The Eugene Police Commission and the Human Rights Commission met for their annual joint meeting Thursday evening and discussed issues regarding the Eugene Police Department’s use of Social Security
numbers as identification for law enforcement purposes.
The Eugene Police Commission also approved policy recommendations for Eugene’s first drug detection dog since the early 1990s.
Members of both commissions listened to public concerns of EPD’s current practice of collecting Social Security information by officers during interactions with community members.
Marion Malcolm, a former member of the Human Rights Commission, questioned the necessity of requesting social security numbers from individuals during traffic citations, arrests and other contacts between police and the community.
“What I do know what (collecting Social Security numbers) does is create intimidation,” Malcolm said. “I hope that this practice of asking for Social Security numbers will be repudiated.”
Lt. Rick Siel explained that Social Security numbers are vital to law enforcement because as one of four critical personal identifiers — the others being name, date of birth and driver’s license number — they assist officers in making accurate identifications during contact with citizens.
Siel said a person’s identity could be complicated by a number of circumstances. For example, if a person doesn’t have any valid identification or if the credentials presented don’t seem to match the person’s current appearance, an officer may need additional information to determine the individual’s identity. For these reasons, Siel stated, Social Security numbers offer a unique identifier that can help determine the identity of individuals.
Critics of the practice cite concerns with privacy, potential misuse of an individual’s personal information, liability from false arrests and the increase of distrust between the community and police officers. Police officials said they were aware of these concerns and have taken steps to reduce disclosure of Social Security numbers when releasing otherwise public documents.
“We recognize that we need to better educate the public and our officers,” Siel said.
Police Commission Chairman Tim Laue approved a motion to discuss the issue in a future joint meeting between members of both commissions.
EPD may request Social Security numbers as part of a traffic or misdemeanor citation, during a field interview or when taking a person into custody. Individuals may refuse to disclose their Social Security number to police, in which case the refusal is noted in the report.
The Police Commission concluded the meeting by approving policy concerning Eugene’s new drug detection dog, Kyra. Kyra was acquired by EPD in June from Gresham police department after it discontinued its drug detection do program.
Officer Hart told the Police Commission in a meeting last month that Kyra was deployed about 38 times since August 1, resulting in the acquisition of 28 ounces of “controlled substances” with an estimated value of $20,000.