Former Bradenton police Sgt. Leonel Marines. Photo: WFTS
When former Bradenton, Florida officer Leonel Marines was first caught abusing his access to police databases to stalk and target women, he was suspended without pay for just three days. Since then, he continued taking advantage of his privileged access to this information for another 6 years. In 2018, internal affairs finally investigated him and passed his case on to the FBI for federal investigation. At that point, Marines had stalked tallied up over 150 female victims.
Former Sergeant Marines is no longer on the police payroll. He resigned in October of last year over his abuses of power and stalking. However, the FBI has not yet finished their investigation into his misdeeds to see if he violated any federal laws.
This, in combination with other reports from AP News and Reuters show us that these abuses are far more common than anyone realizes. And, while some officers and intelligence officials are fired for their transgressions, a shocking number receive a slap on the wrist or worse, no punishment whatsoever. Even when victims bring evidence of abuse forward, courts often throw the cases out, refusing to acknowledge that the abuses of power caused harm or were illegal searches.
AP News was able to find hundreds of reported abusive searches, but acknowledged that many departments were unwilling to hand over information or claimed they never had abuses. Reuters was able to dig up at least a dozen NSA employees who abused the organization’s impressive domestic spying capabilities to snoop on former lovers, crushes, or other acquaintances. The problem appears to be far more widespread than anyone can estimate.
Unfettered Access, Low Consequences
Officers can look up information on pretty much anyone. Through use of names, license plates, vehicle descriptions, addresses, and other contact methods, officers can look up shocking amounts of information on a person. NSA and other government employees can take this a step further, using confidential domestic spying tools that makes this kind of harassment and spying as easy as doing a Google search is for any of us.
Even when officers are questioned about their search histories, they often have excuses that may seem valid, but are still illegal abuses of power. They could claim they were looking for potential crimes of their landlord for safety reasons. Or that they looked up a stranger because she was speeding, or parked precariously. If the officer did not file a report, they could say anything, and there would be little, if any, evidence to contradict their claims. As a result, most officers get away with even the most egregious of privacy breaches.
With electronics record keeping and digital spying, officers and NSA employees have greater access to private information than ever before. This can include more than past crimes, but private information, addresses, phone numbers, family members, and, in the case of domestic spying programs, phone calls, emails, and more.
The Difficulty of Policing Police
Because officers can claim anything, it can be difficult to prove malicious intent for any lookups. As a result, many civilian complaints often find their way to the trash. Judges side with officers, citing lack of evidence, despite the officer’s inability to come up with a reason for their searches.
Even when officers are willing to take a stand against those within their ranks, they can find themselves at odds with their fellow officers. Donna Watts stopped an officer for speeding in 2011. Since then, she received harassing phone calls from a number of sources. They likely got her information through police databases. She also stated she saw unfamiliar cars by her home for long hours, and found threatening posts about her on law enforcement sites. She felt unsafe due to corrupt officers accessing her records, and there was little she could do about it, even as a police officer herself.
Victims often only catch officers’ indiscretions after the officers make extremely foolish mistakes. For example, one woman discovered police officers were stealing sensitive photos off of her confiscated phone because they left the records of sending it on her phone. Other times, officers were only caught because their victims questioned them for showing up to their houses without reason.
Danger of Hacking Tools
When we discuss the dangers of hacking tools like those from Cellebrite, we often talk about how easily software and hardware based tools will inevitably end up in the wrong hands. However, as these abuses of power have shown, the wrong hands don’t always look like a criminal’s hands. Sometimes it’s the “right” people who say they should have access to these tools who commit the worst crimes.
Imagine if the creepy officer looking for nudes needed to only want to access your device, and he could do so. Until the police, FBI, and NSA are able to prove they’re trustworthy and willing to take serious action against corrupt (and creepy) members of their own forces, we cannot give them the tools to further invade our privacy and security. It’s not just the usual criminals we have to distrust, it’s the people who are supposed to protect us.
Sources:
- Karma Allen, ABC News
- Associated Press via CBS News
- Jessica De Leon, Bradenton Herald
- Melanie Ehrenkranz, Gizmodo
- Tiffany Kelly, Ars Technica
- Alina Selyukh, Reuters