Policeman fired for misuse of data base information, appeals

A Dothan police officer fired last fall for accessing secure information, said he e-mailed the data to a business owner who was seeking payment on a forged check.

Although he didn’t recall e-mailing it, Brian O. Smith said he believed his action was acceptable and in the line of duty.

Smith said Victor Cason of Linden Street Grocery asked him for assistance in getting the birth date and address on the check writer so Cason could file a warrant against him. Smith said he took no compensation for providing the information.

Police later saw the October 2007 e-mail Smith sent to Cason’s other business, Check it Out Check Cashing.

Cason, who now has a bail bondsman’s license, said several officers have provided this kind of information to him.

“Whoever was on duty that did a walk-through that day, I addressed it. He was the one who did the walk-through.”

Cason said the e-mail provided him with a photograph of the person he was seeking.

Last October — a year after the email — authorities began an internal investigation into Smith’s use of the search engine.

Smith testified before the Dothan Personnel Board Thursday that he had not received training or policy regarding the use of LETS (Law Enforcement Tactical System).

“In my opinion, it was for a law enforcement purpose. They (agents from the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center) never told me it was wrong, but they said they probably wouldn’t have e-mailed it out,” Smith said. “I never ran any name for non-law enforcement purpose.”

The violation is considered “major” in that it jeopardizes law enforcement’s access to LETS, a data base which provides criminal, motor vehicle and personal data on people.

As part of the investigation by Rob Stewart with the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, Smith’s LETS account for a 15-month period was printed.

Smith’s account, accessed by private password, showed numerous questionable searches of people, including Smith’s ex-wife, former mother-in-law, his mother, his best friend, former girlfriends, co-workers, high school friends and a sitting city commissioner.

Smith denied having run about 75 names on a sheet of about 85, but said he was involved in a child custody fight in 2007-08 with his ex-wife and now believes his current wife was running the checks to help her husband obtain custody.

More than 200 of the inquiries were run while off duty, either on sick leave or vacation.

Smith said he kept a file on his home computer with his password and user name data for various e-mail accounts, his MySpace page, and Web sites he regularly used. He said his wife, whom he identified as his estranged wife whom he is divorcing, accessed his computer accounts because she did not trust him.

Smith’s wife denied using the LETS or running any of the names, according to police testimony.

“He told me his wife had some trust issues with him,” Sgt. Mike Etress said.

City Attorney Len White said on these dozens of LETS inquiries, regardless of who ran them, Smith violated city policy by failing to protect his user name and password.

“You knew that password was known by your wife and you knew she knew how to change it when it changed,” White said.

Smith’s attorney, John White, asked Etress if Smith personally knew his wife was running LETS inquiries.

“He said it was a possibility,” Etress said.

Smith was a corporal at the time of his termination and had been an officer from August 2000 to Nov. 17, 2008.

John White said he did not believe Smith violated the public trust by helping a businessman reclaim lost funds. “He should not be penalized for assisting a victim of a crime.”

“The issue of all these other people run through LETS system, I think is obvious who did it. He had no personal knowledge his estranged wife was doing so. Had he known, he would have put a stop to it.”

Len White said there is no reason to prove who ran all the other people. What’s important, he said, is that security was breached and the system was abused, thereby breaching the public trust.

The incident is also being investigated as a criminal case.