---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 C.F.R. § 99.8"
title: "34"
number: "99.8"
heading: "What provisions apply to records of a law enforcement unit?"
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/34/99.8"
---

# §99.8. What provisions apply to records of a law enforcement unit?

- (a)
  - (1) Law enforcement unit means any individual, office, department, division, or other component of an educational agency or institution, such as a unit of commissioned police officers or non-commissioned security guards, that is officially authorized or designated by that agency or institution to—
    - (i) Enforce any local, State, or Federal law, or refer to appropriate authorities a matter for enforcement of any local, State, or Federal law against any individual or organization other than the agency or institution itself; or
    - (ii) **Maintain the physical security and safety of the agency or institution.**
  - (2) A component of an educational agency or institution does not lose its status as a law enforcement unit if it also performs other, non-law enforcement functions for the agency or institution, including investigation of incidents or conduct that constitutes or leads to a disciplinary action or proceedings against the student.
- (b)
  - (1) Records of a law enforcement unit means those records, files, documents, and other materials that are—
    - (i) Created by a law enforcement unit;
    - (ii) Created for a law enforcement purpose; and
    - (iii) **Maintained by the law enforcement unit.**
  - (2) **Records of a law enforcement unit does not mean—**
    - (i) Records created by a law enforcement unit for a law enforcement purpose that are maintained by a component of the educational agency or institution other than the law enforcement unit; or
    - (ii) Records created and maintained by a law enforcement unit exclusively for a non-law enforcement purpose, such as a disciplinary action or proceeding conducted by the educational agency or institution.
- (c)
  - (1) Nothing in the Act prohibits an educational agency or institution from contacting its law enforcement unit, orally or in writing, for the purpose of asking that unit to investigate a possible violation of, or to enforce, any local, State, or Federal law.
  - (2) Education records, and personally identifiable information contained in education records, do not lose their status as education records and remain subject to the Act, including the disclosure provisions of [§ 99.30](/cfr/34/99.30.md), while in the possession of the law enforcement unit.
- (d) The Act neither requires nor prohibits the disclosure by an educational agency or institution of its law enforcement unit records.

## Notes

### Amendments

[60 FR 3469, Jan. 17, 1995]

### Authority

Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g, unless otherwise noted.

### Source

Source: 53 FR 11943, Apr. 11, 1988, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[60 FR 3469, Jan. 17, 1995]