Stanislaus County Keeping the Peace Since 1854 Sheriff's Office Jeff Dirkse, Sheriff-Coroner John St. Administration*

The 1999 SR911 JPA is outdated and lacks adequate content, detail, Modesto, CA 95354 PO Box 3288 definitions, and policy necessitating major revisions with input from City of Modesto, CA 95353 (209) 491-8762 Modesto, Stanislaus County, SR911, plus stakeholders in the law enforcement, fire, and medical first responder community. Investigations 250 E. Hackett Rd Modesto, CA 95358 Response: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this finding. The original Stanislaus (209) 525-7074 Regional 911 (SR911) JPA as well as the amendments still lack content, details, Records definitions, and policies and should be reviewed and modified. Some of the 250 E. Hackett Rd Modesto, CA 95358 information lacking in the written JPA is as follows: (209) 525-7117 Missing Signature Page and Participating Agencies Alternative Work Program/REACT 194 E. Hackett Rd One of the most fundamental issues in the JPA is the absence of a participant's Modesto, CA 95358 signature page. Without clear documentation of who is officially part of the (209) 491-8771 agreement, there is no accountability or formal recognition of the parties Patterson Police Services 33 S. Del Puerto Ave involved; specifically, the duties, responsibilities and obligations of both SR911 Patterson, CA 95363 and the various law and fire agencies. This lack of clarity means that agencies (209) 892-5071 are not held to the terms of the JPA, creating confusion about who is bound by Riverbank Police Services 6727 Third St its provisions. The absence of formalized agreements between participating Riverbank, CA 95367 agencies undermines the legitimacy of the JPA. A signature page is the basic (209) 869-7162 contract that indicates commitment from all parties. <b>Hughson Police Services</b> 7018 Pine St/PO Box 9 2. Undefined Roles and Responsibilities of Advisory Boards or Committees Hughson, CA 95326 (209) 883-4052 The JPA also fails to outline specific roles or responsibilities for its policy Waterford Police Services 115 E St board, advisory boards or committees. Without these guidelines, there is no Waterford, CA 95386 clear leadership structure or decision-making authority and leads to confusion (209) 874-2349 Training Center 3805 Cornucopia Way Modesto, CA 95358 (209) 567-4408 www.scsdonline.com over who has the power to make critical decisions, causing delays, disputes, and miscommunication. 3. Absence of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Another major oversight is the absence of Service Level Agreements. These agreements are essential for setting clear expectations about the quality and timeliness of services. There is no benchmark to assess whether dispatch services are meeting the needs of the agencies involved, leaving performance issues unresolved and disputed. This also puts dispatchers in a tough position of not understanding what is expected from the various agencies. 4. No Technology Committee: A dedicated technology committee was lost from the JPA. Dispatch services are heavily reliant on technology-whether it's radio systems, software, or data- sharing platforms. Without a specialized committee to oversee these technologies, agencies struggle to integrate their systems, leading to technical failures or glitches, incompatible software, delays in service delivery and, ultimately, leading us to where we are today with a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) selection. The selection of a CAD did not go through the proper Request for Proposal (RFP), did not meet the needs of the Sheriff's Office and may not integrate with our current Records Management System (RMS) or future RMS. The current CAD purchased in 2012 was supposed to communicate CAD to CAD and the issue was never resolved. We still do not have confirmation that the recently purchased CAD, Central Square, can communicate CAD to CAD. Central Square was purchased by the City of Modesto and not the JPA. The absence of well-defined roles for security and oversight within the JPA also means that no one is directly accountable for safeguarding California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) data once the data goes into the CAD system. Once the CLETS data goes into the CAD system, the Sheriff's Office has no ability to audit CAD. That is the responsibility of the CAD Administrator employed by SR911. Different agencies have varying levels of responsibility and control over the data, and without clear lines of authority, the necessary checks and balances to protect this sensitive information are simply not in place. Unauthorized access to criminal records, vehicle information, and warrants not only jeopardize ongoing investigations but poses a direct threat to officer safety. Worse yet, it undermines public trust in the agency's ability to protect sensitive data. This is how critical it is to establish strong, clear protocols and oversight when multiple agencies are involved in shared services like dispatch and data access. 5. Lack of Clear Withdrawal Guidelines: The JPA failed to include clear withdrawal guidelines. Without a formal process for agencies to exit the agreement, leaving the agreement open to unexpected disruptions, where agencies could pull out leaving the remaining participants in limbo. This first happened in 2015 when the City of Newman left the JPA, and the CEO acknowledged there were no contracts in place. Then in October 2021 the City of Modesto submitted a letter with their intention to pull out of the JPA but continues to extend their participation one year at a time with no long-term commitment or reason for wanting to stay. This led the Sheriff to take decisive action to prevent delays in looking for a CAD, RMS, JMS solution based on the current failing CAD, and the County Chief Executive and Information Technology Center driven Deltawrx RMS/JMS consulting report recommending a fully integrated system. The Sheriff's Office has been out of compliance with transitioning from Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) because of our failing RMS since January 1, 2021. The County entered into a design and development agreement with Oracle to create a single platform solution for CAD, RMS, and JMS that included all the participating agencies at SR911 except Modesto Police Department, because they intended to pull out of the JPA. The Oracle partnership comes with significant cost savings, revolutionizes law enforcement technology and brings us into compliance with NIBRS. Our current ICJIS RMS has over 17 million criminal records, evidence records, and police reports. The ICJIS RMS database has not been supported for approximately three years because the current database version is so outdated. The Sheriff has both a statutory and fiduciary duty to safeguard criminal records from unauthorized access, misuse, disclosure, or loss. 6. No Cost-Sharing Formula: One of the most significant issues in the JPA is the absence of a clear and reasonable cost-sharing formula. The original agreement did not define how the costs for dispatch services would be divided among participating agencies. This lack of financial transparency has led to disputes over funding, with some agencies feeling they are paying MORE than their fair share, while others contributed less than expected. There were two studies of the JPA conducted by Matrix Consulting Group in 2015 and 2020, costing approximately $100,000 dollars that clearly outlined what the cost sharing formula should be, but the County CEO and Modesto City Manager came up with their own cost sharing formula. Again, leaving agencies feeling like they are paying more than their fair share. Recently, the City of Hughson costs went up 50% in the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget without any increased level of service from SR911 and no communication regarding the increase before the budget item went to Consolidated Emergency Dispatch Agency Commission (CEDAC). The Matrix studies cost the JPA partners $100,000 dollars and were never presented to the CEDAC or the County's Board of Supervisors and none of the

