Jury awards $585K to Minnesota officer over license lookups
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal jury in Minnesota has awarded $585,000 to a police officer who alleged that 58 fellow officers from the Minneapolis Police Department broke a federal privacy law by searching for her driver's license data without a lawful purpose.
The jury returned its verdict Wednesday in St. Paul in favor of Amy Krekelberg. Her attorneys said other officers improperly searched for her private data 87 times from 2009 to 2013 —accessing information including her photograph, address, age, height, and weight — inflicting emotional distress in the process.
The city is considering an appeal.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement Friday that the case was one of 14 federal lawsuits across the country making similar claims, and that it highlights the need for stronger data protections. It was also one of many such cases filed in Minnesota in recent years, most of which resulted in settlements.
"The Minnesota case shows that without strong protections, police officers may abuse their data access - even by invading the privacy of their fellow officers, particularly women," said Sarah St. Vincent, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who observed the trial. "As Congress and the states consider adopting stronger data protections, they should limit what police can do with personal information."
Read more: http://www.startribune.com/jury-awards-585k-to-minneapolis-cop-over-license-lookups/511632832/