The date to restore public access to Lubbock County’s online court records is tentatively September 1.
“I emphasize the word ‘tentatively’ … I’m very purposeful and saying that is not a set-in-stone hard date,” said Michael Dalby, county commissioner for Precinct 1.
Public access was restricted shortly after the county switched computer systems from KiCorp to Tyler Technologies four years ago. Confidential information was revealed and public access to the online portal was shut down.
There’s more double-checking to do before you can search again.
“We’re going to recruit a small group of folks in the community to try to – for the lack of better terms – break the system again,” Dalby said.
In this article
- What happened leading up to this moment
- Describing public access (or lack of access) to the records
- The complexity of getting it fixed
“We want to get this right. … We’re planning for the what-ifs. … We don’t know what hurdles we’re going to face when 500 to 1,000 people start accessing records,” Dalby said.
Neal Burt, the county’s civil division chief, said, “Every person who is the subject of those records out there, we’ve got to keep them in mind and make sure that we’re protecting them.”
Dalby added, “It’s got to be perfect.”
Dalby, Burt and Isaac Badu, the county’s director of information technology, sat down with LubbockLights.com for almost an hour Friday to explain what they’re doing.
Previous coverage
What happened four years ago?
Roughly a month after the computer system switch, the Lubbock County Defense Lawyers Association (LCDLA) sounded the alarm. Confidential information was located on the county’s website.
“This data includes information on individuals who have had criminal cases expunged or non-disclosure orders signed in their criminal case,” LCDLA said in a statement in September 2021.
It affected “cases at all levels and in all courts” in Lubbock County, the group said.
Local media at the time located (but never published) pictures depicting evidence in court cases including images of severe bruising on an unclothed man.
The county issued its own press release nearly four years ago, saying, “This access portal has now been blocked temporarily … ”
The situation was not described as a data breach but rather records were “viewable” that should have been private.
Data issue 2021 press release
On Tuesday, September 14, 2021, Lubbock County Information and Technology Department became aware that certain court records that were previously unavailable for review by the public had become viewable under Lubbock County’s new software system. Some of these records include non-disclosure orders, criminal cases, civil and family law records. This access portal has now been blocked temporarily until we can identify which court records maybe accessed by the parties, attorneys, and the general public.
This was not a data breach, or an issue where the computer system was compromised.
Lubbock County will continue to review policies concerning all court records, in our effort to make these documents accessible to the attorneys and the public.
Source: Lubbock County press release.
Badu described for LubbockLights.com how his staff responded, saying, “What we did was we narrowed it down from the anonymous user – which is anybody in the whole wide world being able to access it – down to the really folks that needed that access to do their work.”
There were problems no one knew until the conversion to a new system, Badu said.
“A lot of our flaws were exposed,” Badu said.
“There were some things that were not done the right way, but I really can’t speak to that because that was before my time. And I saw that during the conversion period. But we did clean up quite a bit of stuff. … Since we’ve gone live, we’ve done what we’re supposed to do,” Badu added.
‘Nonexistent’ public access for four years
Access has been “narrowed down” to exclude the general public for nearly four years. The issue hit a breaking point during county budget talks in June.
Kelly Pinion, county clerk, told commissioners, “Since we went live in ‘21, we have been out of compliance with statute and our records being available to the public.”
“Nonexistent,” is the word she used to describe public access.
“We have no public access,” Pinion said.
After further questioning, she said people can come to the courthouse and ask her staff to look up a record. But there is not even a computer terminal for the public to get the case number. Pinion’s staff must do all the searching. People cannot look up anything for themselves.
She told commissioners in June her staff has access. But the public does not.
That’s when Dalby, who took office in January, stepped forward and agreed to get all the right people in a meeting.
Dean Stanzione, director of court administration, told LubbockLights.com Friday, “I appreciate Commissioner Dalby’s leadership, communication, and consistency moving this project forward. Without it and commitment from stakeholders, I’m not sure we’d be where we are.”
Dalby gathered a coalition of ten department heads and elected officials to meet regularly. He insists other people get the credit for making progress, not him.
“This is my first peak, real peek … into multiple departments sitting down at the table working together to solve a problem. And it’s been really … fascinating to watch,” Dalby said.
A complicated fix
LubbockLights.com asked Badu if the system can search some county records but not others. So if the district clerk’s records are safe but justice of the peace records still risk the release of confidential data, can the system only search the safe records?
The answer is complicated, he said.
“Sometimes the issue may be with the entire system, so it really, really depends on what the problem is to determine what kind of solution you throw at,” he said.
Confidential information must be marked in the system. Older records didn’t always do that, or they didn’t always get marked the same way by different departments on the older system, Badu said.
“If the clerk does not do that there’s no way somebody in it or a programmer can go determine what is confidential. … We cannot clean up that data in that sense,” Badu said.
Making things worse, some confidential records can only be seen by some employees, not others.
Burt said, “For example, I may be able to see something that the three people down the hall are not.”
And defense attorneys can sometimes file a document with a judge that prosecutors don’t get to see.
“We don’t get to see that as the DA’s office because it’ll give away their defensive theory,” Burt said.
The justices of the peace have an added problem. Some of their records are temporarily open to the public but not forever, Burt said – pointing to Class C fine-only misdemeanors.
Badu said, “When we exclude the JP cases, what it’s going to do is exclude it for everyone that uses the system.”
But Dalby thinks excluding the JP cases is probably what will happen.
“We don’t want to sacrifice the entire body of work … for one piece,” Dalby said.
AI?
LubbockLights.com asked if artificial intelligence can sort through the records and do this work faster than people?
Not yet.
Badu said, “The whole concept of AI is – I don’t think it’s good versus bad. AI is a tool that can be utilized just like any other tool.”
AI is still in its infancy, he said.
“I know we’ll get much, much more advanced to the point that it could potentially help us,” Badu said.