The Board of Supervisor's letter to Sheriff Jeff Dirkse dated March 11, 2025, (See Appendix) is a detailed description of the history and chronology of the emergency dispatch issues in Stanislaus County and is highly consistent with the findings of this investigation. The letter reiterates the steps necessary for the consideration of any future proposal for an alternative dispatch system including response time analysis, the inclusion of subject matter experts and stakeholders' input, fiscal analysis, and review by County Counsel and County Purchasing Agent. Response: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this finding, in principle. However, it requires that both parties work together and participate in solutions. To date the county has been unwilling to discuss in any detail any of the several proposals that have been presented.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office is the outlier among all of the other stakeholders in the emergency dispatch controversy. Political tactics, threats of litigation, personal attacks, refusal to work with key operatives, and the appearance of intimidation by the Sheriff's Office faction in this dispute has damaged both personal and working relationships with interrelated government agencies and personnel. Response: The Sheriff's Office disagrees with this finding. Policy disagreements will be part of any government whether it be local, state or federal. An "appearance of intimidation" is not actually intimidation. Refusal to work with "key operatives" is bidirectional. Since no process for selecting CAD was ever determined or defined by SR911 there was clearly no attempt to work with all of the participating agencies to make the best selection for all parties involved. Furthermore, neither the Grand Jury report nor the JPA has had any meaningful discussion regarding the state-mandated investigation into the CLETS violations. CLETS violations are potentially a serious criminal matter, potentially felonious, and require a legitimate and full-fledged investigation. That is not a political tactic, personal attack or intimidation. It is a legal mandate and a duty that must be performed. Both the Grand Jury and the JPA need to recognize that. The SCCGJ recommends that the County Board of Supervisors, Modesto

the potential impact its policies and the actions taken could have on the communities it serves. Opportunities exist to improve accountability, transparency, understanding, tolerance, and trust between all parties. The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors has the option under Government Code §25303.7 to establish a Sheriff's Oversight Board consisting of citizens appointed by the Board of Supervisors and/or an Office of Inspector General to assist in overseeing the Sheriff's Office to enhance the Sheriff's Office accountability and transparency. Response: The Sheriff is a countywide elected official. As such, the Sheriff has the greatest oversight- the people of Stanislaus County. No other elected official or elected body has an appointed oversight. Following this logic, every elected official or body should have an appointed oversight. This would directly weaken the power and voice of the voters and is contrary to the American way of governance. The SCCGJ recommends that the County Board of Supervisors implement