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Agency settings establish baseline behavior for every officer and dispatcher in an agency — for example, disabling NCIC queries for everyone by default or requiring field MDT users to wait for dispatch unit login. User agency overrides let you punch a precise exception into that baseline for a single person, such as enabling NCIC for a newly certified operator, requiring one deputy to wait for dispatch login while the agency default is off, or exempting command staff while the agency default is on. Every override is recorded with a required reason, creating the audit trail demanded by CJIS reviews and accreditation processes.

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Override hierarchy

When Cadmus determines what a user can do, it evaluates settings in the following order:
  1. Agency default — the setting value configured on the agency’s Settings page.
  2. User override — an explicit exception set for this user in this agency.
  3. Effective setting — the value that actually controls field behavior.
If no user override exists, the agency default is the effective setting.

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Open the overrides panel

In Web Admin, open the user’s agency settings or navigate to the dedicated overrides screen if your deployment provides one.
The per-user override screen may not be linked directly from the Users list in all deployments. If you cannot locate it, contact your Cadmus administrator. The underlying API endpoints are GET /agencies/{agencyId}/users/{userId} /settings (read current overrides) and POST /agencies/{agencyId}/users/ {userId}/settings (create or update an override).

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Overridable settings

Only settings that are explicitly marked as overridable can be changed at the user level. Settings that are agency-wide (such as Separate RMS Report Numbers) cannot be overridden for individual users.

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Required fields for an override

Every override requires:
  • Reason text — a written justification stored in the audit log.
  • AgencyAdmin role or higher to save the override.
  • The target setting must be overridable at the user level.

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Unit-login override values

The Require unit login by dispatch override is tri-state: Unlike NCIC access, a user override of Yes works even when the agency default is No. Use Clear override to return the user to Inherit.

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Audit trail

Cadmus records the following information for every override created or modified:
  • Who made the change (user account).
  • When the change occurred (timestamp).
  • Reason provided at the time of the change.
Retrieve this history during accreditations and CJIS audits to demonstrate that each exception was authorized and documented.

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Dispatch and mobile impact

For information on the query commands available when NCIC access is enabled, see the Dispatch CAD Query commands documentation.

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Common mistakes

Enabling NCIC access via a user override does not make queries work if the organization’s CJIS site is not configured. Set up CJIS routing at the org level first, or the queries will fail at runtime regardless of the override.
Overrides are fully auditable. Do not use them to grant informal exceptions outside your agency’s written policy — every override appears in compliance reports.
  • Override without a documented reason — always enter a meaningful justification; vague entries such as “requested” are difficult to defend during audits.
  • Leaving an override after the user transfers agencies — review and clean up overrides whenever a user moves to a different agency or leaves the organization.
  • Enabling NCIC without verifying CJIS routing — confirm org-level CJIS configuration before granting NCIC access to any user.