Census takers are not allowed, under penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, to report any illegal activities they observe while they are performing Census surveys.
In other words, if they see a meth-lab or a pot farm, they are prohibited by law from reporting it to law enforcement.Something I did not think of until I read a blog comment at "MyTwoCensus" is that Mr Sparkman's computer and work assignments could possibly lead to likely suspects in his murder. However, the law prohibits this evidence from being turned over to law enforcement agencies:
http://www.mytwocensus.com/2009/09/25/mytwocensus-investigation-and-editorial-census-bureau-employee-murdered/#comments" Again this data may only be released to the sponsoring agency for the purpose of providing statistical summaries of the data. Under no circumstances may any data be released to any other government agency or law enforcement. His Census Bureau laptop would contain the list of addresses and it would be easy to determine which address was the last one he visited. Unfortunately, that information cannot be released to law enforcement."
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The law is designed to prevent the very kind of paranoia and fear that may have lead to Bill Sparkman's murder.
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