Privacy in Tennessee for first responders

What protects you in Tennessee

Tennessee's core lever is Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(f). It makes the residential address, home and cell phone numbers, and other personal contact information of public employees, including sworn officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, corrections officers, and judges, confidential under the state Public Records Act. A separate provision, §10-7-504(g), covers law enforcement personnel records. When someone requests an officer's personal information for a professional, business, or official purpose, the agency redacts it at the chief law enforcement officer's determination. The officer also gets notice and a chance to object before other disclosures.

Property records are the second layer. Tennessee property records are public by default, and county assessors publish them online. Under Tenn. Code Ann. §67-5-517, you can file a written request with your county assessor to display your name as "unlisted" in the ownership field of the online searchable database. Approval is at the assessor's discretion and applies to your primary residence. The address still appears on the recorded deed, so this closes the name-based search path on the assessor's site without redacting the deed itself.

The Safe at Home program under Tenn. Code Ann. §40-38-602 gives crime victims a substitute address to use for state and local government records. Eligibility is tied to being a victim of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, rape, sexual battery, or another sexual offense, so it is not open to officers by job category alone. If you qualify, you also get voter-registration confidentiality under Tenn. Code Ann. §40-38-607, which keeps your address off the public voter list. Participants vote by absentee ballot and are exempt from jury selection.

Your driver and vehicle records sit under the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), which limits when a state DMV can release the personal information in those records. Tennessee's §10-7-504 also treats driver's license information as confidential for covered employees, except where driving is part of the job. Neither of those reaches the commercial data brokers that already hold your address.

What still leaks

1. Civil court filings. Divorce decrees, small-claims, and tax suits regularly include home addresses in the body of the filing. The §10-7-504 exemption covers agency public-records releases, not court records, which go through a separate redaction process.
2. County property record deeds. §67-5-517 unlists your name from the assessor's online search, but it does not redact the deed. Out-of-state aggregators that pull bulk recorder data can still find you.
3. Out-of-state brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, and the rest do not follow Tennessee law. They source from national aggregators and commercial feeds that never see §10-7-504.

Laws that work for you here

• Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(f): the core public-records exemption making the residential address and personal contact information of public employees, including sworn officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, corrections officers, and judges, confidential.
• Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-504(g): law enforcement personnel information, redacted at the chief law enforcement officer's determination when a request is for a professional, business, or official purpose.
• Tenn. Code Ann. §67-5-517: file with your county property assessor to unlist your name from the online property search database.
• Tenn. Code Ann. §40-38-602 (Safe at Home): substitute-address program for crime victims, not open to officers by job category alone.
• Tenn. Code Ann. §40-38-607: voter registration confidentiality for Safe at Home participants.

What we do that the state doesn't

Tennessee has no broker-removal statute. There is no state equivalent of New Jersey's Daniel's Law, which lets covered officers require data brokers to take down their home address and sue if the broker refuses. The §10-7-504 exemption controls what state agencies disclose. It does not reach Spokeo, Whitepages, or the other broker sites that publish your address from out-of-state aggregator feeds.

We file opt-outs across those broker sites and keep checking, because brokers relist people after a removal. When a site needs something only you can provide, we tell you clearly. Your home address is also the address of everyone who lives with you, so keeping it off broker sites protects the people at that address, not only you.

Run a free scan to see where your information is exposed right now.