Las Vegas Sun: Metro admits to improper release of criminal history data
From the Las Vegas Sun comes yet another story of insiders accused of misusing or abusing their access to government databases. (Last week, the Las Vegas Sun reported on another possible case of insider abuse: “Private information about accident victims treated at University Medical Center has apparently been leaking for months, the Sun has learned, allegedly so ambulance-chasing attorneys could mine for clients.” There have been a number of such cases.)
At least 12 Metro employees have been found since 2005 to be improperly accessing and disseminating criminal history information for reasons unrelated to police work, according to a Metro filing in a recent lawsuit.
Given Metro’s roughly 6,000 employees, that means one in 500, or 0.2 percent, have been caught improperly accessing and disseminating the information.
Civil libertarians said this raises privacy concerns and questions about the integrity of the department. [...]
The revelation in the court document stems from a lawsuit filed against Metro by Stephen Quinn, who claims that police and Department of Motor Vehicles information about him and associates was sought by the son of former Gov. Kenny Guinn in an apparent effort to try to discredit him. [...]
A separate but related lawsuit Quinn filed against retired Metro Officer Paul Osuch and current Officer Kai Degner raises questions about the integrity of Metro’s own internal affairs unit.
Osuch was discovered to be the Metro officer giving information to private investigator Thomas about Quinn after Dana Gentry, executive producer of “Face to Face With Jon Ralston,” made inquiries with the department.
Gentry’s reporting revealed the dissemination of information by Metro on Quinn and many of his associates; they were not criminal suspects.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie acknowledged this year that a “ridiculous” number of database searches had been conducted on Quinn and his associates.
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