Calgary police have charged a 58-year-old woman following a year-long investigation that revealed she was “intentionally sharing protected information for organized crime purposes.”
According to police, the woman was employed as a City of Calgary 911 operator when police allege she used her position to access private information.
An investigation conducted by the Calgary Police Service’s sensitive investigations unit revealed that the woman “intentionally pulled data from searches targeting individuals connected to organized crime activity and was then provided to other individuals involved in organized crime.”
Police said they were first alerted to the matter in December 2022 during an unrelated investigation. An investigation began on Jan. 26, 2023. The woman was arrested, interviewed and later released without charges.
In the following months, Calgary police obtained search warrants for the woman’s devices and said forensic investigators were able to obtain 200 pictures of sensitive data. Police said “the data was intentionally pulled from searches targeting individuals connected to organized crime activity and was then provided to other individuals involved in organized crime.”
Bushnell said the woman had been employed with Calgary 911 since 2013 but has not worked there since January 2023.
“Our employees undergo a robust screening process that includes security clearance polygraph and our physical centres are a secure environment with strong security measures,” Bushnell continued. “Calgary 911 has one of the most robust hiring and recruiting processes in Canada.”
Doug King, a professor of Criminal Justice at Mount Royal University, described the situation as “very rare” and added it shouldn’t affect the public’s trust in the system.
“There’s usually internal checks if you were to access the company database, your supervisor would receive notification,” King said. “There’s always internal checks for something like this to get through. The cracks are really very rare.”
A spokesperson for the City of Calgary said they plan to further their investigation by looking into records for the previous year.
“Citizens trust us with their confidential information and to have that confidence eroded in any way we take incredibly seriously,” Bushnell added.
Mariana Buonincontri now faces several charges including breach of trust under the criminal code.
Buonincontri is scheduled to appear in court on March 7.
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