LAKEPORT, Calif. – The District Attorney’s Office on Friday released the findings from a two-month investigation into allegations by the sheriff that the Lakeport Police Department’s officers illegally accessed a shared county records information system.
The result: District Attorney Don Anderson found there was no merit to Sheriff Frank Rivero’s allegations against Lakeport Police, and that there was nothing illegal or inappropriate about the agency’s access to the the county’s records information systems – or RIMS – that it has used for years.
Lakeport Police officers are authorized by law to receive and possess RIMS information, Anderson said.
Anderson released the findings on Friday, the same day as he delivered them to Lakeport Police, according to Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
On April 29, Rasmussen asked Anderson to conduct a criminal investigation into the allegations Rivero had made against Lakeport Police.
Rasmussen said he believed the District Attorney’s Office was the best agency to ask for a review, explaining that it could then decide to investigate or refer it to another agency.
On April 23, Rivero abruptly cut access to RIMS to both Lakeport Police and the Lake County Probation Department, as Lake County News has reported.
When Rasmussen asked why his agency had been cut off from the system – which it had been granted access to for many years, as it contracts with the county for dispatch services – he said Rivero initially indicated there was an auditing issue and that Lakeport Police had done nothing inappropriate.
However, after Rasmussen went public with his concerns about officer and public safety, Rivero came out with allegations that Lakeport Police personnel had accessed the system inappropriately, going so far as to suggest there were criminal violations.
At a special Board of Supervisors meeting April 26, Rivero appeared with a stack of paperwork that he said included evidence of hundreds of inappropriate Lakeport Police Department accesses to the system since the start of the year.
Despite the Board of Supervisors asking for Rivero to restore access to Lakeport Police, he has refused, and Rasmussen said the agency still doesn’t have access to the system, which has prevented them from accessing information about their own cases and calls for service handled through county dispatch.
Rivero also had indicated he would ask the California Attorney General’s Office to audit RIMS if Anderson would join him in that request.
However, county officials have indicated that no such request was made. Anderson said he has heard nothing about it from Rivero, and the Attorney General’s Office also has not said such an audit has taken place.
“We’ve asked them and they haven’t said,” Anderson said.
The Attorney General’s Office has not responded to a request from Lake County News regarding whether the audit ever took place.
Rasmussen told Lake County News that he and his agency haven’t been contacted by the Attorney General’s Office in reference to such an audit.
“I would welcome any review from the attorney general,” said Rasmussen.
At the same time, as Anderson conducted his inquiry, Rasmussen and his command staff conducted an internal investigation into the allegations.
Both Anderson and Rasmussen used materials Rivero provided that he said was evidence of inappropriate access. The documents included audits and printouts of what records Lakeport Police officers accessed. “They were printouts of what we used the system for, basically,” said Rasmussen.
Anderson’s report said that one of his investigators asked Rivero for a RIMS audit of Lakeport Police Department employees from Jan. 1 to April 24 that he had at the April 26 Board of Supervisors meeting.
Anderson said Rivero refused, telling the investigator that the audit could be obtained from the Lakeport Police Department. Rivero said he wanted the California Department of Justice to handle the matter and identified several criminal codes he contends the Lakeport Police Department violated.
Some of the codes weren’t relevant, according to Anderson’s legal analysis, and others that related to unlawful access didn’t apply to individuals using the system within the scope of their lawful employment.
Anderson’s report explained that Rivero “has total control of the level of access each user has in RiMS. He can easily regulate the user’s ability to access the information and the ability to add, modify or change information in the system. Sheriff Rivero had granted a level of authorization and permission for the Lakeport Police Officers to access the information and also ability to add and update information in the RiMS system.”
As a result, Anderson concluded that Lakeport Police Department and its officers are persons authorized to receive “local summary criminal history information,” and that Rivero had granted the officers permission and authorization to access and update information in the RIMS system.
Rasmussen, who didn’t believe his officers had committed any crimes in accessing the system, said when he got the investigation results on Friday, “It was as I expected it to be as far as the allegations.”
He’s also concluded his own investigation. “We don’t believe there’s any misconduct from any of our officers as it relates to access or use of the RIMS system,” he said.
The use is in line with the access that Rivero and the previous sheriff, Rod Mitchell, had granted Lakeport Police, Rasmussen said.
Meanwhile, the city of Lakeport in May filed a lawsuit against the county alleging breach of Lakeport Police’s dispatch contract as a result of Rivero cutting access to RIMS.
The city asked for the suit to be moved out of county, and it’s been subsequently referred to the Mendocino County Superior Court.
Rasmussen said the case is due for an initial hearing at 1:15 p.m. Monday.
Anderson’s investigation summary appears below in its entirety.
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RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF CRIMES BY LAKEPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT REGARDING THEIR USE OF THE SHERIFF’S RiMS SYSTEM
SUMMARY
On April 29, 2013, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen requested this office open an investigation into the public allegations by Sheriff Francisco Rivero that the Lakeport Police Department’s use of the Sheriff's Report Information Management System (RiMS) was criminal.
An investigation into the facts of this case and an analysis into current law was conducted and it is determined that no law violations have been committed by the Lakeport Police Department or any of the agencies’ officers.
FACTS
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department is the law enforcement agency that is in control of the Lake County’s RiMS system. RiMS is a computer management system, which among other things, records criminal history information such as names, dates of birth, physical descriptions, arrest dates and dispositions. RiMS is also used to manage and record criminal and incident reports, and other information on individual citizens.
