Police Look Up Woman’s License 425 Times

Anne Marie Rasmusson is preparing to file a federal lawsuit against Minnesota police officers who harassed her. Rasmusson is a former police officer with the Eden Prairie and St. Paul police departments. She gained attention when she lost 85 pounds and became a body builder. Rasmussen later quit law enforcement over a health issue, but her reputation spread, and policemen she didn’t know contacted her. An audit found that they were looking her up in the law enforcement driver’s license database -a lot.

The numbers were astounding: One hundred and four officers in 18 different agencies from around the state had accessed her driver’s license record 425 times in what could be one of the largest private data breaches by law enforcement in history.

The Department of Public Safety sent letters to all 18 agencies demanding an Internal Affairs investigation of the 104 officers. If the cops are found to be in violation of federal privacy law, they could be fired.

The case raises questions about police powers and privacy issues. Evidence suggests that officers have used the license database for years as “like a Facebook for cops.” Link -via Fark