The National City City Council Tuesday night unanimously agreed to authorize a three-year agreement with the state’s Employment Development Department to access its confidential database when locating someone.
The three-year contract will allow the National City Police Department to use the Employment Development Database as an investigative tool in an effort to further advance new or existing investigations.
The money to use this service will come out of the general fund.
The costs, up to $2,436, to use the system will include administrative fees, the cost of locator reports and other miscellaneous fees.
Upon request from NCPD, the Employment Development Department will receive and process information from Social Security numbers provided by the law enforcement agency.
According to a staff report, the police department investigation’s division would use the tool to “locate victims, suspects, missing persons, potential witnesses, or any person for whom a felony arrest warrant has been issued, when the information in the course of and as part of an investigation into the commission of a crime where there is a reasonable suspicion that the crime is a felony and that the information would lead to relevant evidence.”
Currently, police contact the Employment Development Department via email or telephone to request and obtain confidential information using Social Security numbers. But this process can require a waiting period for a response that exceeds a 60- to 90-day period.
However, police say they cannot wait 60 to 90 days for information as they need the information in a timelier manner.
The contract will allow NCPD to go online with the Employment Development Department’s automated system, which will dramatically decrease the wait time on obtaining information for NCPD.
As stated in the contract, the police department will have to comply with the protections of confidentiality by entering into a confidentiality agreement as it pertains to retrieving confidential information.
The information will be gathered by an employer.
Anytime someone applies for employment and is hired, the business or the organization obtaining the applicant’s services are required by law to provide Employment Development Department with the applicant’s personal information such as address, telephone number, family members, vehicle information.
