LAKEPORT, Calif. – At the end of a two and a half hour long special meeting on Friday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors asked the sheriff to reinstate access to county law enforcement records for the Lakeport Police Department and Probation, to work collaboratively with other law enforcement chiefs and to seek a records audit from the California Attorney General’s Office.
Sheriff Frank Rivero said he would not restore access to the records information management system, or RIMS, to Lakeport Police, and would only give Probation limited access after cutting them off earlier this week, but said he would be willing to discuss setting up protocols for access with a task force of representatives from other law enforcement agencies as well as Supervisor Jeff Smith.
Rivero said he also would welcome an audit from the Attorney General’s Office, but wanted District Attorney Don Anderson to join with him in making the request.
Following the meeting, Anderson told Lake County News that he would definitely join with Rivero in seeking the audit.
For Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen, while he said afterward that he appreciated the board’s action, he said Rivero’s refusal to allow him back into the shared records system hamstrings his department. That’s because Lakeport Police contracts with the county for dispatch services, with records from the incoming calls being placed into the sheriff’s system.
While Rivero told the board that he’s providing to Lakeport Police information from his agency’s Computer Assisted Dispatch program, or CAD, Rasmussen said that information is not coming over electronically as was promised. Instead, his officers are getting blank messages, and must call the county’s Central Dispatch to ask for the information to be faxed.
County Counsel Anita Grant informed the board that the city of Lakeport was prepared to file a lawsuit over breach of the dispatch contract based on its interpretation of the document. Rasmussen said he considers RIMS access to be part of the dispatch service, although it’s not specified in the document.
As for whether the city might proceed with legal action, “It’s certainly something that I’m recommending that we need to explore immediately,” said Rasmussen, who met with City Attorney Steve Brookes and City Manager Margaret Silveira – who also were in attendance in the board chambers – after the meeting.
Rasmussen said he, Brookes and Silveira are set to discuss the matter further next week. Ultimately, the decision would be up to the Lakeport City Council, four of whose members – Stacey Mattina, Martin Scheel, Tom Engstrom and Marc Spillman – were at the meeting and who appeared frustrated over Rivero’s refusal to work with their police department.
“I am exploring every option, because I don’t know what might happen in the future,” said Rasmussen, noting his arrangement for dispatch services no longer was working as it had, or as he needed it to do.
He added of Rivero, “I’m not going to back down to him.”
The Board of Supervisors called the special meeting in response to a letter from the city of Lakeport, signed by Engstrom, asking for immediate action.
Of the five board members, only Denise Rushing, Rob Brown and Jim Comstock were available, with Jeff Smith and Anthony Farrington out of town. The vote was 3-0 to ask Rivero to restore access, work with the task force and seek the audit.
This latest matter has arisen a little over a month after the Board of Supervisors gave Rivero a unanimous no confidence vote based on his performance. At that time, other law enforcement officials had pointed to difficulties in working with Rivero, who the District Attorney’s Office placed on a list of officers with credibility issues for allegedly lying about his actions during a nonfatal 2008 shooting.
Sheriff says he’s protecting information
The room was filled with law enforcement officials, including the majority of the Lakeport Police Department staff, as well as Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen, Probation Chief Rob Howe, California Highway Patrol Clear Lake Area Office Commander Lt. Greg Baarts and State Parks Clear Lake Superintendent Bill Salata.
In addition, there were Silveira and the four Lakeport City Council members, Clearlake Mayor Jeri Spittler, Clearlake Councilman Joey Luiz and Clearlake City Manager Joan Phillipe.
Rivero told the board that he was attempting to control sensitive law enforcement information, and his actions were part of tightening control of who can access that information. He said he started that effort when he took office and claimed he found many inappropriate accesses and was still finding them, and that it’s a crime to incorrectly access such records.
Throughout the meeting, Rivero indicated he was unwilling to relinquish any control of the system, and insisted that the decisions to cut off access to fellow agencies – despite assertions that the system was meant to be shared – were within his right.
Rivero said that on April 18 he received his latest update on the number of log ins and passwords, and found there were 225 people with access.
He disputed that there are any public safety issues as a result of cutting off or limiting access, and said he was within the constraints of the county’s dispatch contract with the Lakeport Police Department.
