All traffic stops made by law enforcment are logged into a national database, regardless if you were cited or not.

The information that is entered is:

full name

DL number

reason for stop


If you are pulled over any where else in the nation all the officer has to do is run your DL# through his computer to see all of your previous contacts with law enforcement.

In a perfect world all traffic stops would show up, however we do not live in a perfect world.  There are a lot of factors that play into whether or not a particular stop, arrest, citation etc. will show up.

1.  Most officers will usually write down basic info about your vehicle before they even approach it.  This is done as a precaution.  If they were to get shot, at least the next unit or investigators would have a lead to go off of.  If he only inspected your ID at your vehicle and did not walk back to his to run it, then he more than likely did not enter your info into anything.

2.  The plates will be run and the info regarding wheter or not it is stolen and the owner's personal info will come up.

3.  An officer may or may not run your ID, and even if they do it does not mean that it will show up on a national database.  Infact, even if you are ticketed or arrested there is no guarantee that this will show up on an NCIC or on AFIS.  Remeber, it is ultimately the task of a human to enter this info and sometimes human nature is to do a half-assed job at things.   

4.  Each city usually keeps on its database all the info regarding each time your name or DL # was run or mentioned in a report.  This is not, however, always placed on a national database or even on a state only database.  Ex.  getting a ticket in California, does not mean that a trooper pulling you over in Oregon would know about it.   

All of us in LE wish there was  a "national" database that worked perfectly and would give us everyone's LE contact info, but it just isn't so.   

Ex.  I have run across situations where an NCIC check revealed the person had no arrests, but a county specific check revealed an arrest history.  Each agency uses different programs, computers and IT departments.  Getting them to all sync is just not going to happen any time this decade.