Editorial: Privacy is a right for all

Friday, March 11, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

With today's violent criminals being better armed and less constrained than ever before, we cannot blame people in certain professions for aggressively guarding their privacy. A bill before the Legislature would allow thousands of government workers to remove themselves from assessor rolls. The reasoning is that assessor rolls, containing names and addresses of all property owners, are public information. Now scanned onto the Internet, the information is available instantly to anybody. David Kallas, who represents the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, asked for the bill on the grounds that it would help prevent retaliation against officers and their families.

Kallas' point cannot be dismissed. He cited a recent case in North Las Vegas in which a police officer and his family had to be moved from their home because of threats from people the officer had been investigating. Last month the husband and mother of a federal judge in Chicago were killed in her home. In 1993 a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper tripped a bomb when he opened a package delivered to his home. He lost his left eye and part of his left arm. The bill to exempt public employees from assessor rolls would apply to police officers, social workers, investigators in child welfare offices, prison employees, parole and probation officers, judges and court employees, the attorney general, district attorneys and their deputies, public defenders and many other government employees who come into contact with potentially dangerous people.

The bill is criticized by assessors, who say their offices would be inundated by people demanding the same exemption. Our ears are deaf to this objection, as it would place their convenience above public safety. The Nevada Press Association, which also wants the bill killed, raises a more plausible objection. It says the bill would create a "protected privileged class." This is a good point. There are many people in private jobs too, employees of collections agencies, for example, and celebrities, who are potential targets of retaliation or stalking.

Assessor's rolls are made public so that property owners can compare their property taxes with the taxes on other properties, to ensure fairness. In our view, names are not necessary for this to occur. While the Nevada Press Association would kill the bill, we would like to see it reworked. We believe the Legislature should discuss listing only information that is relevant to the property and its taxes, and removing all names from the rolls.