Ex-Minn. Officer Says Colleagues Infringed on Her Data

Jan. 29--Cops were checking out former St. Paul police officer Anne Marie Rasmusson's private driver's license information. She got her first clue in 2006.

A police academy classmate told her that he and his colleagues had looked up her photo and that she looked great.

During daylight hours of Cinco de Mayo in 2010, a Minneapolis police officer pulled her over on Interstate 94. The stop was legitimate, Rasmusson said, because she'd been speeding. She had no warrants or violations, she said. She got off with a warning. What, then, prompted three additional squad cars to stop and later cruise slowly by her car, she asked.

Not long after that stop, she moved from Lakeville to a remote location in northern Minnesota -- telling only family and select friends. Those in law enforcement found out anyway, she said.

Fed up and concerned about lack of privacy, Rasmusson, 37, contacted the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. It turns out about 100 people in law enforcement from 18 agencies had accessed her record in the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services database 425 times during a four-year period.

The Drivers Privacy Protection Act bars law enforcement from accessing personal information in the state motor-vehicle database unless it's to carry out a function of their agency. Records are to be accessed only in an investigative capacity, a Department of Public Safety spokesman said this fall.

But some police use the database outside the scope of their jobs

anyway with limited concern they'll get in trouble.

Rasmusson's case highlights how easy it is for law enforcement to look people up and infringe on their privacy, said Michael W. Quinn, a retired Minneapolis police officer and author of "Walking With the Devil: The Police Code of Silence."

"If there's no accountability, there's no downside," he said.

Rasmusson, who also worked as a police officer in Eden Prairie, said she no longer goes to bars, sports events or concerts. She's afraid she'll run into police working security.

"I live like a hermit," she said.

She goes to counseling weekly, she said. She has installed an alarm system and gate at her rural home. She plans to add lighting because of her remote location.

"I've never had problems with anxiety before, and it's ruining my life," she said.

Her attorneys say they plan to file a lawsuit in coming weeks.

COPS INVESTIGATED

Contacted by Rasmusson in August, Driver and Vehicle Services audited its database. It then sent a letter dated Aug. 30 informing agencies of its findings and asking them to look into potential misuse.

The probe included police departments in Bloomington, Burnsville, Cottage Grove, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Isanti, Lakeville, Minnetonka, Minneapolis, St. Paul and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. DVS also notified sheriff's offices in Dakota, Pine and Ramsey counties of the inquiry. The state Department of Corrections' Office of Special Investigations, the FBI's Minneapolis office, Metro Transit and the State Patrol were contacted, too.

Cops looked Rasmusson up by name in the database, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Doug Neville.

Rasmusson, who was married to Minneapolis police officer Jason King until they divorced in 2007, maintained friendships and contact with some in law enforcement after she retired for medical reasons from the St. Paul Police Department in 2003.

Yet she said she doesn't know officers in many of the departments involved in the probe. She doesn't understand the widespread interest in her record. She can think of few occasions when her record was accessed legitimately.

She once reported an accident when someone ran into her car, which would have resulted in a legitimate query, said her attorney, Larry Fett.

PHYSIQUE A FACTOR?

Rasmusson doesn't have a criminal history, state court records show.

Her name does appear in court filings, however. In late September, she sought an order for protection against Minneapolis police officer Jill Loonsfoot, alleging that Loonsfoot improperly accessed her record in the driver's database. On Oct. 7, Rasmusson asked that the petition be dismissed.

In July 2010, former boyfriend Steve Toms of Lakeville sought an order for protection in Dakota County against Rasmusson. In his application, he wrote that she had "used her influence as a former officer to research me and my family."

Toms described her as an ex-girlfriend. He wrote that she called and emailed often after another order expired in March 2010.

The new petition, seeking a two-year restraining order, was granted July 27, 2010.

A Driver and Vehicle Services employee told an Eden Prairie internal affairs investigator that several officers queried or called Rasmusson about dating her after her divorce, according to an internal Eden Prairie report.

In Eden Prairie, one officer wanted her address. Another looked her up to see her photo.

Rasmusson believes the interest was in her picture. While working in Eden Prairie, she underwent a significant physical transformation and lost about 100 pounds. After she retired from St. Paul, she entered fitness competitions for a short time.

"They weren't looking me up to see my personality," she said.

