available from the New York State Police, Records Access Officer (Assistant Deputy Superintendent—Administration), Building 22, State Campus, Albany, NY 12226.
7. (f) All requests for information stored in the NYSPIN computer, the NYSPIN Operating Manual, interim NYSPIN Operating Manual revisions, and NYSPIN operational aids pursuant to the Public Officers Law, article 6 (the Freedom of Information Law) must be referred, in writing, to the Superintendent of State Police. All requests for CHRI under either the Freedom of Information Law or the Public Officers Law, article 6-A (Personal Privacy Protection Law), must be referred to the commissioner of DCJS.

8. (g) It is recognized that in the normal course of official duty it may become necessary to lawfully disseminate information (other than CHRI) received from NYSPIN to persons or agencies not associated with the administration of criminal justice, including private citizens. In all instances, such dissemination must be secondary dissemination from an official agency report or record, including blotter entries but not printed material (or copies thereof), as described in subdivision (e) of this section. Some examples of authorized secondary dissemination include, but are not limited to:

   1. (1) release of registrant information obtained from NYSPIN to a towing company when a vehicle was impounded at police request;
   2. (2) release of operator or registrant information obtained via NYSPIN from an MV-104 police accident report; and

   3. (3) the release to hospital officials of information relating to insurance company information obtained via NYSPIN.

      The purpose of this rule is to ensure that any information obtained from NYSPIN, but disseminated outside criminal justice, comes from an official report or record to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing criminal justice information by means of fraud or deceit.

9. (h) All operating instructions described in the official NYSPIN Operating Manual published by the Division of State Police must be followed. Messages must be originated in the form described therein, and should be as brief as possible. Requirements for message construction are waived for those instances when only an entry or update to the computer is made and there is no need for other users to receive copies of the message.
10. (i) All agencies on the system shall accept without charge message and inquiry requests from members of other authorized criminal justice agencies.
11. (j) Sale of information or receiving a benefit for information received via NYSPIN is prohibited and may constitute official misconduct or other crimes. Dissemination of criminal justice information obtained via NYSPIN to unauthorized persons or agencies that may use such information commercially, such as private investigators, process servers, bail bondsmen or their agents, and private security agencies is strictly prohibited.
12. (k) All NYSPIN and non-NYSPIN participants must enter into a use and dissemination agreement with the Division of State Police certifying that all agency employees authorized to access information available from NYSPIN will comply with NYSPIN rules and operating instructions governing the use and dissemination of information obtained from the system.
13. (l) All news releases relating to the NYSPIN system, including those of a local level, must be approved in advance by the Division of State Police.
14. (m) NYSPIN participants must establish procedures for appropriate training and certification of NYSPIN operators as described in the NYSPIN Operating Manual. Only certified operators may operate the terminal device. Operators must be limited to members or specific employees of the agency who are designated to support members using NYSPIN.
15. (n) Positive NYSPIN, DCJS and NCIC responses, as well as messages from NYSPIN participants, could be used as information relevant to the arrest of a person who has committed or is committing an offense. Criminal Procedure Law provisions defining “reasonable cause” and “arrest without a warrant” always apply to NYSPIN information. Information obtained through NYSPIN must be independently evaluated to determine what, if any, action is authorized based thereon. To prevent the unnecessary detention or false arrest of innocent parties, both NYSPIN and non-NYSPIN participants must establish minimum training standards for their criminal justice employees who ultimately use the information obtained from the NYSPIN system.
16. (o) NYSPIN assumes no responsibility for the unlawful or unauthorized use of information derived from the system.
17. (p) When property that was reported stolen and subsequently entered into NYSPIN or NCIC is recovered, the agency recovering the property must, before the property is released, confirm removal of the record by means of an inquiry, regardless of any correspondence received from the originator of the record. This will help to prevent the unnecessary detention or arrest of an innocent person.
18. (q) Whenever an agency receives a positive response to an inquiry and the person or property is identical to the positive response and the originating agency confirms the property is stolen or the person is wanted or missing, a locate message must be transmitted.
19. (r) If an agency is not staffed 24 hours a day, it must have in place suitable arrangements for “hit” confirmation described in the NYSPIN Operating Manual if records are entered on the NYSPIN, NCIC or DCJS files. Contact the NYSPIN staff at 1-800-372-3675 for suggested ways to provide 24-hour “hit” confirmation.
20. (s) The NYSPIN Operating Manual contains information, procedures and instructions which are required to access the NYSPIN computer. To prevent unauthorized electronic access to NYSPIN or sabotage to the system or files, the NYSPIN Operating Manual, with the exception of this Part (rule), is considered to be confidential and is not a public record. No part of the NYSPIN Operating Manual may be reproduced without the express written authorization of the Superintendent of State Police. All requests for copies of the manual must be made by subpoena duces tecum served upon the Superintendent of State Police, Building 22, State Campus, Albany, NY 12226.

(a) The NYSPIN Code of Ethics.