Here is how I fixed the issue. It was caused by a mysql default.

[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3 change to

[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=1

However I do not have access to mysql settings on my production server for this project so I used the following to fix the issue.

edit classes/item.php line 557

$permission_sql .= ” OR MATCH($permissions_field) AGAINST (‘{$ur}’ IN BOOLEAN MODE)”;

Changed to:

$permission_sql .= ” OR $permissions_field LIKE ‘%$ur|%’ OR $permissions_field LIKE ‘%|$ur|%’ OR $permissions_field LIKE ‘%$ur|%'”;

Hope this helps if you run into this issue.