BATS contains information from the investigation of possible crimes involving explosives and fire as reported by local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement and public safety agencies throughout the United States. This information is reported to BATS as a result of a variety of investigative actions including but not limited to incident responses, crime scene processing, and interviews of suspects and potential witnesses. The agency contributing information into BATS is the custodian/owner of that record and responsible for maintaining the original. This information is designated as case data collected by law enforcement in the performance of their duties and is exempt from the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a(j)(2)). See also FOIA’s law enforcement exemptions, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7) which generally exempts from disclosure records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes.

Disclosures made under a non-federal agency’s State Public and Open Records Laws (including arson immunity laws) or other internal agency dissemination policy applies only to incident reports that the participating agency has contributed into BATS.