Charges brought against former Headland officer
State authorities arrested a former Headland police officer Thursday on charges he improperly used the state police records system.
According to a statement from the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC), agents arrested Jason Carey Hughes, 39, for misusing confidential law enforcement information. Hughes faces three misdemeanor charges, which each carry up to a year in jail.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office presented evidence in the case to a Henry County grand jury, which resulted in the three misdemeanor indictments against Hughes. Agents with ACJIC, the state department which compiles and provides information to Alabama law enforcement and the criminal justice community, served the indictments on Hughes. He was taken to the Henry County Jail.
Hughes was charged with a single count of unauthorized use of a computer to obtain criminal records for people with the Law Enforcement Tactical System (LETS), the property of ACJIC. He also faces two counts of unauthorized disclosure of computerized criminal records obtained through the LETS system.
Lynn Childs, a spokesperson for ACJIC, said the offenses happened in September 2008 while Hughes worked as officer at the Headland Police Department.
It’s unclear whose records he looked up while serving as a police officer. It’s also unclear whether he still works as a law enforcement officer.
The case was investigated by ACJIC agents and will be prosecuted by the Alabama Attorney General’s Public Corruption and White Collar Crime Division.
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Reader Reactions
Let me see if I got this right. A Houston County Correction Officer kills an inmate in an “accident” and gets a one day suspension. This officer uses the computer and he might go to prison. Someone please tell me whats wrong with this picture.
It’s a shame those that we should be able to trust - we can’t!!!!! He’s not alone - he was just caught. You would really be surprised what goes on(if truth be known) behind closed doors. My my my how times have changed—and they can’t understand why the public doesn’t show them respect anymore?
I would have thought this to be a common occurence like running a tag number to see where a nice looking woman lives or who’s truck is parked next to my hunting lease. What is the big deal is it because it opens the dooor to extortion or harmful gossip on someone?
it’s easy to judge someone but maybe he was looking up something concerned with his family, and im sure he is not the first officer that has pulled strings or use their badge for their own personal advantages
Well, it looks like its time to re-visit this question, in search of an answer——“Who’s gonna ‘police’ the police”?
These types of programs always have passwords and can almost always be traced back to its user.
This guy was just arrogant enough to think he would get away with it. He may have, too, however, when you tick off the wrong people, things have a way of returning back to ya ten times worse than you expect.
Isn’t karma great!
What a shame, when the ones we trust to protect us and help us, the ones we should be able to trust above all other citizens in our community, turn bad or use the system for their own purposes.
Why would they arrest one officer for doing what all officers do? Who initiated this? It doesn’t say how it was discovered or who discovered it…I find that kind of strange.
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