List of Addresses of Police Officers

I read an article concerning the use of a “Confidential List” of Santa Ana police officer’s names and home addresses that City Councilman Dan Griset used to promote his reelection. I was appalled that a city official would use his power to obtain this list and then remove this list from City Hall.

By his own admission, Councilman Griset states that he took this “confidential list” to his own private office and put the information into his personal business computer. Maybe what he should have taken from the Police Department is a statistical list of how many commercial burglaries occur in Santa Ana and how many computers are stolen.

It seems funny that Griset would see nothing wrong with this practice. Do his political opponents also have a right to this list? I think not. This reminds me of the days when the City Council members, like Pat McGuigan, would use their positions at election time to get an arranged political photo of themselves standing next to a policeman or police car to use in their political flyers. It seems to me that this practice, which many officers found objectionable, wasn’t fair to non-incumbents.

Police officers should really be outraged at Councilman Griset’s abuse of this confidential list. If the list gets in the wrong hands, the criminal may only have to walk around the block to terrorize the officer’s family.

If a police employee used that list for his own personal gain, he would no longer be a city employee. Shouldn’t Dan Griset be treated equally?

JANICE L. ELDRIDGE

Santa Ana