Austin Chronicle Breaks APD’s Data Mining Scandal Wide Open

After being broken by criminal defense blogger I Was The State, the story about the Austin Police Department and the city’s municipally-owned utility mining electric use data in an attempt to determine who may or may not be growing marijuana in their home, the Austin Chronicle has broken the story wide open.

We urge you to read the entire story, but, of course, we find some of the email exchanges the Chronicle uncovered the most interesting aspects of the whole sad saga:

The Chronicle has obtained e-mails between Coffey and Haynes, along with several lists of AE customer data that Haynes apparently used to fish for potential pot-growing operations. In combination with court documents related to Colby’s case, the records paint a disturbing picture of how APD has been conducting at least some of its marijuana investigations – and how the information was used, at least in Colby’s case, to develop probable cause for a search. The documents also reflect an APD officer clearly pleased with the success of his data-mining operation and simultaneously wary that his methods might be inadvertently revealed. “So far … the results you generated … have been VERY promising. … Looks like at least 2 more good targets for us,” Haynes wrote in an April 19, 2006, e-mail to Coffey (whom he addresses as “Markimus Maximus” – or, in other e-mails, as “da man”). “Thanks again for your help. … I am going to be writing a little memorandum trying to get you some recognition … so don’t be surprised when your boss says something. … Gonna try to keep it low key (since we really can’t afford direct publicity) but it should at least be a little feather in your cap.”

Wow. An amazing intrusion on Austinites’ civil liberties.

Technorati Tags: Austin Police Department, marijuana, American Civil Liberties Union, data mining

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