Louisville Cop Used Law Enforcement Database To Seek Female Targets To Hack For Sexually Explicit Content

Law enforcement officers have plenty of unfettered access to expansive databases containing plenty of personal information. This access is instrumental to law enforcement work, including ongoing investigations, attempts to locate wanted criminals, and the routine minutia of validating drivers licenses and registration.

The problem is there's so little oversight of officers' use of these databases. Over and over and over again, this access is abused for personal purposes. And abuse is far from uncommon. A 2013 audit found more than half of Minnesota's 11,000 law enforcement officers abused their access to driver data, with the most common abuses being searching for others with the same last name and disproportionately searching for people of one sex."

Lack of true oversight at the local level has led to federal charges against a (now former) Louisville police officer who abused his access to other people's personal info to seek sexually explicit material with the apparent goal of blackmailing them. Here's Josh Wood, reporting for LEO Weekly.

According to a sentencing memorandum, Bryan Wilson used his law enforcement access to Accurint, a powerful data-combing software used by police departments to assist in investigations, to obtain information about potential victims. He would then share that information with a hacker, who would hack into private Snapchat accounts to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos.

If sexually explicit material was obtained, Wilson would then contact the women, threatening to post the photos and videos online and share them with their friends, family, employer and co-workers unless more sexually explicit material was provided to him.

Accurint is a powerful database run by LexisNexis - one that contains millions of public records, court filings, licenses, addresses, phone numbers, and (as is most relevant here) social media data. That last chunk of information was integral to Officer Wilson's scheme. The DOJ's sentencing memorandum [PDF] recounts one of Wilson's conversation with a potential victim.

Wilson: I'm curious which picture you'd prefer me to use as the focal point of a collage im making . . . (pictures were attached)
Victim: Who is this?
. . .
Wilson: You cool with me posting em? Im telling you, everyone will LOVE them!
Victim: How did you get these
. . .
Wilson: . . . I had planned to send your pictures to your parents, brother, grandparents, sisters, friends, facebook, pornhub, employer, etc but I would gladly keep all of this between you and I (and tell you who sent them to me) if you promise to leave me out of the drama and show me a few more pics that way we can both benefit . . .

If he did not receive the response he liked, Wilson would post the hacked content online. He also encouraged others to send him info on other potential targets, providing them with his Kik contact info. If the hack was successful, those providing these tips were rewarded with access to the hacked content. In at least one case (the DOJ has identified 25 hacking victims), the victim's employer was sent the sexual content, which nearly resulted in the victim's termination.

And that's not the only charge in the memorandum. Wilson is also being sentenced for his participation in Slushygate." Multiple officers (including Wilson and an officer implicated in the Breonna Taylor killing) apparently roamed the city, hurling drinks at pedestrians. Many of these assaults were captured by cops with their own phones. At least one resident was hospitalized after being hit with a thrown drink.

The Louisville Metro PD is currently being investigated by the DOJ for its pattern and practice of civil rights violations. The actions of former officer Bryan Wilson show just how little fear of reprisal the PD's officers have. Officers facing actual oversight and accountability don't blackmail people or randomly assault pedestrians just for fun. This officer is a symptom of much larger - and still unaddressed - problem. The same festering rot that allowed officers to lie on a warrant application before forcing their way into a home and killing an unarmed, innocent person is the same rot that bubbles to the surface in less violent, but still abhorrent, forms.