1. (a) It is the policy of the department of public safety that an individual with a criminal history record on file with this department has the right to access and review this record.

2. (b) The procedure to obtain this information for individuals appearing at department of public safety headquarters in Austin, is as follows.

   1. (1) Any individual requesting access to his criminal history record must submit a written request to the Crime Records Division, Texas Department of Public Safety, P.O. Box 4143, Austin, Texas 78765.
   2. (2) The individual will present the request to the chief, Crime Records Division, or his designee, Texas Department of Public Safety, 5805 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas.
   3. (3) The individual will be fingerprinted to establish identification. A search will be conducted and if a record is located the arrest history is shown to the individual for review.
   4. (4) The individual requesting review of said record may make notes of the criminal history record. If the individual feels that the record is incorrect or incomplete, it is the individual's responsibility to contact the agency submitting the record in question. The individual may, for the proper fee, obtain a copy of that portion of the record if it is determined that there is reason to challenge. The individual will be advised that the record is for review and challenge only. It is the responsibility of the agency submitting the record to determine the validity of said record and make corrections or deletions that may be required. Official notification to the department must be made by the agency requesting any corrections or deletions. Upon receipt of such correction or deletion request from the reporting agency, the department will immediately correct or change the record accordingly.

3. (c) The procedure to obtain this information in the event the individual is unable to appear personally at the department of public safety headquarters in Austin, is as follows.

   1. (1) Any individual requesting access to his criminal history record must submit a written request for same to the Crime Records Division, Texas Department of Public Safety, P.O. Box 4143, Austin, Texas 78765.
   2. (2) The individual must be fingerprinted by a criminal justice agency and said agency must identify the fingerprint card of the individual fingerprinted with the proper identifying data as required on the fingerprint card.
   3. (3) The written request and the fingerprint card will be mailed by the participating criminal justice agency to the department of public safety.
   4. (4) The criminal history file will be searched by the department and if a positive fingerprint identification is established on an existing criminal history record, a printout of said record will be obtained from the file.
   5. (5) The printout of said criminal history record, the submitted fingerprint card, and the original letter will be returned to the participating criminal justice agency. If no arrest record is found in the file, a notation of such fact will be made on the fingerprint card and the fingerprint card and the original letter will be returned to the participating criminal justice agency. In either event, the department will mail a letter to the requesting individual advising that no record was found or that a copy of the criminal history record, if any, has been mailed to the participating criminal justice agency.
   6. (6) It will then be the responsibility of the individual requesting said record to personally call for review of such record at that participating criminal justice agency. The participating criminal justice agency must determine that the person reviewing the criminal history record is the same person that was fingerprinted by that agency for the purpose of record review and challenge.
   7. (7) The individual requesting review of said record may make notes of the criminal history record. After reviewing the said record and if the individual feels that the record is incorrect or incomplete, it is the individual's responsibility to contact the agency which originally submitted the record in question. The individual may, for the proper fee, obtain a copy of that portion of the record if it is determined that there is reason to challenge. The individual will be advised that the record is for review and challenge only. It then will be the responsibility of the agency originally submitting the record to determine the validity of said record and make any corrections or deletions that may be required. Official notification to the department must be submitted by the agency requesting any corrections or deletions. Upon receipt of such correction or deletion request from the reporting agency, the department of public safety will immediately correct or change the record accordingly.
   8. (8) At the conclusion of the review, the participating criminal justice agency will destroy all remaining papers concerning this inquiry.

Source Note:The provisions of this §27.1 adopted to be effective January 1, 1976; amended to be effective December 17, 1980, 5 TexReg 4847; amended to be effective August 31, 1981, 6 TexReg 3011; amended to be effective March 27, 1987, 12 TexReg 829.