SOME OFFICERS DISCIPLINED

After completing their own investigations, 12 agencies reported no disciplinary action, though some said they coached their staff on proper use of the database.

No wrongdoing was found among the Minneapolis Police Department's 24 officers who accessed Rasmusson's record, said Sgt. Steve McCarty, a spokesman. The department opened "preliminary" investigations into three, he said. An administrative internal affairs investigation wasn't warranted beyond that, he said.

No one was disciplined by the department, he said. However, Driver and Vehicle Services suspended one officer's access to the database for six months, Neville said. Another officer got a three-month suspension. The remaining officers received corrective action letters.

Different agencies have different thresholds for discipline, McCarty said.

The St. Paul Police Department has yet to release details of its investigation into 42 employees. In four cases, the investigation resulted in no disciplinary action. In 38 cases, discipline is being considered.

The FBI doesn't release information on internal matters, spokesman Kyle Loven said.

Four agencies imposed some form of discipline, ranging from an oral reprimand to a sergeant losing a stripe.

In Eden Prairie, where Rasmusson got her start as a police officer in 1996, officers saw the harshest punishment to date.

Former Sgt. Carter Staaf was demoted and received five days' unpaid suspension. Driver and Vehicle Services also suspended his access to its database for three months.

In addition to accessing Rasmusson's record by name, he also ran her license plate in the state's Criminal Justice Data Network after a meeting for coffee in 2009, according to an internal investigative report. Staaf told an internal affairs investigator that he believed the query was legitimate because he was in his squad car and went back into "search mode" of regularly querying plates.

Two of his colleagues, Christopher Millard and Zachary Hessel, received written warnings. Bloomington Sgt. Charles Gollop and Eagan police officer Sean Sweeney were orally reprimanded. Driver and Vehicle Services sent a corrective-action letter to Gollop; Sweeney's access to the database was suspended for three months. The State Patrol issued a letter of reprimand to Trooper Dean Grothem. He also got a corrective-action letter.

A PERK?

On average, fewer than 10 citizens a year report concerns about database misuse to Driver and Vehicle Services, a spokesman said.

But it happens.

In one case, a former neighbor of a Ramsey County deputy contacted the sheriff's office in 2009 and complained after the deputy yelled at her son about paying outstanding tickets in another county.

An internal affairs investigator found the deputy ran 152 checks through the driver's database on individuals such as friends, family and colleagues related to the neighbor. He also ran the names of new neighbors on a street where he planned to move.

He got five days without pay.

Nonsworn law enforcement employees are required to review basic data-privacy training, Neville said. It's up to agencies to train their officers, he said.

The Department of Public Safety conducts monthly audits of the database to detect potential misuse. It also conducts specialized audits, depending on the circumstances, and will look at whether certain individuals are being looked up for specific reasons -- not because of their celebrity status, Neville said.

Alleged motor vehicle database misuse has happened elsewhere, too. In December, Evangelina Paredes filed a federal lawsuit against Christopher Collins, a police officer in the Village of Stickney in Illinois, when he left a note asking her out on a date on her car parked outside her home, two days after he pulled her over and cited her for speeding.

"It's Chris I'm that ugly bald Stickney cop who gave you that ticket on Saturday," the note read. "Listen if I never hear from you I understand, but hey I did cost you $132 least I can do is buy you dinner."

Quinn, the former Minneapolis police officer, said some police may view the database as a perk.

"Cops aren't held accountable for that sort of stuff," Quinn said. "It's so easy for them to do it. There's no one looking over their shoulder."

He added: "If the public knew the truth, cops are running people all the time. I think cops do this on a regular basis."

There's potential for abuse because the state driver's database is "so available," said Dr. Everett Doolittle, a professor in the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice program at Metropolitan State University.

In a position of power, police see their access to private databases as a right, he said. While most police officers are professional, some stray.

"This (Rasmusson) case would be looked at as trivial, but it's really not," said Doolittle, who has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement, including 20 years at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Those in administration need to take database abuse seriously, he said. By allowing misuse, they endorse other types of unethical behavior.

"It is an ethical issue. They have power, and they're abusing that power. It's a violation of public trust," Doolittle said. "It is an issue, and we have a victim."

Brady Gervais can be reached at 651-228-5513. Follow her at twitter.com/bgervais and twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.