The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has arrested one of its own for the sixth time this year.
Arlisa Tarver was an assistant to the chief of patrol and had worked for JSO for seven years.
In a press conference Tuesday, Undersheriff Pat Ivey said Tarver had access to JSO’s computer database as part of her job and used that access to share information with violent suspects, including some who are wanted for murder.
“She was running the names and she was releasing that information to civilians in the world that were asking, ‘Hey, can you check and see if there’s a warrant for this person?’” Ivey explained.
“So if an officer comes in contact with them, let’s say for running a stop sign, it wouldn't be a far stretch [to say] that’s putting that officer in danger. As the officer is approaching the car, that individual is going to think, ‘Hey, they’re coming in contact with me because I’m wanted for murder,’” he said.
Undersheriff Pat Ivey held a news conference today in reference to a recent arrest of a JSO employee. Executive Assistant Arlisa Tarver, a 7 year civilian employee with JSO, was arrested after it was learned she had been accessing sensitive information and then divulging the information to individuals outside of the agency. Posted by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Ivey would not say how many times Tarver has shared information like this, but he did say there are “many” cases that have been documented since the beginning of 2019.
Tarver is facing two charges: the disclosure of confidential criminal justice information, which is a third degree felony, and offenses against users of computers and computer systems.
Tarver was immediately suspended. She has already been booked and she was in jail at last report.
“Even though she is a civilian, there are some civil service protections because she is outside of a probationary period. We will work through that, but with a trust violation such as this, we do not want her employed at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office,” Ivey said. “We're going to fire her.”
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
