Police Computer Use Cited in Abortion Dispute

Anaheim police said Wednesday that a police computer was used to search state records in an apparent attempt to obtain the home address of a second abortion-rights activist.

Officials, however, were still uncertain who did it or whether any information was illegally given to anti-abortion demonstrators, who later picketed the home of one of the activists.

Lt. Marc Hedgpeth said someone traced the activists’ license plate numbers last November using Department of Motor Vehicle records on a terminal assigned to a civilian employee. He said the employee--who recently moved out of state and says he or she is “not involved” in the abortion debate--”categorically denied” tracing the license plate numbers.

It is a violation of state law for police employees to leak privileged DMV information such as addresses to outsiders.

Chris Criner, a volunteer at an abortion clinic and a member of the Orange County Pro-Choice Coalition, was picketed outside his Tustin home by demonstrators in February.

He filed a complaint in March with the department when the DMV told him an Anaheim police computer had been used to obtain his address from its files. Criner said he suspects that someone in the department gave his address to anti-abortion picketers.

Hedgpeth, however, said the leader of the demonstration denied learning Criner’s address from an Anaheim police employee. “(The leader) bragged to us he could get the information using other methods, including following people home,” the police spokesman said.

While investigating Criner’s complaint, Hedgpeth said, police learned that the same department computer terminal had also been used in an unsuccessful attempt to trace the address of a second abortion rights activist. But the person has a “confidential” DMV file, blocking even police from obtaining a home address.

The chief and department were embarrassed that the possibility of a security breach exists, Hedgpeth said.