Authorities are looking into how some people had a chance to pick up some confidential information during the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
Police say some shredded police documents got tossed as confetti to spectators during the event.
Some of the pieces of paper contained social security numbers, license plates' numbers and phone numbers.
Among the crowds at the Thanksgiving Day parade was Ethan Finkelstein, and among the floats, balloons, and marching bands, somebody threw confetti. It sounds harmless, but a piece of it stuck onto the coat of one of Finkelstein's friends.
"It landed on her shoulder, she looked at it, she picked it off her jacket, and it says SSN, and then there's a number, and it's written like a social security number, and we're like, 'that's really bizarre.," Finkelstein explained.
It made the college freshman concerned, so he and his friends picked up more.
"There are phone numbers on it, addresses, more social security numbers, license plates' numbers, and then we find these incident reports from police," Finkelstein continued.
In fact, some of the confetti strips mentioned arrest records and had official police reports.
"This was really shocking, 'cause it says, 'about 4:30 a.m., a homemade pipe bomb was thrown outside a home in the Kings Grant area,'" recalled Finkelstein.
A closer look showed the documents were from the Nassau County Police Department. That's part of its official emblem there.
There was even information about Mitt Romney's motorcade, apparently from the final presidential debate, in Nassau County last month.
Most important, confetti identified detectives, some apparently undercover with their social security numbers, dates of birth, and other highly-sensitive confidential information that we're concealing.
"I'm just completely in shock that, well, how can people have this type of sensitive information, and why is it being shredded and being distributed at the Thanksgiving Day parade," concluded Finkelstein.
Nassau County Police said they're very concerned and are launching an investigation, as well as reviewing how they dispose of sensitive documents.
Police say some shredded police documents got tossed as confetti to spectators during the event.
Some of the pieces of paper contained social security numbers, license plates' numbers and phone numbers.
Among the crowds at the Thanksgiving Day parade was Ethan Finkelstein, and among the floats, balloons, and marching bands, somebody threw confetti. It sounds harmless, but a piece of it stuck onto the coat of one of Finkelstein's friends.
"It landed on her shoulder, she looked at it, she picked it off her jacket, and it says SSN, and then there's a number, and it's written like a social security number, and we're like, 'that's really bizarre.," Finkelstein explained.
It made the college freshman concerned, so he and his friends picked up more.
"There are phone numbers on it, addresses, more social security numbers, license plates' numbers, and then we find these incident reports from police," Finkelstein continued.
In fact, some of the confetti strips mentioned arrest records and had official police reports.
"This was really shocking, 'cause it says, 'about 4:30 a.m., a homemade pipe bomb was thrown outside a home in the Kings Grant area,'" recalled Finkelstein.
A closer look showed the documents were from the Nassau County Police Department. That's part of its official emblem there.
There was even information about Mitt Romney's motorcade, apparently from the final presidential debate, in Nassau County last month.
Most important, confetti identified detectives, some apparently undercover with their social security numbers, dates of birth, and other highly-sensitive confidential information that we're concealing.
"I'm just completely in shock that, well, how can people have this type of sensitive information, and why is it being shredded and being distributed at the Thanksgiving Day parade," concluded Finkelstein.
Nassau County Police said they're very concerned and are launching an investigation, as well as reviewing how they dispose of sensitive documents.