For several years the Sheriffs of Lake County have allowed access into RiMS by county and city law enforcement agencies, including the Lakeport Police Department. The Sheriff has the ability to limit the level or extent of access each individual user has. This includes view only access and editing privileges.
Since becoming Sheriff, Francisco Rivero has granted Lakeport Police Department access into the RiMS system. This includes existing members as well as newly hired policemen of the Lakeport Police Department.
On April 23, 2013, without prior notification, Sheriff Rivero cut off all access into RiMS to all members of the Lakeport Police Department. Sheriff Rivero did not at first give a reason for his actions and made statements that no one in the police department had done anything inappropriate.
One or two days later Rivero alleged that members of the Lakeport Police Department were inappropriately looking up information, accessing information without authorization, and that one officer had changed information about his wife in RiMS. Rivero had claimed that Lakeport police officers’ access and updating of information in RiMS was unauthorized and therefore criminal.
INVESTIGATION
Chief Rasmussen had provided log sheets supplied to him by Sheriff Rivero indicating different times in which member of the Lakeport Police Department had accessed the system and their activities while in the system. On one such entry an officer had added to the system his wife’s current address, date of birth, emergency contact information and employment description. It does not appear that any information was changed or deleted Her old address and identifying information was still listed in RiMS. It appears the officer only updated the system to include current and correct information.
On May 7, 2013, an investigator from the District Attorney’s Office e-mailed Sheriff Rivero advising him of investigation. The investigator requested a RiMS audit of the employees of the Lakeport Police Department from January 1, 2013 to April 24, 2013 as he referenced to the Board of Supervisors on April 26, 2013.
In an e-mail to the investigator, Sheriff Rivero refused to turn over a RiMS audit, indicating it may be obtained from the Lakeport Police Department. Instead he claims he wants the Department of Justice to handle the matter. Sheriff Rivero did identify several criminal codes he contends the Lakeport Police Department violated.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
Sheriff Rivero alleges criminal violations of Penal Code Sections 11075, 11105, 11141, 11142 and 11143. These sections pertain to the “state summary criminal history information” which is the state master record system pertaining to the identification and criminal history of any person. The “state summary criminal history information” only pertains to records and data complied by the Attorney General and not by any other criminal justice agency, including the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. This system is under the control of and is maintained by the California Department of Justice. Therefore, none of these sections are relevant to this matter.
Sheriff Rivero alleges criminal violations of Penal Code Sections13300, 13302 and 113304. Pursuant to Penal Code Section 13300(a)(1) a “local summary criminal history information” means a master record of information complied by any local criminal justice agency. It pertains to the identification and criminal history of any person, such as name, date of birth, physical description, dates of arrest, arresting agencies and booking numbers, charges, dispositions, and similar date about the person. For the County of Lake County the “local summary criminal history information” master record of information is the Sheriff’s Department’s RiMS system.
Penal Code Section 13304 makes it a misdemeanor for any person that is not authorized by law to receive or possess information from a “local summary criminal history information” master record of information (in this case RiMS). However, Section 13300(b)(2) requires a local agency (the Sheriff’s Department) to provide local summary criminal history information to police officers of this state in the course of their duties.
Therefore, Lakeport Police Officers are authorized by law to receive and possess RiMS information.
Sheriff Rivero also alleges criminal violations of Penal Code Section 502 which applies to unauthorized access to computers, computer systems and computer data in general, not necessarily addressing criminal justice information and records.
Section 502(c)(2) makes it a public offense for a person to “Knowingly and without permission takes, copies, or makes use of any data from a computer, computer system or computer network…” This section does not apply to persons within the scope of his lawful employment.
Section 502(c)(3) makes it a public offense for a person to “Knowingly and without permission use or causes to be used computer services.” This section does not apply to acts which are committed by a person acting outside his lawful employment and which does not cause injury.
Section 502(c)(4) makes it a public offense for a person to “Knowingly access and without permission adds, alters, damages, deletes, or destroys any data, computer software, or computer programs…” This section does not apply to persons within the scope of his lawful employment.
Ironically, Section 13302 makes it a misdemeanor for the Sheriff’s Department to knowingly furnish records or information to any unauthorized person. If Rivero’s theory of liability was correct, which it is not, then it could be argued that Rivero and the past sheriff have been committing misdemeanors for several years. This is obviously not the state of the law.
Lastly, it should be noted that Penal Code Section 13100 declares it is the legislative intent: “That the criminal justice agencies in this state require, for the performance of their official duties, accurate and reasonably complete criminal offender record information….”
In this matter, there is no question that for several years the past Sheriff as well as Sheriff Rivero has granted the Lakeport Police Department and their officers’ authorization and permission to access the RiMS system, and to also do the acts Rivero now complains of. That conduct being, accessing criminal history information and updating information in the system.
As stated above, Sheriff Rivero has total control of the level of access each user has in RiMS. He can easily regulate the user’s ability to access the information and the ability to add, modify or change information in the system. Sheriff Rivero had granted a level of authorization and permission for the Lakeport Police Officers to access the information and also ability to add and update information in the RiMS system.
Therefore, it is the findings of this office that Lakeport Police Department and its officer’s are persons authorized to receive “local summary criminal history information”, and that Sheriff Rivero had granted the officers permission and authorization to access and update information in his RiMS system.
CONCLUSION
There has been no crimes committed by Lakeport Police Department and their officers.
Don Anderson
Lake County District Attorney
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