Bartow 911 supervisor charged with accessing state crime files for personal use
A supervisor of a North Georgia 911 center was arrested Monday after officials said she used her ability to access crime files for personal use.
Stormie Watkins, 52, of Cartersville, was taken into custody by the GBI on three counts of computer invasion of privacy, according to spokesman Brian Johnston.
Watkins was a supervisor at a 911 call center in Bartow County, Johnston said. Her position gave her the authority to access Georgia Crime Information Center files for “official, legal and legitimate purposes,” he said.
The GCIC manages a statewide computer database of crime files, according to its website.
Bartow sheriff’s office investigators learned that Watkins had been accessing the files without authorization, Johnston said. The agency reached out to the GBI for an independent investigation into the allegations April 13.
“The investigation revealed that Watkins abused this authority by accessing the files for personal reasons, a violation of Georgia law,” Johnston said.
Watkins was booked into the Bartow County Jail on Monday. She was released the same day on a $7,500 bond, jail records show.
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About the Author
Asia Simone Burns is a watchdog reporter for the AJC. Burns was formerly an intern in AJC’s newsroom and now writes about crime. She is a graduate of Samford University and has previously reported for NPR and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR member station.
