N.C.G.S. § 132-1.4 (a) states that records of criminal investigations conducted by public law enforcement agencies or records of criminal intelligence information compiled by public law enforcement agencies are not public records. However, unless otherwise prohibited by law, certain information collected by public law enforcement agencies become a public record as defined by the Public Records Law.
For example, the time, date, location and the nature of an apparent violation of the law reported to a public law enforcement agency, and the name, sex, age, address, employment and alleged violation of law of a person arrested, charged or indicted are public information. N.C.G.S. §132-1.4 (c) (1) & (2)
Note: State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) records are not public records and access to them is not available under the Public Records Law. Case law has held that access to SBI records is controlled entirely by N.C.G.S. § 114-15. Similarly, case law has held that prison records are confidential and are not subject to inspection by the public or by the inmate involved.