SR 02-28-2017 11A
Ci ty Council
Report
City Council Meeting : February 28, 2017
Agenda Item: 11.A
1 of 2
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Joseph Lawrence, Interim City Attorney , City Attorney's Office
Subject: Authorizing Prosecutors and Staff in the City Attorney's Office Access to
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS)
Recommended A ction
Staff recommends that the City Council (“Council”) adopt the attached resolution
authorizing prosecutors and staff in the City Attorney's Office access to criminal history
information .
Executive Summary
Under the Penal Code, a person’s criminal hist ory information is confidential. However,
specific categories of public officials may have access to criminal history information to
perform their jobs. The Penal Code authorizes the City of Santa Monica ("City") to
designate its prosecuting Deputy City At torneys and support staff to have such access,
because that information is needed to perform their duties. Staff recommends that
Council adopt t his resolution which would grant access to criminal history information to
specific job titles, not specific emp loyees by name. Employees with those specific titles ,
would have the necessary access to carry out their duties.
Background
The California Department of Justice maintains a statewide database of criminal history
information for law enforcement purposes. Access to that information is through the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). To access the
database, a person must have statutory authorization. Penal Code section 11105,
subdivisions (b)(4) and (11) authorizes prosecuting City A ttorneys and staff to access
criminal history information in the performance of their duties, however the Council must
adopt a resolution specifically granting staff authority , before they can access CLETS to
carry out their duties.
In the past, the City has adopted similar resolutions designating specific individuals by
name. This means that every time a person enters or leaves the office, a new resolution
is necessary to grant that person authorization to the CLETS database.
2 of 2
Discussion
Staff recommends that the Council adopt a resolution which identifies individual titles
which have access to CLETS information, rather than individuals by name. This would
mean that when a person enters the City’s service under a specific title, they will have
the access t hey need to perform the work without requiring a new resolution from the
Council. This should avoid unnecessary delays in performing important prosecutorial
work, and the possibility that a person would no longer be performing law enforcement
work yet stil l have access to CLETS. The Council would need to adopt a new resolution
only when the organization of the department changes significantly, rather than each
time a single personnel change occurs.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immedi ate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the
recommended action.
Prepared By: Michael Cobden, Deputy City Attorney
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. StaffAccesstoCLETSReso02282017
B. Resolution
Reference:
Resolution No. 11027 (CCS)