Cops tap database to harass, intimidateMisuse among police frequent, say some, but punishments rareJuly 31, 2001 First of two parts.
BY M. L. ELRICK
Police throughout Michigan, entrusted with the personal and confidential information in a state law enforcement database, have used it to stalk women, threaten motorists and settle scores. Over the past five years, more than 90 Michigan police officers, dispatchers, federal agents and security guards have abused the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), according to a Free Press examination of hundreds of pages of LEIN records and police reports. In many cases, abusers turned a valuable crime-fighting tool into a personal search engine for home addresses, for driving records and for criminal files of love interests, colleagues, bosses or rivals. Even police are vulnerable to having their privacy violated. Former Center Line Police Chief Adam Garcia's name was run through the LEIN by one of his own officers when he took the job in June 1998. Garcia said his record was clean and he had nothing to hide. "It was meant to harass and intimidate me," Garcia said. "And to let me know that they knew all about me when they weren't supposed to know." Police said they think the system, which is used to make about 3 million background checks each month, is more widely abused than anyone knows. "I wouldn't doubt that it happens very often," said Lawrence Carey, who retired this month as Plymouth Township's police chief. "A lot of them are taken care of internally." Since 1967, the LEIN has been a powerful weapon in the fight against crime. Using the FBI's National Crime Information Center, Michigan Secretary of State vehicle registrations and driving histories, and other databases, the LEIN can tell police whether someone is wanted on an arrest warrant, is a sex offender, was reported missing, or is deemed dangerous. Police can find out where someone lives as well as confidential information such as whether the person applied for a concealed weapon permit or has a suppressed juvenile record. All it takes to access someone's detailed personal information is their name or license plate number. Sometimes, one officer will have another officer run a questionable LEIN check for them, possibly as a way of avoiding detection. Despite rules limiting LEIN use to law enforcement purposes, police told the Free Press their colleagues use LEIN to check out attractive people they spot on the road. "I'm not going to be so naive as to say an officer hasn't seen a pretty girl and run her plate," said Carey, who also was once chief in Troy. Former Memphis Police Chief Phillip Ludos said the practice is so common it is known simply as "Running a plate for a date." Unwanted interest Part-time Memphis police officer Scott Woods -- also known by his Internet nom de plume, BRN 2B NAKED -- used the LEIN to find out personal information about a woman he met on the Internet around March 1999, according to Memphis police reports. Woods, who was also working as a Macomb County Jail guard, asked a friend in Detroit's 9th (Gratiot) Precinct to get information on a St. Clair Shores woman, according to a Memphis police incident report and Macomb County sheriff's investigation report. Woods began corresponding with the woman, and over the course of two months told her he was a widower raising a baby daughter. The woman told the Free Press she was afraid to talk about the case and did not want her name used. According to police records, the woman gave Woods her phone number and arranged to meet him after work one night. But instead of going on a date, Woods sat outside her workplace in his sport-utility vehicle, the woman told police. She said she waved Woods in, but he just sat there. Woods later told the woman he had followed her home the night before, according to police records. He called her by her middle name, which she had not told him. He described her height and weight. And he went on to call her at home and work up to three times a day, according to police and sheriff's records. Woods declined to discuss the case. "It's something from my past," he said. "That was all blown out of proportion." Ludos, who was Memphis chief at the time, said Woods confirmed the woman's account when confronted. Ludos said he fired Woods from the Memphis force for conduct unbecoming an officer in 1999. He resigned from the Sheriff's Department. Sharing LEIN information is a misdemeanor in Michigan, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine, upon conviction. As is often the case, the Detroit officers accused of abusing the system to help Woods were not prosecuted. Both are facing a hearing on possible departmental discipline, but it has not been scheduled.
