Police staffer accused of tipping off suspect

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 5:36 AM EST
By William Kaempffer, NH Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — A civilian employee at the Police Department has been arrested for allegedly tipping off the mother of a person that police were looking for, an action that, if true, could have placed police officers on the street in danger, authorities said.

Mildred Belton, who has worked at the department for nearly 16 years, was charged Friday on a warrant after a month-long internal affairs investigation. She had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 11, and city spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said Belton remained on leave Monday.

Belton, 53, faces a felony charge of misuse of a computer and a misdemeanor obstruction charge, said police Chief James Lewis.

The accusations involve a 24-year-old man who allegedly threw an assault weapon from a motor vehicle, Lewis said. The city identified the man as Aaron Hall, and court records show he has a pending case from earlier this year for reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit and criminal possession of a weapon.

Lewis said Belton is accused of providing information to a suspect for whom police were looking. Specifically, he said, the police records clerk allegedly accessed a state law enforcement database to gain information contained in a police “BOLO” — short for “be on the lookout” for — for Hall, and then shared the information with Hall’s mother.

The statewide law enforcement database is password protected and it’s illegal to improperly use it or share information with people outside of law enforcement.

Belton has been barred from police headquarters since she was placed on leave. She was booked and released Friday.

Other details about the case were not available Monday. City officials said the warrant was already in court, but a Superior Court clerk said, if it were there, the file had not yet been processed and would not be available to be viewed.

Sgt. Louis Cavaliere, the police union president, said he didn’t know the circumstances of the case, but did say that had Belton intentionally tipped someone off that police were looking for him, it could have put officers in harm’s way.

“It can put a cop in danger. You can’t do that. You don’t want to compound the dangers of the job by having a person on the inside alerting people that police are looking for them,” he said.

No one answered the phone Monday at a telephone listing for Mildred Belton.

William Kaempffer can be reached at wkaempffer@nhregister.com or 789-5727.