Database Directory
Police Officer Lookup Databases: City, State & National Directory
A verified, current directory of the public databases that let you research law enforcement officers — what each one actually contains, who runs it, and what you can (and cannot) search.
There is no single national database the public can use to look up an officer by badge number. What does exist is a patchwork of city, state, and independent databases — most of them misconduct and disciplinary records searchable by officer name, not badge-number lookup tools. Major examples include Chicago’s Citizens Police Data Project, New York’s CCRB database and NYPD Officer Profile, statewide POST certification records, and independent national projects like the National Police Index. This page lists the real, currently active ones and explains exactly what each lets you search.
β οΈ Important: badge numbers are not reliable identifiers
Most of these databases do not let you search by badge number, and for good reason. As New York’s Legal Aid Society notes about its own data, badge and shield numbers “cannot be considered reliable identifiers” — they can change over an officer’s career and are reused. The databases below are searchable mainly by name, agency, or complaint. For how to actually identify an officer when a badge number is all you have, see our companion guide on how to look up a police officer by badge number.
π In this directory
National Databases & Multi-State Projects
No government database lets the public search every U.S. officer in one place. The closest national resources are independent, journalist- and nonprofit-run projects that aggregate records from many agencies. Each has limits — coverage gaps, and no national unique officer ID — but together they are the broadest public starting point.
| Resource | Run by | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| National Police Index | Invisible Institute | Officer employment-history records compiled from state POST agencies across multiple states. |
| NACDL Known Police Accountability Data Sets | Nat’l Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers | A master directory linking to the public officer/misconduct datasets that exist nationwide — the best index of what’s available where. |
| Police Scorecard | Police Scorecard (501c3) | Department-level (not officer-level) scoring on use of force, accountability, and arrests for thousands of agencies. |
| Louisiana LLEAD | Innocence & Justice Louisiana | Consolidated records from 600+ Louisiana agencies — a model for statewide aggregation. |
π Note on the federal database (NLEAD)
The U.S. Department of Justice launched a federal National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) in December 2023, covering misconduct and commendation records for federal officers. It was never a public lookup tool — access was limited to hiring agencies — and it has since been taken offline. Any page presenting NLEAD as a public officer-lookup database is out of date.
Major City Databases
A number of large cities publish officer records online, almost always as disciplinary or complaint data searchable by name. They are the richest public sources where they exist. The most established:
Chicago
The Citizens Police Data Project (run by the Invisible Institute) is the largest of its kind in the country — more than 240,000 misconduct allegations involving over 22,000 Chicago officers across roughly five decades, searchable by officer name. The city’s own COPA complaint data is also published on the Chicago Data Portal.
New York City
New York has several overlapping tools after the 2020 repeal of Section 50-a. The NYPD Officer Profile portal lists active officers’ name, shield number (for ranks below lieutenant), command, awards, and substantiated discipline going back to 2010. The CCRB publishes every civilian complaint since 2000. Independent tools — the Legal Aid Society’s Law Enforcement Look Up and 50-a.org — aggregate complaints, lawsuits, and roster data, though both stress that shield numbers are not stable identifiers.
Other major cities
Philadelphia (Police Advisory Commission), Seattle (SPD data portal), Los Angeles (LAPD open data), San Francisco (DPA complaint tracker), and Indianapolis (IMPD transparency portal) all publish varying levels of officer or complaint data. Coverage and search options differ widely city to city — the NACDL index above is the fastest way to find whether a specific city has one.
β¨ Field tip β finding your city’s portal
Search “[your city] police transparency portal” or “[your city] officer complaint database.” Many were created after 2020, so older guides may not list them. If your city has none, the state POST records below are your next stop.
State POST Certification Records
Every state has a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) body that certifies officers. A growing number publish public lists of officers whose certification has been revoked (decertified) or has lapsed — useful for confirming whether someone is currently a certified officer in that state. These are certification-status records, not badge-number lookups.
