Private Detective Sues Over Computer Abuse : Litigation: Investigator says a Police Department employee accessed information in city files to help neo-Nazi groups snoop on him, violating his civil rights.

A Toluca Lake private detective has sued Los Angeles city and police officials, contending that a police analyst illegally used department computers to help neo-Nazi groups snoop on him, thus placing his life in danger.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Jan Tucker, a former investigator for the Jewish Defense League, said civilian Los Angeles Police Department employee Robert Bauman accessed computerized files and gave confidential information to “organizations that were and are overtly hostile to Tucker and his political activities.”

The suit, served on city and police officials last week, names as defendants Bauman, Police Chief Willie L. Williams and former Chief Daryl F. Gates. The suit alleges that the Los Angeles Police Department condoned such spying, in effect, by not vigorously prosecuting abuse of its computers. The suit says such an invasion of privacy violated Tucker’s civil rights.

Bauman, a 24-year employee of the Police Department, was suspended for 10 days last year by the city Civil Service Commission for unauthorized use of police computers. He has admitted running the names of several people, including celebrities, through the computers while working as an analyst for the city Police Commission.

According to city documents, Bauman said that he is a history buff specializing in extremist groups and that he also checked the files at the request of other department employees.

Bauman, who now works in the Police Department’s Central Division, had no comment on Tucker’s lawsuit. City officials also had no comment.

Irv Rubin, head of the Jewish Defense League, also has sued Bauman over alleged searching of his files.

As a permit processor in the Police Commission’s investigation division, Bauman had access to computer files of confidential police, criminal and tax records. It is legal for police and civilian investigators to access computer files, but usually only on a “need to know” basis, such as when a person applies for a city permit.

Tucker’s suit alleges that Bauman was an “associate” of neo-Nazi organizations, which could use the confidential information to discover the various aliases he used to protect himself, find him and put him “in mortal danger.”

Tucker said he suspected that his files had been accessed about the time he was waging an unsuccessful campaign for state Senate last November on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. That political activity, and his role as an investigator for groups such as the Jewish Defense League, made him a wanted man among neo-Nazi organizations and others, Tucker contended.

“Without knowing what he accessed, I don’t even know what kind of protections to take to protect myself,” Tucker said in an interview. “He probably knows certain aliases that I use. And if someone knows those aliases, they can find me. . . . For 10 years I was tracking down Nazis for the JDL.”

According to Civil Service records, Bauman became the subject of an internal police investigation after undercover officers spotted him at a Huntington Beach event sponsored by white supremacist Tom Metzger. Checking department computers, police officials determined that Bauman had been searching the records of scores of people, the documents state.

Although police investigators concluded that there was no evidence to indicate that Bauman “was a terrorist or a member of a racist or radical group,” his suspension was upheld by the Board of Civil Service Commissioners because of the frequency of the violations. Hearing examiner Fredric R. Horowitz called his actions a “serious breach of the public trust.”

None of the public documents released in Bauman’s disciplinary case identify Tucker by name. But Tucker said he learned from a third party who saw confidential police reports that he was among about 200 people whose files Bauman allegedly reviewed.

No specific damages are sought in the lawsuit.