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16
Oct 2009
The "L.A. Not So Confidential" Scandal

If you'd like to easily steal confidential information, Social Security numbers, and addresses of victims and witnesses, we recommend visiting the LAPD's Southwest Division parking garage.

The garage is home to truckloads of cardboard boxes filled with confidential police information, and the area is accessible to city employees and some visitors, according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

Union officials are outraged, saying, "The LAPD's negligent management of this confidential material leaves officers, and now crime victims, exposed."

In all fairness though, cops did put up some crime scene tape and a sign that read "Parking reserved for record retention only. Don't remove the parking cones." Or in seasonal terms, the equivalent of a "Please take one" sign above the Halloween candy.

But the "L.A. Not So Confidential" scandal doesn't end there.

Over at the LAPD's Northeast Station, boxes that "contained confidential personnel complaints against LAPD officers, including names, serial numbers and work locations" were found near the employee main entrance, according to LAPPL.

According to the LAPPL, this is a recurring problem:

"Each time the LAPPL has brought these types of security breaches to the department's attention, we have received unsatisfactory responses and inadequate remedial action."

But never fear, union members. The department is addressing the problem, says LAPD Commander Mike Williams.

"The idea that documents should have been secured and are not really concerns us," Williams said. "You can rest assured this situation will not recur. We have a handle on it ... It will be fixed."

So for now, it looks like the LAPD will be finding a new home for those boxes, hopefully one protected by more than some crime scene tape.

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