Broward County sheriff sues for control of communications division www.privateofficer.com

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Broward County Fla Oct 13 2012 In a lawsuit filed this week, Sheriff Al Lamberti accuses Broward County officials of endangering the livesof deputies and the public by wrongly seizing control of BSO's CommunicationTechnology Division on Oct. 1 — a claim the county denies.
County Administrator BerthaHenry released a statement Thursday reassuring residents throughout Browardthat public safety is not at risk. The county simply resumed control overequipment, infrastructure and 21 employees with specialized knowledge of thecommunications system, the statement said.
The change was needed to help facilitate a planned $50million upgrade of the regional communications system to ensure that theclosest unit responds to emergency incidents, Henry said.
But Lamberti claims the county has compromised the entirepublic safety system by making it possible for sensitive information to wind upin the wrong hands.
On Sept. 27, county commissioners approved the transfer ofpublic safety communications from the Sheriff's Office to the county, effectiveOct. 1.
By doing that, Lamberti says, the county has given civilianemployees access to confidential criminal justice databases and could bejeopardizing public safety. Lamberti has declined to sign a Management ControlAgreement that would allow the county to assume access to the criminal justicedatabase.
"By seizing administrative control of these systems andgiving access to non-law enforcement supervised civilian personnel, the countyis putting BSO in breach of its agreement with FDLE that could result in thesuspension of BSO access to state and national criminal justicedatabases," says the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Broward Circuit Court.
The lawsuit demands that the county return administrativecontrol of certain computer systems relating to criminal justice data to theSheriff's Office.
Without access to the national crime database, a lawenforcement officer in Broward "would be completely unaware that he wasstopping a vehicle that one day earlier had been involved in a shooting inanother state," the lawsuit says.
Lamberti says he has "a duty to stand up and say no toany attempt to hijack information from law enforcement and fire rescuedatabases under my authority."
Lamberti said he asked the county to delay the transferuntil February, when a board working on regionalizing Broward's patchwork of911 dispatch systems is expected to release a report to the county commission.
The lawsuit says "the inability of onsite BSO technicalsupport to immediately address problems with mission critical equipment isunacceptable, unjustified and potentially deadly."
The court has granted a hearing but not yet set a date.
County officials were taken aback by Lamberti's lawsuit,said Alphonso Jefferson Jr., Henry's assistant.
"This was not a surprise to the Sheriff's Office,"Jefferson said. "This has been talkedabout for a year. There is no impact to public safety."
During a meeting this week, Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryandescribed the power struggle as "a political game."
"Consolidated 911 communications is the single biggestimprovement to public safety in decades," Ryan said Thursday. "I hopecooler heads will prevail and work through the issues."
source-sun sentinel