Report 2015-130 Recommendation 12 Responses
Report 2015-130: The CalGang Criminal Intelligence System: As the Result of Its Weak Oversight Structure, It Contains Questionable Information That May Violate Individuals' Privacy Rights (Release Date: August 2016)
Recommendation #12 To: Justice, Department of
As the Legislature considers creating a public program for shared gang database oversight and accountability, Justice should guide the board and the committee to identify and address the shortcomings that exist in CalGang's current operations and oversight. The guidance Justice provides to the board and the committee should address, but not be limited to, instructing all user agencies to complete a comprehensive review of the records in CalGang to determine if the user agencies have adequate support for the criteria associated with all the individuals they have entered as gang members. If the user agencies do not have adequate support, they should immediately purge the criteria—and, if necessary, the individuals—from CalGang. In addition, the user agencies should ensure that all the fields in each CalGang record are accurate. Justice should guide the board and the committee to ensure that user agencies complete this review in phases, with the final phase to be completed by September 30, 2019.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2022
The DOJ recently invoked section 756.1(a) and is requiring a complete review of all records that were in the system on October 20, 2020. Agencies will complete and submit an attestation no later than December 31, 2022, that all of their records are in compliance with 28 CFR. During the review, records must meet the following requirements to remain in the system:
1) Reasonable suspicion exists that a person is a gang member or gang associate per Part 23 of Title 28 of the CFR.
2) A minimum of two criteria in the last five years that are supported by source documents (only the two most recent criteria need to be reviewed).
Records entered into the system after October 22, 2020, are actively being spot checked by the DOJ to remedy training issues and to watch for non-compliance. Additionally, an annual attestation is required per section 756.1(b); Agency heads must attest their entries in the CalGang database in the previous 12-month period to comply with the regulations. Agencies have until December 31, 2022, to submit their attestations. DOJ has implemented the intent of this recommendation, by including the requirement for agencies to review all records in the system on October 20, 2020 and to submit an attestation of review compliance by December 2022. DOJ continues to work with agencies to ensure the regulatory requirement will be met by all agencies by December 2022.
- Completion Date: July 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
We will consider this recommendation fully implemented when DOJ can demonstrate that all user agencies of CalGang have completed their reviews of the individuals in the database and have purged the records of any individuals who do not meet relevant requirements. As DOJ indicated in its response, this important step to ensuring the validity of CalGang is not anticipated to be completed until December 2022--approximately three years beyond the date our recommendation suggested.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2021
The DOJ recently invoked section 756.1(a) and is requiring a complete review of all records that were in the system on October 20, 2020. Agencies will complete and submit an attestation no later than December 31, 2022, that all of their records are in compliance with 28 CFR. During the review, records must meet the following requirements to remain in the system:
1) Reasonable suspicion exists that a person is a gang member or gang associate per Part 23 of Title 28 of the CFR.
2) A minimum of two criteria in the last five years that are supported by source documents (only the two most recent criteria need to be reviewed).
Records entered into the system after October 22, 2020, are actively being spot checked by the DOJ to remedy training issues and to watch for non-compliance. Additionally, an annual attestation is required per section 756.1(b); Agency heads must attest their entries in the CalGang database in the prior 12-month period to comply with the regulations.
- Completion Date: July 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Based on DOJ's response, this recommendation will not be fully implemented until the end of 2022.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020
The DOJ continues to encourage Node Administrators and agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of CalGang records in addition to completing audits with the DOJ three times per year at CGNAC meetings.
New language in the regulations requires agencies to complete an attestation during the supervisory review which asserts that a new individual or gang record being entered into the CalGang database complies with the requirements for entry. For entries made prior to the effective date of the regulations, the DOJ will have the ability to require an attestation that all entries are supported by reasonable suspicion as required by Part 23 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations. User agencies will be required to annually submit an attestation to the DOJ that the entries made in the prior year comply with the regulations.
