ST. PETERSBURG — Four police officers were reprimanded this week for improperly accessing the personal information of a former colleague who transitioned from a woman to a man.
Officers Douglas Gaddis, 35, and James Olson, 45, were given employee notices, a formal type of discipline.
Officers Courtney Zak, 33, and Robert Leoce, 38, received memorandums of counseling, which do not go in their personnel files.
According to a memo from police Chief Chuck Harmon, the officers looked up the man's information in the state driver's license database in October while dispatched to a shoplifting call at Tyrone Square Mall.
While at the scene, the memo said, the group started talking to a security guard with Valor Security Services — the company that now employs the former officer.
Olson then asked Gaddis to pull up the state license database. Gaddis did, the memo said, and a "photo lineup" of the former officer's gradual change from female to male was seen by the officers and the security officials.
It is also alleged that Zak made disparaging comments about the former officer, who was not present.
Harmon said the officers violated the department's and city's policies about accessing confidential information.
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