Mountie docked pay for snooping in database

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This article was published 30/05/2011 (5223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — A disgraced Mountie has been docked eight days pay after an internal investigation revealed the constable had made numerous unauthorized checks on the force’s national crime data bank and shared some of the information with his wife, an associate and former business partner of a Hells Angel.

Const. Todd Glasman became a target of an internal probe last year after the U.S. border patrol agency alerted the RCMP that his wife had ties to the criminal organization.

The probe was launched after the constable’s wife was questioned while crossing into the U.S. at the Manitoba border.

In the interview with U.S. agents, Glasman’s wife disclosed former business dealings with an outlawed biker and said she continued to visit him in prison.

This information prompted the RCMP to check all databank queries initiated by Glasman. The constable made numerous unauthorized checks and viewed some 185 documents on his wife and the Hells Angels.

Glasman started making the unauthorized checks days after he met his wife-to-be in August 2009. He continued making the unauthorized checks until March 2010.

In an interview with RCMP investigators, Glasman admitted that he made the checks but denied disclosing information to the Hells Angels.

The constable did, however, admit to sharing some of the gleaned information with his wife.

According to a disciplinary ruling, dated in Ottawa on March 28, 2011, Glasman admitted to the allegations of misconduct. The disciplinary ruling does not detail whether the constable’s wife shared the information with her Hells Angels associates.

The Manitoba Mountie was also subjected to a polygraph, which concluded he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t share the information with anyone but his wife, who is on the force’s crime data bank.

In his interview with investigators, Glasman also said he had a “general discussion” with his wife about her activities and that when he first met her, he’d park down the street from her place so his car wouldn’t be connected to her address.

He told investigators that he made the checks to “protect himself and the RCMP.” The disciplinary board file does not give any more detail about his motive.

“The board finds that a reasonable person, having the knowledge of the relevant circumstances, including the realities of policing in general and those of the RCMP in particular, would conclude that conducting numerous unauthorized national crime data bank checks for personal reasons without an operational requirement, is disgraceful,” the disciplinary board ruled.

— Postmedia News