Police Officer Caught Selling Confidential Law Enforcement Data on the Dark Web

A French police officer has been charged and arrested last week for selling confidential data on the dark web in exchange for Bitcoin. The officer worked for Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI, translated to General Directorate for Internal Security), a French intelligence agency charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organizations, and social media.

French authorities did not release the officer's name but said he operated using the pseudonym Haurus on a dark web market known as Black Hand.

French authorities also say the officer advertised a service to track the location of mobile devices based on a supplied phone number. He advertised the system as a way to track spouses or members of competing criminal gangs. Investigators believe Haurus was using the French police resources designed with the intention to track criminals for this service.

He also advertised a service that told buyers if they were tracked by French police and what information officers had on them.  (ZDNet, October 3, 2018)
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An this is why there should be no law enforcement backdoors built into encryption!

An Associated Press investigation found police officers across the country [in the US] abuse confidential law enforcement databases to get information on romantic partners, business associates, neighbors, journalists and others for reasons totally unrelated to police work. In the worst cases, officers have stalked, harassed and tampered with criminal cases using details obtained through criminal history and motor vehicle databases.

In Washington State, Antiwar Activists Challenge Army’s Domestic Spying Apparatus in Ninth Circuit.

In most cases police officers use their access to data for official and authorized purposes. But there are exceptions as we have seen. It is the exceptions that pose the risk to our personal safety and security.