County police then shut down access to the database, known as REJIS, to the officers’ computers inside Dooley’s office and required them to notify their supervisor should they need to run a name. Clayton police also agreed to run names of police board candidates.

Running names in the system for any reason other than a criminal justice purpose is illegal and violates county police policy, Fitch said.

“I’m not saying Dooley did anything improper; we’re investigating whether our detectives did,” Fitch said.

Circumstances under which Fitch said an officer assigned to Dooley’s detail might need access to the database include vetting potential threats made against the administration. However, Fitch said neither officer had asked a supervisor to run any names since the internal affairs investigation began.

“It must be related to criminal justice purposes,” Fitch said. “It cannot be for any political purposes or any other reasons. We haven’t come to any conclusions yet so we don’t know if these officers did anything improper yet.” Fitch would not say how many names the officers ran during their time assigned to Dooley’s detail, citing the ongoing internal investigation.