A secretary for the Linn County Sheriff’s Department violated the privateness of “innumerable” residents whereas trying to find leisure within the trauma of others, an Iowa decide has dominated.

The choice comes within the unemployment-benefits case of Shelby Burns, who was fired from the sheriff’s division final fall for utilizing a legislation enforcement database to fulfill her personal curiosity a couple of dying and dozens of different police issues.

State data point out Burns labored for the sheriff’s workplace from January 2008 by way of October 2022, together with her most up-to-date place being that of a full-time secretary within the prison division’s detective bureau.

As a secretary within the detective bureau, Burns had entry to a number of legislation enforcement databases, together with the so-called “ILEADS database” that was set as much as share data between the sheriff’s workplace and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

As a part of her job, Burns had entry to the database for performing background checks and duties associated to the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and he or she had been instructed to not use the database for private causes.

Burns additionally had entry to a every day “pass on report,” which was despatched to her electronic mail account every day. The report was despatched out to alert recipients to the actions of the patrol officers from the sheriff’s division and police division throughout the earlier shift. The sheriff’s division marked the “pass on reports” as confidential.

According to state data, on Aug. 17, 2022, Burns allegedly used the ILEADS database to entry data, purely for private causes, about an unspecified “tragic death” in the neighborhood. Her actions have been instantly seen inside the Cedar Rapids Police Department, which prompted staff there to contact the sheriff’s division.

According to testimony from the sheriff’s division at Burns’ latest unemployment listening to, Burns responded to questions on her actions by concocting an clearly fabricated story. That led to a broader Internal Affairs investigation into Burns’ conduct.

Major Chad Colston, who performed the investigation, concluded in his written report that Burns had a sample of accessing case data from the Cedar Rapids Police Department “to satisfy her curiosity or for her own amusement.”

Colston additionally alleged Burns repeatedly acted dishonestly throughout the investigation and had produced a written report “with very little details and truth.”

In complete, Colston discovered that in one four-month interval, Burns had improperly used the ILEADS database to entry 55 case recordsdata she had no legit cause to see.

The county in the end opted to fireside Burns.

At Burns’ unemployment listening to, Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth Johnson took testimony and proof from Burns and from sheriff’s workplace personnel. She sided with the county and denied Burns’ request for unemployment advantages.

“The ample testimony and documentation provided by the employer set forth example after example of (Burns) breaching the duty of confidentiality and the privacy of innumerable individuals whose information is contained within secure databases for specific, public safety purposes in order to satisfy her own curiosity and to find entertainment in the other people’s trauma,” Johnson dominated. “(Burns) now admits she did this, after lying about it in August 2022 when initially asked, after lying about it during the Internal Affairs investigation in September 2022, and after starting to lie about it during her testimony at the hearing.”

Johnson mentioned Burns’ actions “demonstrate a callous disregard for the people served by the Cedar Rapids Police Department” and for the reality.

Burns declined to touch upon the case when contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.