FRONTLINEPRIVACY

Privacy in Iowa for first responders

What state law protects, what still leaks, and what we sweep beyond it.

Run a free scan. No signup.

Protect Our Protectors / Address Confidentiality Program

Iowa maintains a state-level program that lets eligible officers, judges, and other protected workers use a substitute address for public records.

Apply or learn more →

Public-records carve-outs

  • Iowa Code § 22.7(18) — personal information of peace officers, corrections officers, and their family members is exempt from disclosure under the open records law.
  • Iowa Code § 80G.1 — additional confidentiality protection for peace and corrections officer personnel records.
  • Iowa Code § 708.7A — anti-doxxing criminal statute covering peace officers, corrections officers, and immediate family. Posting personal info with intent to threaten is a crime.
  • Iowa Code § 331.604(2) — county recorders must redact participant addresses from property records on ACP filing.
  • Iowa Administrative Code 761—Chapter 301 — driver's license and vehicle records confidentiality through the ACP.

Applicable laws

What protects you in Iowa

Iowa runs the Protect Our Protectors program through the Secretary of State — an Address Confidentiality Program (Iowa Code Chapter 9E) built specifically for peace officers, corrections officers, and their families. Enroll, get a substitute address, and state and local agencies have to use it instead of your real one. That's the strongest lever in the state.

Iowa Code § 22.7(18) and § 80G.1 keep your home address and personal info out of any record an agency would otherwise release under the open records law. The protection covers peace officers, corrections officers, and their family members. It applies to the records themselves — once you're on file, the agency can't disclose those fields.

Iowa also passed a criminal anti-doxxing statute, Iowa Code § 708.7A. Posting an officer's personal information with intent to threaten is a crime. It's a deterrent, not a removal mechanism — it doesn't make a broker take the listing down. But it gives prosecutors something to charge if someone uses your data to come after you.

What still leaks

  1. Civil court filings. Divorce, small claims, and tax suits often include your home address in the body of the filing. The judicial branch publishes dockets online statewide. The § 22.7 exemption doesn't reach court records.
  2. Out-of-state and commercial brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and the rest source from out-of-state aggregators that scraped your address before any ACP enrollment. They don't honor Iowa law. The state shield doesn't reach them.
  3. Pre-enrollment broker data. Once your address is in a broker's feed, ACP doesn't pull it back out. You still have to opt out site by site.

Laws that work for you here

  • Iowa Code Chapter 9E (ACP — Protect Our Protectors) — enroll through the Secretary of State for a substitute address. State and local agencies must use it.
  • Iowa Code § 22.7(18) — keeps personal info of peace officers, corrections officers, and family out of open records responses.
  • Iowa Code § 80G.1 — additional confidentiality for officer personnel records.
  • Iowa Code § 708.7A — criminalizes doxxing of officers and family with intent to threaten. No private removal action, but it gives prosecutors a charge.
  • Iowa Code § 331.604(2) — county recorders redact ACP participant addresses from property records.
  • Iowa Administrative Code 761—Chapter 301 — DMV and vehicle record confidentiality through the ACP.

What we sweep that the state doesn't

The ACP and the § 22.7 exemption shut down agency-side disclosure. They don't touch the brokers. We file opt-outs across 200+ people-search sites and re-check every two weeks because re-listings happen. After any property transaction or court filing, we re-check faster — those are the events that put a fresh address back into broker feeds. Your home stays your home. We close the path that runs around the state laws.

Run a free scan. No signup.