Data You Give Us Directly
Search Queries
A name or location entered in a search box is sent directly to the outside company operating that tool. The provider processes the query and supplies its results. Howard County Criminal History does not keep or record those search terms on its own systems.
Messages and Contact Submissions
An email or other direct message may be retained long enough to prepare and document a response. It remains within the operating team unless disclosure is required by a valid legal obligation.
Data We Gather Automatically
Loading a page can cause the servers to receive routine technical and usage details, including:
- Page-view dates and times
- The referring website, when one is reported
- Pages viewed and approximate time spent on them
- Device category and operating system
- Browser type and version
- The device's assigned IP address
Cookies and Analytics
Cookies are small files placed on a device. They and analytics services help combine traffic data, such as popular pages and points where visits end. A browser can reject or remove cookies, although disabling them may change how certain website functions behave.
What We Do With This Data
- Diagnosing errors and other technical problems
- Maintaining reliable and efficient website operation
- Routing a search to the provider selected by the user
- Measuring which material is useful and where improvements are needed
- Displaying advertising that may reflect inferred interests
No Criminal-Record Data on File
Howard County Criminal History neither hosts nor sells a database of personal criminal records. Its published material identifies official sources, including Howard County Sheriff, local court clerks, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Records Division, and the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry. Visitor information is not assembled into a record about another person or into a consumer report. This website is not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Third-Party Search Partners
Outside companies operate the website's search boxes. Information submitted through one of those tools is governed by that provider's privacy policy. Each provider controls its own retention and disclosure practices, so users should review those terms before running a query.
Links to Other Websites
Links may lead to Howard County offices, Texas agencies, courts, legal-aid resources, or independent search providers. After a visitor leaves this website, the destination's policy controls its data practices. Review that policy before providing personal information.
Advertising companies may use their own systems to follow activity across websites for interest-based advertising. That tracking is conducted by those companies.
Who Might See Your Data
Personal data is not sold. Limited information can be available to:
- Advertising networks that serve content on these pages
- Analytics providers measuring use and performance
- Search companies processing a query the user submits
- A government or law-enforcement body acting under a valid legal order
How We Protect Your Data
Reasonable, commonly used safeguards protect information handled by the website. No internet service can guarantee perfect security, however, and this policy does not promise that unauthorized access will never occur.
Users Under 18
The website is intended for adults and does not knowingly collect personal information from a person under 18. If such data is identified, it will be removed.
Your Data Rights
Applicable privacy or consumer-protection law may provide rights beyond those listed here. The Texas Public Information Act, Government Code Chapter 552, governs access to records held by Texas public bodies, while Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter F, controls dissemination of criminal-history record information by TxDPS. Those public-record statutes do not turn visitor data held by this private website into a Howard County or TxDPS record. At a minimum, a user may:
- Request access to personal data held about that user
- Ask that inaccurate personal data be corrected
- Seek deletion of applicable personal data
- Decline certain forms of processing where a right applies
Updates to This Policy
This policy may be revised as practices or legal duties change. A replacement version becomes available here with a new effective date.
Effective date: August 9, 2026