"I'm respectfully requesting from the commissioners that Avon Police Department be given immediate access to law enforcement records from the New World system," Avon Police Officer James Drozdowski told the commission.
Currently, the department has 27 cases that have been ordered to be either sealed or expunged by area judges from the common pleas, municipal and domestic relations divisions, Drozdowski said.
"I am unable to follow through to give them relief because we can't get in the system," he said.
Drozdowski spent two days at the Lorain County Prosecutor's office in an effort to straighten out the situation, however it remains unresolved.
"We know the evidence is there," Drozdowski said. "It's frustrating to the detectives. It's frustrating to us. And it's unfair to the victims."
There are several open investigations, some of which were scheduled for hearings this month, that include major offenses such as narcotics and violent crimes where some information is missing because of the department's inability to access the information.
"The prosecutors are going into court basically with one hand tied behind their backs," Drozdowski told the commission. "They don't know if they have the full files."
Commission President Jeff Riddell addressed the matter at a meeting May 20 with a written statement.
"Based on the City of Avon's actions, by failing to extend the 2014 agreement as it relates to its Police Department with the New World System beyond the initial 10-year term ending in 2023, the Avon Police Department no longer has direct access to the System or the archived data under the terms of that agreement," read Riddell's statement. "In an effort to be good partners in serving the residents of Lorain County and the residents of the City of Avon, the County Prosecutors Office and the Board of County Commissioners have made and continue to make available to Avon access to its archived data. Additionally, Avon, at its discretion, currently has the ability to contract directly with Tyler Technologies, for a fee, for access its their archived data."
"The argument that Mr. Drozdowski made, on behalf of the City of Avon, that upwards of 27 cases are in various phase of prosecutorial jeopardy or other legal action is at the feet of the County falls flat on its merits," the statement also said. "It is the City of Avon, at the direction of its Police Chief, that voluntarily opted not to continue with the New World System. In the City's haste to leave the New World System to use a different platform — Sundance, Avon failed to plan and migrate the data from one System to another. The City of Avon could have avoided this situation by either not leaving New World or by adequately planning the transition from one system to another."
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