Dozens of Beaufort Co. police officers disciplined after audit showed DMV database misuse
Twenty-seven police officers in Beaufort County were found to have used the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles database of driver information for personal reasons, according to documents and officials.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office reprimanded 15 deputies in September after an investigation into the personal uses, according to a letter from Sheriff P.J. Tanner. Seven officers from the Beaufort Police Department were found to have been in violation, along with three from the Port Royal Police Department and two from the Bluffton Police Department, officials said.
The DMV database is meant for police officers to access driver information, such as the kind of car someone drives or the information on a license, during a traffic stop or a criminal investigation.
Sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Christopher McIntosh used the database to see whether his daughter’s South Carolina ID was current. Another deputy, Sgt. Chelsea Seronka, used it to verify her identity for a student financial aid application, according to documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
All 15 deputies received written reprimands and were barred from using the database for six months.
“While there is no justification for their actions, it is important to note that the information recovery actions were specifically and narrowly confined to themselves or immediate family members,” Tanner wrote to DMV’s executive director.
He said the officers did not understand there would be consequences for doing those searches.
Most violations were when officers typed in their own names to train someone else, themselves, or to check if the system worked.
The degree of discipline varied from department to department.
Two Beaufort Police officers, Sgt. Anthony Re and Lt. Jason Day, had their access suspended indefinitely for looking up family members’ drivers license information “for personal reasons,” said Capt. George Erdel.
Officers Cecil Lancaster and Lt. Joe George with the Bluffton Police Department were counseled after they ran their own plates to see if they were expired, according to Capt. Joe Babkiewicz.
One former Port Royal Police officer, Ryan Steady, “ran an unauthorized inquiry on himself for unknown reasons” six days after resigning, said Maj. Ron Wekenmann, in an email. The agency reported it to the DMV.
These types of searches are on the innocuous end of the spectrum of law enforcement misuse of databases. A 2016 investigation from the Associated Press found that officers across the country used them to search information on romantic partners, business associates, family members and others.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 9:06 AM.
