A deputy sheriff in Sumter county, Florida was arrested and fired yesterday for using police tools to cyber stalk her husband’s ex-wife. Detective Almany created official electronic records that falsely represented the searches as legitimate Sheriff’s Office investigations so she could access:
- Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS)
- Flock Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR), and
- Driver and Vehicle Information Database (DAVID)
The maintenance of these databases, and the uncontrolled access to them that begs for misuse is a clear violation of the rights of the people. Their existence in their current form is purely a 4th Amendment issue that needs to be addressed. Having an electronic dossier on every American, their whereabouts, and a real time database of their movements is simply egregious.
Not just that, but police need more oversight and less unfettered deference. Qualified immunity needs to go, and police should be forced to obtain malpractice insurance, just like most other businesses do. Medical professionals, accountants, and even travel agents are required to carry insurance against mistakes made in the course of their jobs. I don’t see why police are any different. These databases should require a warrant for access, and any misuse should result in criminal charges, termination, and liability to the person whose rights were violated- to be paid personally from the offending cop or his insurance.
There are people here who would say posts like this reflect a bias against cops. I disagree. These posts instead reflect a lack of bias towards cops, in that I don’t think police are any more righteous than the average person and special care needs to be taken in preventing people from abusing police powers.
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