Unauthorized Disclosure of Information

[chlorinepetes]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I live in California and I'm 17 years old. My friend's mother asked her next door neighbor, who is a police officer, to pull up some records on her friends. The cop told her 4 of her friends' (including me) criminal records.
Three of us are 17 and one of us is 18. Also the mother found out that one of the other three's mother has a medical marijuana card.
On top of that the officer told her mother that I had been arrested for stealing a car, which is not true.
I'm pretty sure this is unauthorized disclosure of information, and even a little defamation. My mother and I plan on making a formal complaint at our local police department and taking this to court.

Do we have a strong case? I read up on some laws and it said he could be fined up to 5,000 dollars and or spend up to 5 years in prison and will lose his job. Is there any truth to this? I'm just not really sure where to start.

 

[garrula lingua]

IMHO, you are wasting your time - you will just draw attention to your blemished record. It's not wise to broadcast your screw-ups.

It would be a better use of time, to plan on how you can change, in order to keep a clean record from age 18 on, rather than continuing to figure out how to get over on someone.

By the way, you have no case. You only have a whiny complaint.

If it's an unfair report on an officer, you may be liable for $5,000.