Fred Grimm: Florida’s snooping cops abusing database

[Judi Lynn]

Fred Grimm: Florida’s snooping cops abusing database
Fred Grimm -
[e-mail]

11/17/2014 7:34 PM
| Updated: 11/17/2014 9:51 PM

So much information. So little oversight. Too much temptation. Even for a police officer. Especially for a police officer.
They call it “Google for cops,” though that hardly describes the reach of D.A.V.I.D., which yields personal, private information of anyone with driver license. Supposedly, the Driver And Vehicle Information Database can only be used by cops in criminal inquires.

Abuse has been rampant.

Florida’s version of D.A.V.I.D. has provided snooping cops information about ex-wives, politicians, girlfriends, celebrities, attractive colleagues, unpopular cops.

Often, violations come with no real consequences. Earlier this month, Miami’s NBC 6 broadcast the latest in a string of media reports about cops abusing the database. NBC 6 found that 72 percent of the officers caught misusing the system got off with only a reprimand.

Over the last two years, stories about the misuse of the system have been piling up around Florida. A police officer in Clearwater was demoted after using D.A.V.I.D. more than 100 times to dredge up information on his ex-wife’s boyfriend, a TV news reporter and the ex-wives of his colleagues. A Hillsborough sheriff’s detective was suspended for 60 days after searching out info about colleagues, lawyers, a judge, celebrities, even members of his own family.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article3986551.html#storylink=cpy

[Man from Pickens]

1. Choosing to bring the database into existence

is also choosing to have it abused. The former NEVER occurs without the latter also happening.

We've heard about how the NSA abuses their systems - I can only imagine how bad it is at the DHS "fusion centers" where they combine many agencies' databases into a single access point.

[marble falls]

2. An important and subtle truth. Great point.