- Massachusetts — the POST Commission (created 2021) publishes officer certification status and public decertification/discipline lists.
- Connecticut — POST publishes downloadable lists of decertified officers with names, agencies, and reasons.
- Idaho — POST offers a public decertification search.
- California, Illinois, Washington, New Jersey — each maintains POST/standards-board certification records, with New Jersey’s Attorney General publishing major-discipline records.
Behind these sits the National Decertification Index (NDI), used by all 50 states and D.C. to flag officers decertified in any state. The NDI is a pointer system for hiring agencies, not a public search tool — but the state lists above are the public-facing window into the same information.
What These Databases Actually Contain
It helps to know what you’re looking at before you start. Across these tools, the data generally falls into a few buckets: officer name and current agency/assignment; rank and (sometimes) shield number; complaint and misconduct history; certification status; and in some cities, civil-lawsuit and use-of-force records. What you almost never find publicly: home address, personal contact details, or any reliable badge-number-to-name index. Different agencies issue badges in different formats — understanding how police ranks and badge numbering work helps you read what a record is telling you, and knowing the difference between sheriff and police agencies tells you which database to check.
Need the step-by-step process instead of the database list?
Our companion guide walks through exactly how officer identification works — phone, portal, and public records request, state by state.
Read: How to look up an officer by badge number βHow to Use Them Effectively
- Start with the agency type. A city police officer goes in a city portal; a sheriff’s deputy through the county; a state trooper through state POST; a federal agent (such as the FBI or US Marshals) through that agency’s public-affairs office.
- Search by name, not badge number. Most tools index by name; have it ready, since the badge number alone usually won’t resolve.
- Check the NACDL index to see whether your specific city or state has a public dataset before assuming it doesn’t.
- Use state POST records to confirm current certification or check for decertification.
- For anything not online, file a public records request — the full process is in our officer identification guide.
π Key takeaways
- No single national, public, badge-number lookup database exists — coverage is layered across national, state, and city sources.
- Most public databases hold misconduct/complaint records searchable by name, not badge number.
- Badge and shield numbers are not reliable unique identifiers and can change or repeat.
- National starting points: National Police Index, NACDL’s dataset index, Police Scorecard.
- The deepest data is city-level (Chicago CPDP, NYC CCRB/Officer Profile) where it exists.
- State POST records confirm certification status and list decertified officers.
- The federal NLEAD was never public and has been taken offline.
Frequently Asked Questions
β Is there a single national database to look up any police officer?
No. There is no public national officer database. The broadest public options are independent multi-state projects like the National Police Index and the NACDL index of known datasets, but they have coverage gaps and no national unique officer ID. Most usable records are held at the city or state level.
β Can I search these databases by badge number?
Usually not. Most tools index by officer name because badge and shield numbers are not reliable identifiers — they can change during a career and be reused. If a badge number is all you have, identification has to go through the agency directly, which our companion guide explains.
β Which cities have the best public officer databases?
Chicago’s Citizens Police Data Project is the largest, with 240,000+ allegations across 22,000+ officers. New York offers the NYPD Officer Profile portal, the CCRB complaint database, and independent tools like 50-a.org. Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Indianapolis also publish varying levels of data.
β What is a state POST database?
A Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) body certifies officers in each state. Many publish public lists of officers whose certification was revoked (decertified) or lapsed — for example Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Idaho. These confirm certification status rather than matching a badge number to a name.
β Whatever happened to the federal NLEAD database?
The U.S. Department of Justice launched the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database in December 2023 to track misconduct and commendations for federal officers. It was only ever accessible to hiring agencies, not the public, and it has since been taken offline. It is not a public officer-lookup tool.
β Are these officer records free to access?
The online databases listed here are free to search. Formal public records requests for documents not posted online are free or carry only nominal copying fees. Paid people-search sites generally repackage free public data and are best avoided.