Public records show Brigham Young University police accessed a records database thousands of times over the last 18 months, a concerning trend amid a state investigation into the school's practice of opening honor code investigations into students after they report being sexually assaulted.
The Daily Herald reported Monday that police in neighboring Provo and Utah County say it's hard to understand how the number of searches could be so high if the database were used properly.
Records obtained by the newspaper show the queries sometimes topped 50 searches in a few hours.
Provo Police Sgt. Brian Taylor says the database is designed to help track crime across jurisdictions. He said cold-searching names for possible BYU honor code violations would be illegal.
BYU police spokesman Lt. Steven Messick denies officers regularly use the database that way.