Madison, Wis., Police Scrutinize Data Sharing, Cybersecurity

Source Domain: www.govtech.com

(TNS) — The office established to investigate complaints against Madison police was temporarily denied access to the department’s data last year after mishandling sensitive information, including victims’ names, addresses and case details, the city’s police chief said.

At the same time, the city board that manages the office ignored concerns from other city departments and officials that the office may have violated state laws, a member of the Madison City Council said.

Madison police paused openly sharing data with the Office of the Independent Police Monitor and requested an internal review of its employees’ handling of sensitive documents after learning that sensitive, unredacted documents it had provided the office were being uploaded to a personal device and analyzed with software not approved by the city’s IT department.

Cybersecurity isn’t the city’s only concern with the monitor’s office. In an email the Wisconsin State Journal obtained through a public records request, Ald. MGR Govindarajan told the chair of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, Maia Pearson, the office’s staff were working beyond allotted hours, circumvented the city’s AI policy and purchased and contracted services without following city guidelines.

“While independence in its core function is both important and necessary, extending that independence to areas such as compliance with City policies and legal requirements creates risk not just for the OIM, but for the City as a whole,“ Govindarajan wrote.

Police paused record-sharing on Nov. 7 after the monitor’s data analyst, Greg Gelembiuk, told Assistant Police Chief Angie Kamoske that he had used his personal computer to analyze police records provided to the monitor’s office.

According to an internal memo from Madison Police Chief John Patterson, Gelembiuk called his city-issued laptop a…

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