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Chicago cop sued for asking woman on a date

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Batman, Jan 9, 2012.

  1. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    And if he hadn't misused his position to find her again, your might have a valid point.
     
  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Driving records are not public. Haven't been since the mid 1990s, when Congress passed a privacy law regarding them.

    Even though reporters my have friendly cops who will run addresses for them on the down low, it is NOT legal.

    Potential employers, which you mentioned, can't just run checks on random people. You have to give them written permission, and then it is for verification purposes, to check the info you have supplied them. Same deal with insurance companies. You are giving them access to your info. They can't just go to the DMV, give a name and get access to the database.

    Obviously, law enforcement has access to DMV records, but it is illegal for a cop to get info from a DMV search and use it for non-official purposes.

    There's no gray area on this one. It may not be the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, but what he did actually broke the law.
     
  3. Lieslntx

    Lieslntx Active Member

  4. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    This. But isn't one of the perks of being a cop the privilege of breaking the laws you enforce?
     
  5. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Here's why what that cop did is illegal, besides creepy:

    http://www.citypages.com/content/printVersion/2411141/
     
  6. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    I want to come back to this for a second. IllMil and Boom are right. It doesn't matter whether your arrest is justified or not; never EVER volunteer information to a cop without a lawyer present, for any reason.
     
  7. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    This is why you do not take someone's initial position without cross-checking it. This is ridiculous and I'm glad Ms. Rasmusson has attorneys who are protecting her rights. Sure everything was just "harmless." Right oh. Don't do anything wrong, you won't get served. Pretty easy rule to live by.
     
  8. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I don't believe Rasmusson was the person involved in the original story. She lives in Minnesota. The original story for this thread was in suburban Chicago.

    Seeing the pictures posted with Rasmusson's story, though, makes me wonder how hard up cops are -- or why the hell they were so fascinated with her. She's reasonably attractive, but not so much that half the cops in Minneapolis should be checking out her information and getting their jollies off seeing her driver's license picture.
     
  9. PressRowsNotSafe

    PressRowsNotSafe New Member

    It's a little creepy, and again, he could've gone a better wrote to get her information. But I've known multiple girls who've had a cop give them their number and gotten out of blatantly breaking the law based on looks. I think a majority of guys are frustrated by the double standard, that's what gets them about the story. Hey, I'll be honest and say count me among them. But hey, chivalry's not dead right?
     
  10. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    She looks like Kate Minus the Eight.

    At least in Rhode Island, they're somewhat serious about the background checks, or at least put on those sort of airs. During a ridealong, one of my reporter buddies tried to get a cop to run a background check on him, and he said he couldn't because it would put a tag in the system, and they discouraged frivolous uses. As with all stories of this nature though, you pretty much have to take their word for it that they're not abusing the system.
     
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