MARTINSBURG – Two Martinsburg police officers blame the city for posting personal information about them online that could endanger them and their families.
The plaintiffs, identified only by their initials of D.C. and J.H. because of the sensitive nature of the case, filed their complaints March 7 in Berkeley Circuit Court against the City of Martinsburg.
Law enforcement officers have an incredibly tough job,” attorney Teresa Toriseva told The West Virginia Record. “Those that are involved in drug crimes and organized crime task forces have an enhanced inherent need to keep their personal information private.
Toriseva
“It is outrageous that any employer, let alone an employer of police, would permit the widespread publication of their sworn law enforcement officers’ private and personal information on the internet for all to see, download, and share.”
According to the complaints, both men were contacted by Police Chief George Swartwood and Deputy Chief Eric Gibbons. Swartwood told both of them that deputization paperwork processed through the West Virginia State Police and Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force they had filled out had been released to the public by being posted online in its entirety.
Both officers do extensive work to combat the illegal drug epidemic in the city as members of various drug task forces and collaborative law enforcement teams.
The forms had been given to City Recorder Gina Long, who told the chief, deputy chief and the plaintiffs she didn’t know she was receiving sensitive information when she posted it online. She said she usually goes over paperwork and redacts it before posting, but she said she didn’t do so this time.
Both men said the information was posted for five days before being taken down and had received at least 101 visits during the time the personal information was posted.
The paperwork contained the plaintiffs’ Social Security numbers, home addresses, full names, physical descriptors, certification dates, most recent firearms certification dates, photocopies of driver’s licenses with photos and police IDs that also included photos.
Both plaintiffs filed grievances related to the release of their personal information. In letters from Swartwood dated September 4, he admitted making a mistake by attaching deputization forms as part of the documentation he sent to Long to post on the city council agenda.
During subsequent grievance hearings, the men expressed fear and concern for their safety and the safety of their families because of the release of the information because both have arrested many violent criminals at both the state and federal level.
The plaintiffs accuse the defendant of negligence, negligent supervision, invasion of privacy through unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another and through unreasonable publicity given to the plaintiffs’ private lives and violating their own policies and procedures. They seek compensatory damages.
Both men are being represented by Toriseva, Joshua D. Miller and Michael A. Kuhn of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. Both cases have been assigned to Circuit Judge Laura Faircloth.
Berkeley Circuit Court case numbers 23-C-80 (D.C.) and 23-C-81 (J.H.)