NATION : Iowa Census Tattler Suspended
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A census worker has been suspended for violating the U.S. Census Bureau’s tradition of confidentiality because he informed the police that a resident he questioned appeared to be using marijuana.
The bureau’s Cedar Rapids office said Stephen Larson should have informed his superiors and let them decide whether to inform the police. Larson said he was told Monday that he was being suspended pending an investigation.
Tom Moss, the district office’s director, said census enumerators make assurances that “nothing will come out of this to anybody other than the Census Bureau.”
Police, who took no action on Larson’s complaint, said today that the census taker’s only mistake was telling a reporter about his report.
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