Data You Give Us Directly
Search Queries
A name or place entered in a search tool is sent directly to the outside company operating that tool. The provider handles the query and supplies its own response. Black Hawk County Criminal History does not keep or log those search terms on its systems.
Messages and Contact Submissions
An email sent to us may be retained long enough to answer and maintain the related correspondence. It remains within the operating team unless disclosure is required by law.
Data We Gather Automatically
When a page loads, the server automatically receives basic technical and usage details:
- Page-view timestamps and time spent on pages
- Device category and operating system
- Browser name and version
- Visited pages
- Referring website, when one is supplied
- The device's assigned IP address
Cookies and Analytics
Cookies are small files stored on a device. They and analytics services help aggregate traffic patterns, such as popular pages and exit points. Browser controls can reject cookies, though blocking them may change how some functions behave.
What We Do With This Data
- Route a search request to the selected partner service
- Diagnose errors and other technical faults
- Measure which pages are useful or need improvement
- Operate, secure, and improve page performance
- Display advertising that may reflect visitor interests
No Criminal-Record Data on File
Black Hawk County Criminal History does not maintain, assemble, or sell a database of personal criminal records. It explains how to reach the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office, Iowa District Court, Iowa DCI repository, and Iowa Sex Offender Registry. The website is not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Visitor information is not turned into a consumer report or a record about another person.
Third-Party Search Partners
Outside companies operate the search boxes. Their privacy policies, retention periods, and sharing rules govern any data entered there. Those practices are beyond our control, so review the provider's terms before submitting a query.
Links to Other Websites
Links may lead to sheriff, court, state agency, legal-aid, or outside search websites. Once a visitor leaves this website, the destination's privacy policy controls. Read that policy before providing personal information.
Advertising companies may use their own systems to track activity across websites for targeted ads. We do not operate that tracking.
Who Might See Your Data
Personal data is not sold. It may be disclosed only to limited categories of recipients:
- Analytics providers measuring traffic and site performance
- Search providers processing a query submitted to their tool
- Advertising networks placing ads on pages
- Government or law enforcement bodies 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 we cannot promise that an unauthorized access event will never occur.
Users Under 18
The website is intended for adults and does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If such information is identified, a deletion request may be made.
Your Data Rights
Rights can vary with the law that applies to a visitor. Iowa's public-record framework is the Iowa Open Records Law, chapter 22, while Iowa Code chapter 692 controls state criminal-history collection and dissemination. Those laws govern government records and do not convert this private website into a public record custodian. Subject to applicable law, a visitor may:
- Request correction of inaccurate personal data held by us
- Ask what personal data we retain about the visitor
- Request deletion where the law permits it
- Decline certain forms of processing when that choice is legally available
Updates to This Policy
This policy may be revised as practices or legal duties change. A revised version will appear here with its new effective date.
Effective date: July 23, 2026