Board Suggests Firing of Officer

A Los Angeles police disciplinary board recommended Friday that an officer accused of accessing police databases for personal use be fired, a police spokesman said.

An LAPD board of rights found Officer Kelly Chrisman guilty of 15 of 22 charges that he misused police computers for six years to look up celebrities, including Courtney Cox Arquette, Halle Berry, Kobe Bryant, Sean Penn and Sharon Stone.

“The decision is now forwarded to Chief William Bratton,” said Officer Don Cox, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. “He will either endorse the recommended penalties of the board or he has the authority to reduce them.”

Police databases, which are maintained by the state and federal departments of justice, contain criminal histories -- including arrests that did not result in prosecution -- addresses, birth dates, driving records, vehicle ownership data, physical descriptions, Social Security numbers and, in some cases, unlisted phone numbers.

LAPD investigators said Chrisman, who was assigned to the West Los Angeles Division, accessed those records hundreds of times from 1994 to 2000.

Neither Chrisman nor his attorney could be reached for comment late Friday. But during the internal proceedings, Chrisman’s defense representative argued that the officer was carrying out orders to map residences of movie stars, corporate executives, politicians and others on the Westside.

Chrisman, 35, testified before the board that he looked up celebrity addresses to help anticipate problems, such as stalking, on his Pacific Palisades patrol beat. LAPD officials countered that no celebrity mapping project was ordered or authorized. In 2001, the LAPD sought criminal prosecution on the alleged computer misuse, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file charges, saying a one-year statute of limitations had expired.

The district attorney’s and U.S. attorney’s offices are conducting new criminal probes after information emerged this summer that Chrisman may have sold confidential police data to tabloids. Authorities are investigating because such activity could have violated federal and state laws covering wire fraud, conspiracy or bribery, which have statutes of limitations of up to five years.

The LAPD discovered the alleged misuse of police computers in March 2000, when Chrisman’s former girlfriend, Cyndy Truhan, filed a domestic violence complaint that sparked an investigation of the officer’s on- and off-duty activities.

An internal investigation led to disciplinary charges alleging Chrisman conducted personal business while on duty, committed acts of domestic violence against Truhan and used police computers to view law enforcement data on celebrities as well as friends and co-workers.