The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) is being questioned by the Grand Jury, the Board of Supervisors, the media and others about the delay in implementing a county-wide computer program for law enforcement.

The program is a “Super-Google search engine for police officers.”

COPLINK is a web-based knowledge management program that takes databases of information already existing in the County of Orange and makes the data easier to use.

Much of the current brouhaha comes from local law enforcement agencies who want the more efficient access to the OCSD and County of Orange databases of criminal history information that COPLINK provides. This post examines the reasons for the delay.

First and foremost, public safety is NOT at risk because of the delay.

At present the O.C.S.D. and all law enforcement agencies in Orange County share tons of data and volumes of information with each other on a daily basis. Everyone is working together to protect our communities!

OCSD has systems called ELETE and CLETS that provide local county and city law enforcement agencies, school police, state and federal agencies, etc. with all kinds of information on criminals, missing persons, stolen vehicles, wanted persons, homeland security and much more!

The OCSD has been a leader in developing, implementing and financing systems that are used throughout Orange County by all law enforcement agencies to protect the public and ensure their safety.

Concerns over COPLINK account for the delay.

How to pay for COPLINK. The Sheriff has conditioned COPLINK access to the County’s databases on an equitable sharing of the cost of computer servers, related support costs and other operational issues. The financial agreements are proving to be difficult to nail down largely because the County is being asked to shoulder a large burden of the cost and is not convinced that the benefits are worth the price tag. Discussions continue.

How to ensure COPLINK is secure. While it is absolutely important to have the best tools in place, it is also absolutely important to have the proper protocols and data security safeguards in place as well.

For example, the Orange County Internet Technology (IT) Department reported to the Grand Jury that it receives approximately 150,000 cyber-terrorism hits per day and 1,000-2,000 new types of viruses and “worms” per month and that it is pretty successful in dealing with these threats under existing conditions.

COPLINK would significantly increase internet access to the County’s databases which is why it is so important to make sure the security is appropriate. IT work continues on making the system safe.

How COPLINK is administered. The O.C. Chiefs and Sheriff Association proposed a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) be used for governance structure and approved a committee of Chiefs to administer it. County Counsel is not in favor of the JPA governance structure and has concerns that the County could be exposed to liability under the proposed agreements.

ALso, the County and the twelve OCSD contract cities were considered as ONE entity by the JPA proposal which means that the largest payer and provider of information to the databases would have a small say in the administration of the system. OCSD provides about 80% of the information to the database and would end up with less that 20% of the decision-making control on the JPA.

This creates a potential scenario where a handful of police chiefs could end up making decisions for the County of Orange where OCSD and its contract cities end up paying more for the same information they currently receive.

Confidentiality and Audit trails. Sheriff Carona and County Counsel are not yet convinced that the COPLINK system does enough to ensure confidentiality of criminal history information and that there is a reliable audit trail to track users of the database to ensure appropriate access and use of the databases. Further study and legal analysis continues.

What else is going on?

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is evaluating other database information sharing systems in the marketplace and still others that are in use by other law enforcement agencies. Some of these systems may turn out to be less expensive and have better operational capabilities than COPLINK and time is being taken to evaluate these alternatives.

Plus, the cities that now have COPLINK have all been told that they can have the database information for FREE, once the aforementioned issues get resolved, should the County decide not to implement COPLINK.

Sheriff Mike Carona told the O.C. Grand Jury that, “The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is committed to sharing information and will continue to participate in the County Wide Integrated Law and Justice group to seek a legal, cost effective, and fair ways to address regional information sharing.”

The Sheriff’s Department is moving ahead and doing what is BEST for law enforcement and what is BEST for public safety in meeting its mission to protect Orange County. Orange County law enforcement continues to work on evaluating all the issues in order to make the right decision.

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!