Kensington: New records show more cops used confidential database to gather personal information on police board member

KENSINGTON — Spying cops?

In what a privacy expert called an “extremely egregious” example of police abusing their authority, Kensington officers accessed a highly confidential state law-enforcement database at least nine times to gather information on a now former elected official who was critical of their department.

The documents, released under the state’s new police accountability law, Senate Bill 1421, deliver another black eye for the police department in this tiny, affluent, unincorporated town in the hills north of Berkeley.

The revelations are contained in the disciplinary records of an officer who was fired for leaking information about the data searches and later denying it to investigators.