Quote Originally Posted by Griff Murphey View Post
Chuck, I have contacted the Fort Worth PD every few years on these; always ask if they are still active on NCIC - they never respond.
Griff - I'm a retired Md. State Trooper and I was a Warrant/Fugitive Investigator.
By Federal Law we had to annually "Validate" all of our NCIC entrys for fugitives. We also assisted on the annual "Validation" of Stolen Firearms NCIC entrys.
Stolen firearms remain in NCIC for 99 years unless reported "Recovered" which always has to be initated by a Police Inquiry and subsequent followup reports by the inquiring Agency as to disposition and the orginal NCIC entry can only be removed by the reporting Police Agency.
Part of the "Validition" Process will often include weather or not the "Victim" was paid for his loss by his Insurence Co. If so - the Insurence Co is the owner of the property (Firearms) and NOT the "Victim". That means you'd never hear of the recovery unless your Insurence Co. called you and asked you if you wanted to "buy" your firearms back! (this only applys if you recieved an Insurence payment). The likelyhood of your Ins. Co. calling you is less than "NIL" -"Nada" - "Never" - or less!!!

If you wish to actually determine if your firearms are still entered on NCIC go to the PD you reported the theft to IN PERSON!! with your Firearms Serial #'s and info (Case # also if you have it) in hand and ask to speak with a Criminal Investigator. Be polite but firm!. Your request is simple, you want to verify your firearms are still on NCIC or have they been cleared for some reason. If they have been cleared from NCIC then WHEN and by WHOM? - If they were cleared from NCIC your next question is WHY and by WHOM.
Any decent Criminal Inv. can run your firearms data into NCIC and have a response for you inside of 5 minutes after typing it into the computor. If it's been cleared he will have a response for you in a week or so..but make an appointment within two weeks to find out WHY/WHEN/WHERE/WHOM cleared the NCIC entry.

If the NCIC entry is still active ask for a printout as it will have the original case # on it; you may need that later for followup.

If you get jerked around some (Likely) ask for a Superior, polite but firm! It flat out doesn't take that much time to check you out (ID etc) and run your serial #s. If they are still entered you've got your answer, if they aren't you'll likely get where they went to and why. If your property was NEVER entered (A possibility!!) then you can correct that!

Again!! - Polite and firm, jump through some hoops but followup on it because if you don't you'll always be nagged about it.

FWIW - I was contacted about 8 years after I retired to verify a report of stolen firearms I had taken in 1971. I did so by viewing a copy of my original report. One of the stolen guns was recovered from a Hunter going into Canadaicon for a Spring Bear hunt. The rifle (WIN Model 70 -30-06) was seized and returned to the original owner (No-Ins. ). I have no idea if the Hunter was charged..I just know the system worked that time.

HTH - Mike
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