Rivero said he cut Lakeport Police’s access, had an exchange with Rasmussen and then said his curiosity was piqued, so he conducted an audit. He said he found hundreds of inquiries from the agency in the RIMS system between Jan. 1 and April 23 which he said went behind the CAD usage that he claimed Rasmussen had sought. Rasmussen said later that Rivero had twisted his words, and that his department’s usage always had gone beyond just CAD.
Rushing asked if those accesses were inappropriate. “Are you filing charges? Was it a crime that took place?”
Rivero responded that there was no way to verify if those accesses were legitimate. “These officers were not under my control,” and he couldn’t undertake an internal affairs investigation, he said, adding that Rasmussen himself had made 12 inquiries in that time.
He went on to argue that it was a “herculean” task to have to audit the many inquiries from the various agencies. Rivero also alleged that a Lakeport Police officer accessed the system and changed information about his wife. “That is wholly inappropriate.”
Rivero maintained of Lakeport Police, “I don’t believe they need access to RIMS.”
Brown said if there was an issue of questionable access, it made sense to have a task force of the agencies that use RIMS. If there was illegal action, he said, “I want to see somebody arrested,” and he offered to let them run an audit check on his personal records.
“So what you’re telling me is, you want to run the sheriff’s office?” said Rivero.
Brown said he was only making a recommendation, to which Rivero emphasized he was elected to run the agency. “There’s many ways to harm people,” and releasing records is one of them, said Rivero. “I am the sheriff and I make these decisions.”
Brown said he didn’t want to run the sheriff’s department. “I want the sheriff to run it in an appropriate manner.”
He later asked Rivero who was auditing his use of the system. If he had a problem, Rivero responded, Brown could contact the Department of Justice.
Referring to a four-inch stack of documents Rivero had with him at the podium, Comstock asked, “Are those confidential records?” And, if so, Comstock asked if it was it appropriate to have them there.
Rivero said they were and they were safe in his custody.
Lakeport officials speak to public safety, collaboration
Silveira thanked the board for having the meeting so quickly.
Referring to Lakeport Police, she said those who are keeping the community safe need to have all the tools in the tool box available, adding that she had the utmost respect for Rasmussen and his staff.
If Rivero had gone to Rasmussen and said there was a problem, “Our department would have done an investigation,” she said, explaining that such an allegation would be taken seriously.
Lakeport Police has had access to those shared law enforcement records for decades. “A call would have been the respectful thing to do,” Silveira said.
Rasmussen, whose voice was hoarse from days of phone calls and meetings in response to Rivero’s action, recounted finding out that his agency had been cut off without warning, with Rivero initially saying there were no issues.
After telling Rivero he felt he was endangering officers and the Lakeport community, Rasmussen went public with his concerns. Afterward, Rivero raised new allegations of “hundreds” of inappropriate accesses to the system, Rasmussen said.
“I submit that these are simply the sheriff’s allegations and that he does not know these are, in fact, violations,” said Rasmussen.
Rather than trying to work together on a solution, Rivero simply cut Lakeport Police out, said Rasmussen. “This is typical of Sheriff Rivero’s response to things.”
In response to Rivero’s statements about Rasmussen’s use of the system, Rasmussen explained that, in one of those cases, on March 26, he ran a RIMS check on a sex offender from the county jurisdiction who had been reported to have had contact with young females in downtown Lakeport. “This information was needed to see if there was a violation of the law.”
He added, “Information needs to be shared.” Rasmussen said the information in the system also is critical to his department’s efforts to pursue grants, adding that the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants “is very much an officer and community safety issue.”
Innocent citizens get hurt and killed when law enforcement doesn't work together, Rasmussen said, adding that the situation shows Rivero’s inability to work collaboratively with other agencies.
“I will not stand by and allow Sheriff Rivero to endanger my staff or my community,” Rasmussen said, ending by asking the board to take whatever action was necessary to fix the situation.
Rushing asked Rasmussen about what alternatives he had. Rasmussen suggested a face-to-face meeting with Rivero, and said he was considering other options as well.
Comstock noted that 32 years ago, Sgt. Richard Helbush was fatally shot, and one of the reasons for his death is that he didn’t have information about a couple he encountered along the road. “He lost his life because of that.”
Howe told the board that he, too, was cut out without notice, and that whereas before he had 15 people with access to the system, now Rivero only wanted to allow one. “For me it’s a big efficiency issue.”
He said he asked Rivero why he was removed, and Rivero had not been able to point to an inappropriate use. Howe added that he was suspicious that Rivero could come up with hundreds of alleged inappropriate uses of the RIMS system by Rasmussen and his staff in one afternoon after the Lakeport Police press release went out. He said he expected Rivero would bring up similar allegations of inappropriate use against him.
