34 CFR 99.8 FERPA · Part 99: FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY · Subpart A: General
34 CFR 99.8 FERPA: What provisions apply to records of a law enforcement unit?
eCFR, up to date as of 29 October 2026. Retrieved 30 October 2026.
Official text
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—
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
Maintain the physical security and safety of the agency or institution.
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.
Records of a law enforcement unit means those records, files, documents, and other materials that are—
Created by a law enforcement unit;
Created for a law enforcement purpose; and
Maintained by the law enforcement unit.
Records of a law enforcement unit does not mean—
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
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.
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.
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, while in the possession of the law enforcement unit.
The Act neither requires nor prohibits the disclosure by an educational agency or institution of its law enforcement unit records.
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)(ii))
Source: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), title 34, up to date as of 29 October 2026, from the eCFR API (ecfr.gov). The eCFR is an editorial compilation of the CFR and Federal Register amendments, not an official legal edition of the CFR.
Source credit: [60 FR 3469, Jan. 17, 1995]
eCFR, up to date as of 29 October 2026. Retrieved 30 October 2026.
This is reference material, not legal advice.