New US background database unlikely to stop police misconduct, critics warn

Experts say new DoJ program intended to track backgrounds of federal police unlikely to solve problem of ‘wandering officers’

A new US justice department database intended to track the backgrounds of officers working for federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and ATF is unlikely to solve the problem of police with checkered pasts moving between departments, defense attorneys and reform advocates warn.

Announced in December, the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) will compile reports of misconduct by federal law enforcement officers, after legislation to create a national catalog of complaints against police at all levels of government was blocked in Congress.