Anderson said he sympathized with Howe and Rasmussen after his agency also was cut out of RIMS two years ago because Rivero was angry at him.
“He is putting my investigators in jeopardy,” said Anderson, adding, “God help him” if any of those personnel are ever harmed as a result.
Anderson, who as a young deputy had helped apprehend Helbush’s killers, agreed with Comstock that Helbush would have lived had he had the right information.
He said Rivero has never submitted any cases to the District Attorney’s Office for wrongful use of RIMS.
Brown recalled a meeting he, Rivero and now-retired County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox had had in which Rivero had alleged Anderson’s investigators were illegally using the system. Brown said he left the meeting and went to get Anderson. By the time they returned to Cox’s office to meet with Rivero, Rivero had left. They later found there had been no wrongful use.
It was part of the “nonsense” Rivero claims about fighting corruption, said Brown. Anderson replied that not only has Rivero never submitted any case for prosecution relating to RIMS, but neither has he sent over a report about corruption in county government, adding that the state Department of Justice also hasn’t received such information.
“It’s a sad day in law enforcement that we’re here,” said Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen, whose department has reader access in the sheriff’s system.
He explained that when the sheriff’s office purchased its RIMS system –which county records say happened in 2002 – the intention was that all of the local law enforcement agencies could make use of it as a move toward becoming paperless and more efficient.
It can be catastrophic if they can’t get the information they need. “It absolutely hamstrings us,” Clausen said. “We’re going back 30 years in our technology.”
Later in the meeting, as Howe had predicted, Rivero said he had begun an audit of Probation’s use of RIMS and said there was a questionable matter of a Probation staffer with access who had allegedly threatened another officer.
Howe later told Lake County News that the probation officer in question had been terminated. He said Rivero’s claim that Probation had been negligent in allowing that person to still have access was “ridiculous.”
“That person was removed from county access,” which is necessary to access RIMS, Howe said.
Seeking ‘grown up’ solutions
During public comment, Barbara Galvan, the mother of a firefighter, said first responders need to have all the information they can get. “We have a grown up problem, we need a grown up solution.”
Lakeport Police Officer Gary Basor, speaking on behalf of the Lakeport Police Officers Association, said the group fully supported Rasmussen and his administration.
Basor said officers relied on the records stored in the sheriff’s RIMS system, with that information being used for photo lineups, warrant service and many other legitimate uses. He said they also were concerned about Probation’s loss of access.
Bob Chalk, Clearlake’s retired police chief and a candidate for sheriff, questioned why Rivero would stop access before he actually researched the penal code provisions governing the sharing of information, as the sheriff acknowledged doing earlier in the meeting. He also questioned why Rivero hadn’t raised issues with Lakeport Police’s use of the information earlier on, pointing out Rivero has been in office for two years.
He said RIMS is an important tool for law enforcement. Chalk offered three recommendations: that access immediately be restored, that the sheriff work with department heads to have a mutual agreement for the system’s future use and that security levels be set in the system to allow for different levels of access, which the system offers.
Walter Patti, who retired to Kelseyville after serving as a police chief in Connecticut, said he supported information sharing at all levels. “It is in the best interest of law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
Patti pointed to the handling of the Boston Marathon bombing, explaining that law enforcement agencies at all levels worked very closely and helped lead to an arrest. “It’s a good example of how sharing of information and collaboration works.”
Grant told the board that the law prevented them from obstructing the work of the sheriff or the district attorney, and that if they were to seek an independent audit they couldn’t do it without the sheriff’s permission.
Ahead of the motion and vote, Rushing asked Rivero if he was open to working with other agencies in a spirit of cooperation to come up with protocols for use.
“Let’s just be real clear about this,” said Rivero. “Access to Probation can be restored right now.”
However, he wasn’t intending to restore it fully as Howe had asked.
Concerning the requested restoration of Lakeport Police’s access, “the answer is no,” said Rivero, alleging abuse.
The board went on to vote 3-0 to make its requests of Rivero.
Howe said Friday that he was still trying to negotiate with Rivero for access to RIMS, explaining that he was offering some solutions, including limiting the number of staff who could access the information and having read-only access.
Since they will no longer be able to update information on individuals on probation, Howe is offering to have his staff train Rivero’s dispatch staff on how that work is done.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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