Did your friend have his arrest record expunged after the charges were dropped?

Many people have 'assumed' their arrest record is expunged if charges are dropped. His arrest record could come back to haunt him some day in the future. I had a friend who was arrested under similar circumstances. The charges against him were dropped. However, the arrest record was not expunged. Subsequently, when he applied for a job that required a security clearance in government, he answered the security questionnaire erroneously about being arrested. He was operating under the assumption his prior arrest record did not exist because the charges were dropped.

My point is that arrest records are never automatically expunged if charges are dropped.