CBS News Sacramento reports two Fairfield CA police officers were using the department computers and online connection to troll for dates on dating websites, and then checking out the criminal records of the women they found online. The article says what they did could be considered a felony, if accurately described.
I will admit the officers shouldn't have been cruising the dating websites while on duty, although they were entirely free to do so on their own time and equipment. On the other hand, a single policeman or woman perhaps should be able to check out whether someone has a criminal record before seeing that person socially.
Not being able to do so can compromise officers' reputations through no malfeasance of their own if it turns out they've unwittingly been romantically involved with a convicted felon. I can easily imagine a defense attorney using such information to damage an officer's credibility as a witness, credibility the state relies on for the conviction of criminals.
However, I can envision an unscrupulous officer learning a woman has a record and blackmailing her into a sexual relationship with the threat of disclosing her past to her present associates or employer.
This is one of those situations where there is right (and wrong) on both sides of an issue.
