According to a published news
article entitled “Beach chief’s accusers lose use of crime computers”, Michelle
Price, an administrative assistant for the St Augustine Beach Police
Department, is said to have sent, by e-mail, an unsigned memo notifying those
officers who complained about the police administration that their computer
access had been suspended.
The article goes on to quote
specifics, presumably taken from the Price e-mail.
Access to databases maintained by
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Department of Justice through the
state and national Criminal Justice Information System, are essential to law
enforcement officers in the day-to-day performance of their duties; and,
without access to the information, an officer’s safety is arguably compromised
and information necessary to investigate crimes is otherwise unavailable.
If this is true, it is a
significant piece of public information. Historic City News readers, residents
of the City of St Augustine Beach, and other law enforcement officers who may
be depending on these apparently hamstrung patrol officers, need to know those
limitations.
At issue is whether in filing
their complaint, which spans about seventy pages in length, the whistleblowers
went too far by disclosing protected CJIS information as proof of their
allegations against Chief Richard Hedges and his assistant chief, Dan
DeCoursey.
Historic City News purchased a
copy of the police officers allegations from the City Clerk when this story
first broke. As you read the document, it is apparent that it contains
hyperlinks to evidentiary documents contained on a CD that was part of their
complaint.
The city will not release the CD
because they say it contains criminal information that is protected — such as
the identity of a sexual assault victim, Social Security numbers and victim
addresses. If it was protected information, it should not be used for any
purpose other than the law enforcement purpose for which it was collected.
If one or more of the officers
published protected information that was obtained from confidential law
enforcement databases to third parties, including City Commissioners, members
of the media, or members of the public, they will be dealt with by those who
administer those vital systems.
However, this morning, Historic
City News attempted to verify if, in fact, any of those police officers had
their CJIS credentials suspended or terminated. We did not ask for any of the
information alleged to have been improperly released; we merely asked to see
the e-mail and memo to the officers informing them of the suspension claimed.
We began with the City Manager’s
office. At 7:58 AM, Sharon Widdifield explained that, with the exception of
police personnel files, all police records are maintained in the Police
Department. We were directed to contact Michelle Price — the author of the
sought after e-mail.
So, we contacted Price and
received an e-mail reply at 8:28 AM. Price said:
Please be advised that on the advice of counsel, the email that you are referring to is not public record at this time, as it is part of an ongoing investigation.
Michelle Price
Administrative Assistant
St. Augustine Beach Police Department
Please be advised that on the advice of counsel, the email that you are referring to is not public record at this time, as it is part of an ongoing investigation.
Michelle Price
Administrative Assistant
St. Augustine Beach Police Department
The news article raised another
question. It said that Price’s e-mailed memo also informed the officers that
Chief Hedges, who is on paid administrative leave, “made a special arrangement
with Sheriff Shoar and FDLE to allow the officers limited third-party (criminal
justice information) access to complete necessary paperwork and
investigations.”
If the FDLE has just suspended
the police officer’s access to the system because it is alleged that they
misused criminal justice information that they obtained from it, why would they
turn around and allow the same officers to continue to obtain the same criminal
justice information through an intermediary — such as the Sheriff?
Again, the answers may be
contained in that memo; and, in any event, the memo to the officers from the
administrative assistant and e-mail is clearly public record.
Next, we contacted the St Johns
County Sheriff’s Office and received a response from Sgt. Charles E. Mulligan,
Public Information Officer for the agency at 10:17 AM.
“The access is granted or
suspended by FDLE,” Mulligan wrote in his response. “Therefore, FDLE would be
the appropriate agency to contact regarding the allegation …”
Historic City News did just that,
and, at 11:05 AM, FDLE Communications Coordinator Keith Kameg, in the Office of
External Affairs, responded, “Mike, you need to contact St. Aug. Beach PD for
info on your request, take care, Keith”.
So, whether FDLE suspended the
officers or not, Mulligan defended what was taking place and said, “I would not
categorize the decision to allow the officers access through the SJSO as a work
around to the suspension.”
Inferring that some restriction
was imposed against the officers, Mulligan went on to say, “We are allowing the
officers to run tags, warrants, etc., through our COMM Center “via radio”, in
order to perform their service to the public.” Mulligan also reported, “They do
not have direct access to our terminals.”