[BreachExchange] Concerns over SLC police data leak

[Terrell Byrd]

https://www.abc4.com/news/concerns-over-slc-police-data-leak/

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – A Salt Lake City information technology specialist
was arrested and accused of leaking police information to a man linked to
human trafficking.

The mayor and police chief both say this investigation is troubling.

Court Documents show 50-year-old Patrick Driscoll went by the name of “The
Guardian” and shared police sensitive materials with an alleged human
trafficker arrested earlier this week by the name of Michael Ricks.

“This is really a significant compromise,” says Chris Burbank.

He works for the Center for Policing Equity now but, Burbank is the former
police chief of Salt Lake City and says officer safety is in jeopardy.

“One of the things that police officers safeguard more than anything is
their personal information. That’s all contained in this system,” he says.
“Boy the investigation about what is actually compromised, what did this
individual have access to, and where did it go from there is concerning.”

Court documents state compromising information includes, “phone numbers and
names of police officers working undercover, specifically those who
investigate prostitution and human trafficking crimes.”

“Where this blossoms is really a little bit scary because if this person
really had ill intent to harm others or to gain, you know, personal gain
from what he is selling, boy it could have gone anywhere,” says Burbank.

The information comes from victims of human trafficking who are aiding the
Utah Attorney General’s Office. One woman tells investigators she gave too
much information and feared she “would end up in the desert.” Another woman
believed Driscoll was a crooked cop.

“The thing that is so important about this circumstance is the fact that
the police department didn’t discover this, nor did the city. This was
someone who was sitting in a jail cell and looking to maybe negotiate and
says hey look at this. That is alarming,” Burbank adds.

Driscoll was arrested at the Public Safety Building. In a search of his
home, police found more compromising information with agent’s names
involved in the investigation.

“I want to know how much other information has been compromised. I mean as
a citizen in Salt Lake City, potentially everything that has gone on, you
know employee records, all could have been compromised by this person, we
need to know that,” he says.

Burbank tells ABC4 having the Utah Attorney General’s Office look into this
is very important for public trust.

Salt Lake City officials say they are fully cooperating with that office.
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