Records clerk arrested for releasing confidential information.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis - Brief Article

It is not often that criminals get to run background checks on police officers. But charges filed in St. Louis County accuse Linda Whitten, a records room clerk at the Bridgeton, Missouri, Police Department, with providing confidential information to help a prostitute identify undercover cops.

Whitten was arrested and charged with promoting prostitution and misuse of official information. Police said they learned of Whitten's participation when they recorded a conversation in which the prostitute asked Whitten to check the name of a potential client to determine whether he was a police officer.

According to Bridgeton police, Whitten used a regional computer database of police records to search for the...