PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Auditor General has found that public safety may at risk through incomplete records in a database maintained by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The Auditor General’s Office conducted the audit to “determine if the Department complied with its statutory responsibility to maintain a complete collection of criminal history offense and disposition records in the Arizona central repository and that the records maintained in the central repository were consistent with statutory requirements.”
The Auditor General found that the “central repository is missing some fingerprint-based offense and disposition records and may be missing more records, which may potentially put public safety at risk.”
“Specifically, 17 of 103, or approximately 17 percent, of felony offense records we reviewed from 4 law enforcement agencies in Arizona could not be found in the central repository. Four of the 17 felony offenses were for aggravated assault, including 1 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and 2 aggravated assaults on a peace officer. Additionally, our review of a stratified random sample of 30 felony offense records in the central repository found that 12 offenses, or approximately 40 percent, had been adjudicated through the criminal justice process, but the disposition was missing from the central repository.”
Key findings include:
- The Department could unknowingly issue and has not suspended some fingerprint clearance cards because statutes do not require at least 28 misdemeanor offenses that would preclude an individual from obtaining a fingerprint clearance card to be reported to and included in the central repository.
- Despite not being expressly authorized by statute, the Department maintains thousands of misdemeanor offenses in the central repository and reported doing so for fingerprint clearance card, criminal justice, and employment purposes. However, inconsistently including these offenses may inequitably impact licensing and employment decisions.
The Auditor General’s Office recommended that the Department “maintain a complete criminal history records repository that includes all statutorily required offense records and their associated dispositions by continuing to research, correct, and/or enter offense records it has received; developing and implementing a formal process for regularly requesting missing offense records; and periodically sending a list of offense records missing dispositions and requesting criminal justice agencies report any dispositions they have to the central repository.
The Auditor General also suggested that the Legislature “consider whether all fingerprint clearance card precluding offenses and any additional misdemeanor offenses should be reported to and included in the central repository and modify A.R.S. §41-1750 accordingly.”