Separate from the promulgation of the regulations, the DOJ has taken other actions to address the accuracy of data in the CalGang database. These efforts include revoking access to entries and data originating from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in June 2020 after the LAPD acknowledged the extent of inaccurate information found during its internal agency audit. That restriction applies not only to the LAPD but also to all other law enforcement agencies that may access the CalGang database. Moreover, in light of the findings from the LAPD's internal audit, the DOJ strongly encouraged each CalGang user agency to conduct a thorough audit of its own entries and determine whether such entries can be verified and are supported by "reasonable suspicion" that the individual in question is engaged in criminal gang activity. Per its authority under AB 90, in the forthcoming months, the DOJ will be conducting targeted audits of agency entries and practices regarding the CalGang database.
- Estimated Completion Date: October 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2020
The DOJ continues to encourage Node Administrators (NA) and agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of CalGang records in addition to completing audits with the DOJ three times a year at CGNAC meetings.
New language in the regulations will require agencies to complete an attestation during the supervisory review that a new individual or gang record being entered into the CalGang database complies with the requirements for entry. For entries made prior to the effective date of the regulations, the DOJ will have the ability to require an attestation that all entries are supported by reasonable suspicion as required by Part 23 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations. User agencies will be required to annually submit an attestation to the DOJ that the entries made in the prior year comply with the regulations.
- Estimated Completion Date: October 1, 2021
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019
When the DOJ asked Node Administrators (NA) and agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of CalGang records, the San Diego PD completed the review while other NAs and agencies cited a lack of resources. At the September 2019 CGNAC meeting, NAs were asked to estimate the time needed to review all records with current resources.
Regardless of resources, all CalGang NAs are required to complete an annual audit of a statistically valid sample of previously-unaudited records spread across three auditing sessions. Since January 2018, the DOJ and CGNAC have completed five auditing sessions reviewing over 6,000 records, resulting in the purge of approximately 15% of reviewed records.
The 30 gang member records provided in last year's response was a sampling of audit documents from the May 2018 audit meant to illustrate the types of records being reviewed and provide examples of records that "passed" or "failed." This was not a representative sample of records audited. During the May audit of 460 records, 55 records (12%) were removed from the database because they lacked sufficient source documentation. Also noteworthy was that several records were deleted due to an agency's lack of participation in the audits. For example, a few agencies in Kern County no longer enter data and do not provide the source documents. The record could be a legitimate entry without error but because DOJ cannot validate the source, the entire record was purged.
With the new data entry safeguards incorporated, it is believed that new records are less likely to contain errors than older records. For example, one of the safeguards ensures that a minor under 10 years of age cannot be entered into the database. Regular record audits will continue to take place, resulting in a larger number of audited records over time. The DOJ is reviewing records and encouraging agencies to continue to review as many records as possible to ensure accurate and supported data.
- Estimated Completion Date: To be determined
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2019
DOJ requested Node Administrators (NA) and agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of CalGang records; San Diego PD completed the review while other NAs and agencies cited a lack of resources. At the September 2019 CGNAC meeting, NAs will be asked to estimate the time needed to review all records with current resources.
Regardless of resources, all CalGang NAs are required to complete an annual audit of a statistically valid sample of previously-unaudited records spread across three auditing sessions. Since January 2018, the DOJ and CGNAC have completed five auditing sessions reviewing over 6,000 records, resulting in the purge of approximately 15% of reviewed records.
The 30 gang member records provided in last year's response was a sampling of audit documents from the May 2018 audit meant to illustrate the types of records being reviewed and provide examples of records that "passed" or "failed." This was not a representative sample of records audited. During the May audit of 460 records, 55 records (12%) were removed from the database because they lacked sufficient source documentation. Also noteworthy was that several records were deleted due to an agency's lack of participation in the audits. For example, a few agencies in Kern County no longer enter data and refuse to provide the source documents. The record could be a legitimate entry without error but because DOJ cannot validate the source, the entire record was purged.
With the new data entry safeguards incorporated, it is believed that new records are less likely to contain errors than older records. For example, one of the safeguards ensures that a minor under 10 cannot be entered into the database. Regular record audits will continue to take place, resulting in a larger number of audited records over time. DOJ is reviewing records and encouraging agencies to continue to review as many records as possible to ensure accurate and supported data.
