A veteran Mendota Heights police officer — suspended this year for inappropriately looking up driver’s license data of current and former co-workers, city council members, and others — is the focus of another internal investigation.
Mike Shepard, a Mendota Heights officer since 2006, was put on paid administrative leave Aug. 29 while a complaint against him is being investigated, City Administrator Mark McNeill said Tuesday.
McNeill and Police Chief Kelly McCarthy said they could not comment on why Shepard was put on leave.
The city council held a closed-door meeting Monday night to discuss the investigation. Shepard could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Shepard has been disciplined by the department five times since 2010, according to his personnel file.
On Feb. 17, following a five-month internal affairs investigation, Shepard was suspended for 30 days without pay for misusing state driver and vehicle services data and for insubordination after discussing the investigation with the city’s mayor, according to city documents.
The state’s driver’s database is accessible to law enforcement and other government employees for limited official purposes. State and federal privacy laws protect the data, which includes home addresses, driving records, physical descriptions and photos.
According to an investigation report by McCarthy, Shepard ran the vehicle license plates of 12 people for nonbusiness reasons between June 1 and Oct. 11. People he searched for included his girlfriend, City Administrator McNeill, city council members, a female Mendota Heights firefighter, and an unnamed local police chief and his wife who live in Mendota Heights.
Shepard had been warned that inappropriate use of driver’s data would result in disciplinary action. In 2009, an internal audit at the state Department of Public Safety notified then Chief Mike Aschenbrener that Shepard had misused the database to look up two people.
In 2011, Shepard received a four-day suspension for violating the department’s harassment and discrimination policy stemming from his treatment of a female co-worker, McCarthy’s report said.
In August 2011, he was suspended one day for insubordination.
Shepard has two written reprimands in his file — for disobeying an order and insubordination in January 2010, and for driving at excessive speed and “reflecting a poor image” of the department in September 2010.