LEIN for leverage
Sometimes the LEIN is used as a weapon in domestic disputes. Former Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Cathy McGuigan said she should not have been surprised when her ex-husband, John Knechtges, ran her new husband's information through the LEIN. "When you start getting into the romantic entanglement department, I think that's when the cops abuse it a lot," she said. "Anybody who's ever been involved with a police officer should be concerned about it happening to them." Knechtges, then a Troy police lieutenant, and a friendly FBI agent ran McGuigan's husband through LEIN. Armed with information, Knechtges took McGuigan to court and attempted to gain custody of their son. McGuigan said Knechtges was unsuccessful, but his power play helped end her new marriage. Knechtges was reprimanded and suspended for a week without pay. FBI agent James Triano, who ran McGuigan's husband through LEIN, received a letter of censure and was put on probation for six months, said Detroit FBI Special-Agent-In-Charge John Bell Jr. Bell called the incident "very serious -- you're talking about our bread and butter, controlling information." But, he said, the agent acted out of concern for the couple's child. Triano did not respond to requests for an interview. Knechtges, who now works for a glass manufacturer, declined to comment. Friends helping friends It's not uncommon for police to help friends get information through LEIN. One hour after Carl Daisy exchanged heated words with another motorist in Northville on Aug. 7, 1998, Highland Park Public Safety Officer Eric Hollowell -- who was not involved in the altercation -- asked a dispatcher to run Daisy's license plate number through the LEIN system, state records show. Less than an hour later, Daisy received the first of many ominous calls. "You're talking to God. I know everything about you," the man told Daisy. On at least one occasion, Daisy said the caller told him he "had a beautiful wife and that it would be a shame if anything happened to her." The caller was never identified. Hollowell is not suspected of calling Daisy -- and he denies abusing the LEIN system. But Ronald Parham, who was Highland Park Police Chief at the time, said he concluded that Hollowell used the LEIN to help an acquaintance locate Daisy. Parham said he reprimanded Hollowell, and Wayne County prosecutors declined to prosecute. That outrages Daisy. "What would happen if I accessed that information?" he asked. "There are stalking laws. I'd be creamed." Hollowell's explanation for being linked to the LEIN check on Daisy: a bookkeeping error or another officer requesting a LEIN check under his name. "I honestly don't remember running that plate," Hollowell said. "If I did run it, it was legitimate. It wasn't for any bull." Investigations exposed In 1996, police running license plates through LEIN exposed a secret surveillance operation, according to state records. St. Clair Police were investigating a major seller of illegal cable boxes when a Detroit police detective and a Michigan State Police trooper separately ran LEIN checks on their undercover vehicles, St. Clair Police Chief Donald Barnum said. Records don't show why the checks were made. St. Clair police didn't learn they had been exposed until they searched the suspect's home and found LEIN printouts, Barnum said. "That information was very, very classified and very, very difficult to obtain," he said. "That information could have been very detrimental to the outcome of our case." Investigators were unable to determine which trooper tapped into the database, but records show that the Detroit detective was suspended for two days. Political trouble Sometimes LEIN abuse becomes a part of political campaigns. Genesee County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Chuck Melki blames LEIN abuse for undermining his campaign against incumbent Sheriff Robert Pickell in the 2000 Democratic primary. On June 21, 2000, Genesee County Jail Administrator Kenneth Emigh, a Pickell appointee, had deputies run the license plates of three cars with pro-Melki bumper stickers. State police investigated after an anonymous letter writer reported the incident. As word spread within the department, Melki said his supporters became intimidated. "A lot of my support shrunk up, went underground when they found out they were running people's plates," Melki said. Pickell suspended Emigh for three days. Emigh said he used bad judgment, but was not trying to help Pickell. "I really regret doing it," Emigh said. "I have not run one since. It's not worth the trouble." Said Melki: "The public can't use it for personal gain, why can a police officer? ...If you'd have done that, we'd have been getting a warrant on you. Tomorrow: When police break the LEIN law, punishment varies -- or doesn't happen at all. Contact M.L. ELRICK at 313-223-3327 or elrick@freepress.com. |