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Ormond Beach Police Detective Suspended For Violating Driver License Database Detective Violated The Privacy Of Several Citizens Including - John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, George Zimmerman and Pam Bondi Can Florida's Law Enforcement Officers Be Trusted NOT To Abuse The Prescription Drug Database? |
October 14, 2013 |
but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."
Winston Churchill
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Stephen Brugone Suspended Internal Investigation Sustains That Det. Brugone Violated Several Individuals' Privacy.
VolusiaExposed.Com was advised via an anonymous source that Ormond Beach Detective Stephen Brugone had been suspended for violating the privacy provisions of the Florida State driver's license database, commonly known as D.A.V.I.D. Upon VolusiaExposed making a public record request to the Ormond Beach police department, we confirmed the two day suspension of Detective Brugone. Apparently, per OBPD internal affairs documents from 2010 - 2012, Detective Brugone had searched the D.A.V.I.D database for several persons, in which he lacked an official law enforcement purpose. Some of these individuals were famous persons, such as, John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, and Florida State Attorney General, Pam Bondi, as well as others. Is On The Rise Surprisingly, according to statements / records attached to a January 2013 Orlando Sentinel article, the mis-use of this law enforcement database is on the rise. The Orlando Sentinel article has been provided below for you review. |
Internal Affairs Report |
With The Prescription Drug Database?
Should Additional Safeguards Be Put In Place?
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In the Fall of 2011, the State of Florida started a prescription drug database, as a tool for law enforcement in combating prescription drug abuse.
However, by the Summer of 2013, the 7th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's office was inappropriately making these secured records available to several local defense attorneys. VolusiaExposed.Com ran an article covering the unauthorized release of these very sensitive records - please see link to the right of this web page. In our opinion, the entire population of the State of Florida owe Michael Lambert and John Tanner, both local Daytona Beach defense attorneys a big, well deserved "Thank You". As detailed in the attached WFTV Channel 9 video article, Lambert and Tanner identified the sloppy security safeguards attached to the prescription drug database. Given the rise within law enforcement agencies of officers violating the privacy of citizens via the D.A.V.I.D database, how sure can we be that the prescription drug database is any more secure than D.A.V.I.D? While State officials have to reach out to John Travolta and Pam Bondi, notifying them that their driver's license information had been compromised, we can only imagine John's and Pam's reactions had their private medical information been compromised. |
The Prescription Drug Database  |
Does This DataBase Provide Law Enforcement An Easy
Electronic "Go Around" Of Your Fourth Amendment Rights?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Imagine just for a second, that it is the year 1970 - and the police wish to know what medicines / prescriptions are in your medicine cabinet. How would they be able to gain lawful access to that cabinet? A search warrant signed by a judge, would seem to be the logical answer. Further, imagine that the judge, prior to signing the warrant, demanded to hear a legitimate law enforcement reason for the search.
Call us clairvoyant, but our guess is that mere curiosity, the stated rationale by Ormond Beach Detective Brugone for his inappropriate D.A.V.I.D searches, would not convince that judge to sign the warrant.
Now we request that you leave the 1970s and lets go back to the future. Since 2011, Florida police officers have had the electronic ability to access the contents of your medicine cabinet without the need of securing a search warrant. Heck, you don't even need to be a criminal suspect, the officer can conduct this search for mere curiosity, and with little oversight / reasons.
Should the officer get caught conducting an unauthorized search - well then he / she may be suspended for two days like Detective Brugone was !
The supporters of the prescription drug database would state that this database is crucial in fighting prescription drug abuse, and they make a fine argument. However, a simpler argument could be made that an alcohol purchase database could be a crucial tool in identifying individuals that are abusing alcohol. That with such information, the police (aka government - Big Brother) could make an intervention before someone becomes an alcoholic or commits a DUI offense. After all, wouldn't an alcohol purchase database make the streets safer?
In the true pursuit of justice, there is a balancing act that must be maintained. This balancing act is between the rights of the individual and the ability of the police to obtain information. Yes, the easier we make it for the police to obtain information, the more effective their law enforcement efforts will be. However, is it appropriate, that in our efforts to assist the police, we relinquish our hard earned individual Constitutional rights?
If it is necessary today for us to give up our medical privacy rights, what rights must we relinquish tomorrow, in the furtherance of more effective law enforcement ? Will the fifth amendment be seen as a law enforcement impediment? Will our Constitutional right to remain silent and not incriminate ourselves be lost to this argument? How about the second amendment, will someone determine it's more effective for law enforcement, if they were the only ones with the guns?
Are we being silly ? That is for you to determine, but remember this - balancing individual rights and government convenience is a very slippery slope - just ask any elderly German citizen.
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