Public Safety · Nevada
Nevada Orders Nye County Sheriff's Office to Rewrite Database Rules After Audit Flags 102 Undocumented Searches
Nevada's Department of Public Safety found 102 database searches by Nye County Sheriff's Office staff lacked documentation and ordered new policies that cover top officials, including Sheriff Joe McGill.
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What happened
Nevada's Department of Public Safety has ordered the Nye County Sheriff's Office to rewrite its rules on how employees and top officials use law enforcement databases, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The order follows an audit prompted by allegations that Sheriff Joe McGill misused state and federal systems that hold private information.
According to a letter the department sent to the Sheriff's Office, employees made 102 searches that lacked proper documentation explaining why they looked up people's private information. The letter, dated Sept. 29, lays out a corrective action plan based on the audit's findings.
McGill has acknowledged that he failed to document the reasons for his searches, but he has said all of them were for law enforcement purposes, the Review-Journal reported. He previously told the newspaper the audit covered more than a hundred of his searches since his term began four years ago, plus searches by 15 deputies.
What the state is requiring
Policies that reach the top
The letter requires the office to submit updated policies and procedures addressing misuse by "all levels of agency personnel, up to and including top agency officials and the agency administrator." McGill told the Review-Journal those policies are still in progress and that he received the state's letter on Friday.
Retraining, meetings and monthly reports
The department is also requiring the Sheriff's Office to retrain staff on the databases and take part in quarterly meetings with the state. The office is expected to run internal audits of its records management system and send monthly reports to state officials. State officials declined to answer further questions, the Review-Journal reported.
Why the databases matter
The searches were run on state and federal Criminal Justice Information System databases, known as CJIS. These systems hold information that is not always public, including adult and juvenile criminal histories, DMV records, property information and warrants.
Unauthorized searching or sharing of CJIS information can bring sanctions from state and federal officials and can be a misdemeanor under state law, according to the Review-Journal. A Department of Public Safety official said in May that the agency was not conducting a criminal investigation of McGill, according to an email the newspaper obtained.
The Review-Journal previously obtained emails showing one Sheriff's Office employee told supervisors she found evidence of searches tied to people who opposed McGill online, local political figures and members of the media. More coverage of law enforcement oversight is on our public safety page.
The sheriff's response
Access still blocked
McGill said he remains blocked from the databases. He has said county IT director Brad Adams suspended his access in April. "I think there's a possibility that this is politically motivated on his part," McGill told the Review-Journal, adding that he believes his access should have been restored long ago.
In public statements, McGill has called the audit the result of a "political smear effort." He is up for re-election in November. Follow other races on our elections page.
Lawsuit from a Pahrump critic
McGill has said many of the complaints behind the audit came from Pahrump resident John Sorget, who has posted videos criticizing the Sheriff's Office. Sorget has said he received a "slew of threats" on social media referencing private information and his criminal history after posting about the office last year.
Sorget has sued Nye County, McGill and District Attorney Brian Kunzi, alleging McGill used CJIS to access his criminal information without reason and violated his First Amendment rights. McGill has defended searching Sorget's name but denied distributing his information, the Review-Journal reported.
What to watch next
- The Sheriff's Office's updated database policies, which McGill said are still being written for the state.
- Whether McGill's suspended database access is restored.
- Sorget's pending lawsuit against Nye County, McGill and District Attorney Brian Kunzi.
- McGill's re-election race in November.
