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Background Checks Are Suspected in Misuse of California Criminal Computer Records
According to data compiled by the California Attorney General’s office, Tulare, Fresno, Kern and Kings counties government agencies were over-represented in incorrectly using a computer network that shows criminal histories and drivers' records.
With 29 violations, the four southern San Joaquin Valley counties — with a combined population of 2.5 million — outpaced Los Angeles County, which accounted for 28 violations with a population of 10 million.
The four Central Valley counties accounted for 20 percent of California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) violations with 6 percent of California's population.
The numbers were first revealed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.
“CLETS is like the police internet,” said Dave Maass, a senior researcher at EFF. “It’s the network that connects law enforcement agencies to each other around the state and other networks around the country. Whenever a police officer is looking you up this is what they’re using.”
CLETS was established in 1970 as a statewide system used by public law enforcement agencies to look up criminal data. The California Department of Justice is required by law to ensure that CLETS works seamlessly across jurisdictions and to make reports of misuse available to the public.
Used nearly three million times a day, the system provides agencies with access to information regarding criminal history, wanted persons, stolen vehicle information, firearms prohibitions, car registration, as well as information about suspects in national and international crimes.
The CLETS violations for the four southern San Joaquin Valley counties included:
Kings County, with a population of 150,000, had 14 violations
Tulare County, with a population of 465,000, had six violations
Fresno County, with a population of 989,000, had five violations
Kern County, with a population of 893,000, had four violations.
Only one of those violations — in the Tulare County Sheriff's Department — led to a firing or resignation.
In contrast, four officials were fired in Los Angeles for abusing CLETS.
Specific information about the nature of the violations was not provided by the Attorney General's office. Potential abuses, though, include:
Using the database for personal reasons
Searching data on celebrities
Sharing passwords or access
Providing information to unauthorized third parties
Researching a firearm an officer intends to purchase.
In Tulare County, five of the six CLETS violations occurred in the state-run Office of Protective Services, a division of California Development Services. The OPS is the law enforcement arm of the agency that runs group homes for developmentally disabled people.
The OPS did not return messages to comment on the violations.
The other Tulare County CLETS violation — which resulted in a resignation — was in the Tulare County Sherrif's Department.
There are both state and county policies in place that define who can use CLETS and how according to a Tulare County Sherrif's Department statement.
All new users are given extensive CLETS training and testing and sign a confidentiality agreement, according to the sheriff's department statement. In addition, there is bi-annual training and re-certification testing for everyone who has access or uses CLETS.
In Kings County, the Human Services Agency special investigation unit — which protects children from at-risk families — had 13 cases of misuse, the most by any agency in the Central Valley. No one from the unit resigned or was fired for the violations.
Roger Bradley, Kings County assistant chief administrative officer, said members of investigation unit were improperly using CLETS to do background checks on foster parents when they should have been using another authorized background check system.
"Once we found out the error, we did further training and corrected procedures," Bradley said. "That unit hasn't had any violations since."
In Fresno County, the Fresno Police Department accounted for the five violations, which led to two suspensions.
In Kern County, the Kern County High School Police Department accounted for all four of the violations. No action was taken on all of the violations.
In total, 22 government employees across California lost or left their jobs after abusing the computer network on 143 occasions. In addition, 18 violators were suspended and 53 violations resulted in no action being taken. Four of the cases resulted in misdemeanors charges.
In 2018, the Attorney General's office gathered information from 1,285 agencies, a 98 percent compliance rate, on the use of CLETS. Agencies are required to self-report all violations and results of discipline.
If agencies don't report violations and the results of those violations, the Attorney General's office can ban the agency from using CLETS.
EFF noted that the total of 143 violations of database rules was the equivalent of an invasion of privacy every two and half days.
The EFF has pressured the department to enforce laws requiring agencies to report misuse investigations as a condition of their access to the CLETS database, which can be easily abused without more public oversight the group argues.
USA TODAY NETWORK contributed to this report.
James Ward
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