To: The Ohio State House, The Ohio State Senate, and Governor Mike DeWine
A petition to Governor John Kasich
Governor Kasich should order the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to stop police from illegally accessing the LEADS / NCIC databases to spy on the license plates of citizens in Ohio.
Why is this important?
Everyday in Ohio, police officers are violating municipal “user participation agreements” with the Ohio Highway Patrol to spy on the state's citizens. They're driving behind motorists who've committed no crimes and using the Law Enforcement Access Data System (LEADS) computer to investigate their license plates. They're investigating the mayors, council members, safety directors and police chiefs who oversee them, and they're investigating members of these officials' families. They're investigating journalists and police critics, all in violation of state and federal laws.
The LEADS computers are owned by the state under the supervision of the Ohio Highway Patrol. Governor Kasich appoints the Ohio Highway Patrol superintendent.
The primary use of the LEADS database under Ohio law is the protection of the officer on the street, and use should be “maximized” for “officer safety,” pursuant to 4501:2-20-03(B)(1)(d) of the Ohio Administrative Code. Police in Ohio, however, are regularly abusing the computers every day and using them to make money for themselves and spy on other Ohioans. Thousands of Ohio women have complained that police officers who want to flirt with them use the computers to learn their names and addresses. Reports show they've even used them to gather information about people they don't like.
The majority of LEADS use in Ohio has nothing to do with “officer safety” when police drive behind motorists whom they have no “reasonable or articulated suspicion” have committed a crime. In many instances small time city police are illegally accessing LEADS databases to help their mayors and council raise money. They're also violating the state's new anti-texting law by driving at high rates of speed on state highways with one hand while they type in license plate numbers with the other. Under 737.11 of the Ohio Revised Code, police have no other authority but to obey the same laws as every other Ohio citizen. There are no special exemptions in Ohio laws that allows police to violate their oaths of office.
Ohio's LEADS database is also tied into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) managed by the FBI, and police in Ohio are violating federal privacy protection laws with their spying. It's no different than NSA spying on American citizens when federal employees illegally recorded their cellular phone communications. More specifically, under Title 28 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Section 20.1, the U.S. Congress added the protection of "individual privacy" as a mandate to the nation's police departments and law enforcement officers when they access the LEADS / NCIC databases.
In cities like Akron, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Canton, Youngstown and Warren, police are targeting minorities and low-income citizens in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is a violation of their constitutional rights because it causes them to bear the burden of separate and unequal enforcement under the law.
NCIC regulations clearly require “probable cause” for another offense to be determined before the federal database is accessed, and every law enforcement agency in Ohio is supposed to follow the mandates of the NCIC manual.
Governor Kasich can end the practice by ordering the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to issue an order that on the streets, police are only authorized to use the LEADS database “after” they have already initiated a traffic stop to write a citation, and before they approach the vehicle for officer safety. Governor Kasich can order the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to stop police departments from using automatic license plate readers that they're connecting, illegally, to the LEADS/NCIC databases.
The bottom line is that Governor Kasich has the authority, without going to the General Assembly of Ohio, to right a wrong that is being done everyday by police officers who are spying on American citizens in violation of federal and state laws regarding the use of LEADS and NCIC databases. All he has to do is tell the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to end the practice, investigate the abusers and cause them to be prosecuted.
Governor Kasich can also direct the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to give every citizen the authority to ask for the information that's being stored on them without their knowledge, just to see what police have added to the LEADS database about them.
The LEADS computers are owned by the state under the supervision of the Ohio Highway Patrol. Governor Kasich appoints the Ohio Highway Patrol superintendent.
The primary use of the LEADS database under Ohio law is the protection of the officer on the street, and use should be “maximized” for “officer safety,” pursuant to 4501:2-20-03(B)(1)(d) of the Ohio Administrative Code. Police in Ohio, however, are regularly abusing the computers every day and using them to make money for themselves and spy on other Ohioans. Thousands of Ohio women have complained that police officers who want to flirt with them use the computers to learn their names and addresses. Reports show they've even used them to gather information about people they don't like.
The majority of LEADS use in Ohio has nothing to do with “officer safety” when police drive behind motorists whom they have no “reasonable or articulated suspicion” have committed a crime. In many instances small time city police are illegally accessing LEADS databases to help their mayors and council raise money. They're also violating the state's new anti-texting law by driving at high rates of speed on state highways with one hand while they type in license plate numbers with the other. Under 737.11 of the Ohio Revised Code, police have no other authority but to obey the same laws as every other Ohio citizen. There are no special exemptions in Ohio laws that allows police to violate their oaths of office.
Ohio's LEADS database is also tied into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) managed by the FBI, and police in Ohio are violating federal privacy protection laws with their spying. It's no different than NSA spying on American citizens when federal employees illegally recorded their cellular phone communications. More specifically, under Title 28 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Section 20.1, the U.S. Congress added the protection of "individual privacy" as a mandate to the nation's police departments and law enforcement officers when they access the LEADS / NCIC databases.
In cities like Akron, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Canton, Youngstown and Warren, police are targeting minorities and low-income citizens in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is a violation of their constitutional rights because it causes them to bear the burden of separate and unequal enforcement under the law.
NCIC regulations clearly require “probable cause” for another offense to be determined before the federal database is accessed, and every law enforcement agency in Ohio is supposed to follow the mandates of the NCIC manual.
Governor Kasich can end the practice by ordering the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to issue an order that on the streets, police are only authorized to use the LEADS database “after” they have already initiated a traffic stop to write a citation, and before they approach the vehicle for officer safety. Governor Kasich can order the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to stop police departments from using automatic license plate readers that they're connecting, illegally, to the LEADS/NCIC databases.
The bottom line is that Governor Kasich has the authority, without going to the General Assembly of Ohio, to right a wrong that is being done everyday by police officers who are spying on American citizens in violation of federal and state laws regarding the use of LEADS and NCIC databases. All he has to do is tell the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to end the practice, investigate the abusers and cause them to be prosecuted.
Governor Kasich can also direct the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to give every citizen the authority to ask for the information that's being stored on them without their knowledge, just to see what police have added to the LEADS database about them.