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So... No criminal charges, just fired? How is that markedly different?

The subtext of my post was that virtuously rigorous guidelines with no enforcement mechanism are a paper tiger.

anything short of criminal charges is "no enforcement mechanism"? You do realize that if you're a POST-certified peace officer and terminated for cause (1) you lose your pension and (2) are utterly unemployable by any other law enforcement agency. That means you're in your mid-50s and can't find a job in the field you've worked in for a few decades, and probably can't get hired as a security guard because lack of POST certification means you can't carry a gun on the job.

It's quite a harsh punishment for accessing records inappropriately.

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