Data You Give Us Directly
Search Queries
A name or place entered into a search tool is sent to the outside company that operates that tool. The provider processes the query and supplies its result. Chowan County Criminal History does not retain or log those search terms on its own systems.
Messages and Contact Submissions
An email or other direct message may be kept long enough to review and answer it. The message remains within the organization unless disclosure is required by a valid legal duty.
Data We Gather Automatically
Loading a page can cause the server to receive routine technical and usage details:
- Page-view dates, times, and visit duration
- The device's assigned IP address
- Browser name, version, and operating system
- Device category
- Pages viewed during the visit
- A referring website, when one is supplied
Cookies and Analytics
Cookies are small device files that support traffic analysis, such as measuring popular pages and where visits end. Analytics providers may combine that activity into summary reports. A browser can block cookies, although doing so may change how some site functions behave.
What We Do With This Data
- Operating, securing, and improving site performance
- Passing a submitted query to the selected search partner
- Diagnosing errors and other technical problems
- Measuring which material visitors use
- Displaying advertising that may reflect visitor interests
No Criminal-Record Data on File
Chowan County Criminal History does not build, keep, or sell a database of personal criminal records. Its content identifies official routes to the Chowan Sheriff, county courts, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry. The site is not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and visitor data is not compiled into a consumer report or a dossier about another person.
Third-Party Search Partners
Outside companies power the site's search boxes. A partner's privacy policy, retention rules, and sharing practices apply to information entered in its tool. Those practices are not controlled here, so review the provider's policy before submitting a query.
Links to Other Websites
Links may lead to a sheriff, court portal, state office, legal resource, or outside search service. Once a visitor leaves this site, the destination's own privacy policy governs. Read that policy before giving the destination personal information.
Advertising companies may use their systems to measure activity across sites and select targeted ads. Their tracking is governed by their own practices.
Who Might See Your Data
Personal data is not sold. Limited information may be available to:
- Analytics providers measuring traffic and performance
- Search partners processing a query submitted to their tool
- Advertising networks serving ads
- A government or law-enforcement body acting under a valid legal order
How We Protect Your Data
Reasonable, standard safeguards are used for collected data. No internet service can guarantee perfect security, however, and this policy does not promise that a breach or unauthorized access can never occur.
Users Under 18
The service is intended for adults and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone younger than 18. If such information is identified, a deletion request may be made.
Your Data Rights
Rights can vary with applicable law. North Carolina's public-record framework appears in Chapter 132, while G.S. 132-1.4 addresses criminal-investigation and intelligence information held by public agencies. Those laws govern government records, not private-site data. For information held by this site, a visitor may:
- Ask what personal information is held about them
- Request correction of inaccurate personal data
- Seek deletion where applicable
- Request an available opt-out from certain processing
Updates to This Policy
This policy may be revised. A changed version will be posted here with a new effective date, and continued use will be subject to the version then displayed.
Effective date: August 1, 2026