Skipping Google, an English woman taps into dates' police records.
By Tom Miller — Written on Nov 08, 2010
An English woman working in the Northumbria police station has been deemed guilty of "a calamitous error of judgment." Her crime? After becoming employed by the police station, she discovered the awesome power of the police database… for running background checks on the fellas she was dating.
According to Metro, the community support officer (one Ms. Lucy Bevan) began her work for John Law with a man in her life but, when that operation soured, she began "Googling" prospective manfriends using the Police National Computer. Apparently, it got pretty addicting. Per the investigation, this woman once looked up a man 151 times in a single month. Her secret mission ran aground when she let it slip to one gentleman caller that she'd checked out his personal information on the old computing machine.
Ms. Bevan's run with the Northumbria po-po ended after two and a half years and a £1,100 fine (English for money). She even used the system to snoop on a potential mother-in-law.
Frankly, Googling a date has become de rigueur, and I'm guessing that—if we're being totally honest with both ourselves and the English taxpayers—many of us would have taken a gander at this data if we thought we wouldn't get caught. On one hand, in some crazy world, a person shouldn't have anything to hide, right? On the other hand, here on Earth, it's both frowned upon AND considered bad form to abuse access to private data. Please Don't Google Me
Personally, I like to do a credit check on any prospective date. Her spending habits and credit-worthiness don't really make any difference to me. I just like to know that her credit card will go through when I "forget my wallet."
Have you ever Googled a date? Do you think women are more likely to snoop than dudes?