- Estimated Completion Date: To be determined
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From August 2018
AB 90 requires the DOJ, with the advice of the Attorney General's Gang Database Technical Advisory Committee, to promulgate regulations governing the use, operation, and oversight of shared gang databases no later than January 1, 2020. These regulations addresses concerns outlined in the CSA's report and include, but are not limited to, system integrity, standardized training, review of entered records, equipment security, access to the database, record disclosure, gang member or associate designation criteria, criteria for designating a criminal street gang, retention and purging of records, notice requirements and requests for removal, etc. In addition, the DOJ must also promulgate regulations specific to the CalGang database that address periodic audits to ensure accuracy, reliability, and proper use of the database, as well as standardized training for all users.
AB 90, effective January 1, 2018, eliminated the CalGang Executive Board and provided DOJ with responsibility to "administer and oversee the CalGang database." The bill further placed a moratorium on the use of the CalGang database until the DOJ certified that user agencies had reviewed their records and purged any record which did not have adequate support.
The Attorney General certified that the reviews had been completed and lifted the moratorium on March 29, 2018. The DOJ continues to work with the California Gang Node Advisory Committee to ensure it is regularly auditing CalGang records, based on a statistically valid sample, to ensure the criteria is adequately supported. Otherwise, the individual and/or the record will be purged from the CalGang database.
- Completion Date: March 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Justice has not provided information to substantiate that all user agencies completed comprehensive reviews of their gang member records and that records were either purged or corrected. Justice informed us that its certification was based on targeting specific gang criteria and reviewing records from a statistical sample, not a comprehensive records review. Justice shared the results of an audit of 30 gang member records performed in May 2018: the audit results reflect that 57 percent of records reviewed [17 of 30] were not supported and needed to be purged from CalGang. This rate of error in the sample confirms that a large number of records in CalGang, despite any reviews that have already taken place, are still erroneous. This recommendation has an implementation due date of September 2019 and the user agencies likely need that time to complete our recommended comprehensive review of their CalGang records.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
1-Year Agency Response
At the California Gang Node Advisory Committee and CalGang Executive Board meetings in May 2017, Justice inquired as to whether a timeline for completion of each phase had been completed and requested a written update on the progress toward completing each review, by node and agency, prior to each quarterly meeting. The committee advised it has established an audit protocol in which a statistically valid sample size of records is to be audited. Currently, the user agencies do not have the resources to complete a comprehensive review of all records in the CalGang system. The committee has not provided a plan for completion to Justice, but members stated that records are being reviewed by user agencies on a quarterly basis.
Additionally, since the introduction of AB 90 and SB 505, both of which would implement the recommendations of the audit, Justice has been involved in conversations with the authors' offices, providing technical guidance and suggestions as to best ways to implement.
Justice received funding and position authority from the Legislature for enhancements to the CalGang system with the FY 2017-18 budget; however, Justice will have no authority to implement the recommendations made by the CSA until legislation is passed. Justice will continue to work with the board and committee until express authority is granted by the Legislature.
- Estimated Completion Date: Unknown
- Response Date: August 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
6-Month Agency Response
Justice management attended the CalGang Executive Board meeting in September 2016 and recommended that the board establish a plan to ensure the completion of this recommendation, including timelines for each phase of the required review. Justice will follow-up with the board periodically to discuss progress of this recommendation, provide guidance and feedback, and help to ensure completion of each phase.
At the recent California Gang Node Advisory Committee and CalGang Executive Board meetings in February 2017, Justice inquired as to whether a timeline for completion of each phase has been completed and requested a written update on the progress toward completing each review, by node and agency, prior to each quarterly meeting. The Advisory Committee stated that it is developing a plan to provide for auditing by other user agencies.
Justice currently has no existing authority, resources or program in place to handle oversight or administration of CalGang, however, Justice has begun dialogue with the board on each recommendation and will do everything possible to begin implementation until additional resources and funding are granted to the department.
- Estimated Completion Date: September 30, 2019
- Response Date: February 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Justice management attended the CalGang Executive Board meeting in September 2016 and recommended that the board establish a plan to ensure the completion of this recommendation, including timelines for each phase of the required review. Justice will follow-up with the board periodically to discuss progress of this recommendation, provide guidance and feedback, and help to ensure completion of each phase.
Justice currently has no existing resources or program in place to handle oversight or administration of CalGang, however, the department has begun dialogue with the board on each recommendation and will do everything possible to begin implementation until additional resources and funding are granted to the department.
- Estimated Completion Date: September 30, 2019
- Response Date: October 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2015-130
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.