City Council Backs Law Keeping Cops' Information Confidential
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a resolution supporting a bill allowing police officers to keep their personal information confidential and inaccessible to the public.
The move comes in the wake of an anonymous hacking crew publishing the personal information of more than 100 Los Angeles Police Department command staff and canine officers on two occasions in December and January.
In February, a group named CabinCr3w published the names, addresses and phone numbers of more than 100 local police officers hacked from the computers of the Los Angeles County Police Canine Association, which included Los Angeles Police Department officers and sheriff's deputies.
The resolution was introduced by Councilman Dennis Zine – a former police officer – to put the city on record as supporting a bill by Assemblyman Mike Feuer. The bill would give county assessors the authority to redact the names of police officers from property records.
State law allows officers to request the state Department of Motor Vehicles to keep their names, addresses and other personal information out of the department's public database. The law, however, does not apply to property records.
A redaction would take place on request and for a fee.
If made into law, the bill would not have prevented hackers from publishing the canine officers' information, which was gleaned from the computers of a canine law enforcement association, not public records.
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