Police are investigating how the District of Columbia’s financial office accidentally released the names and Social Security numbers of nearly 2,000 Metropolitan Police Department officers.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer sent a letter to 1,956 police officers last month warning that they were vulnerable to identity theft because their personal information was inadvertently sent to two Advisory Neighborhood Commission members. The financial office has agreed to provide each officer a year of credit monitoring and identity fraud coverage, though it considers the risks minimal, according to the letter.
Police union chairman Kristopher Baumann wants to know how personal information of officers could be released to the public.
“Why does the financial office have our Social Security numbers in the first place?” Baumann asked.
Investigators from the financial office have confirmed that the officers’ information has been deleted from the recipients’ computers, the letter states.
Baumann said the financial office apparently blames the police department. Officers who have called the financial office for more information were told that MPD released the information, he said.
Financial office spokeswoman Maryann Young disputed Baumann’s claim and said the agency took responsibility.
“I’m confused,” Young said. “How can we be blaming the police department when we’ve sent a letter saying we’re responsible?”
Acting Police Chief Cathy Lanier is looking into the matter, police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said.
The financial office released the Social Security numbers after an ANC member asked the police department for the amount of court-related overtime paid to each officer, Young said. The police department asked the financial office to handle the request. She would not release the names of the ANC members who received the information.
Young said the office received about 30 calls from police officers. Most complained because the amount they made in overtime was released to the public. District laws require the government to release the pay of public employees.
