Erie County’s auditing staff Thursday began an “emergency audit” of the Department of Central Police Services to inventory its computer equipment.
Meanwhile, the Erie County attorney revealed she is contemplating legal action against Kevin Comerford, the former Central Police Services commissioner who removed three computer hard drives containing sensitive information about homeland security grants.
Comerford has said he set the hard drives aside for safekeeping when he left the government in November for a new job at Erie County Medical Center. But the drives could not be found by personnel working for the new county executive, Chris Collins.
The Sheriff’s Office investigated and could not determine the whereabouts of the drives or whether a crime involving the theft of county property had been committed.
Michael R. Szukala, the chief auditor for Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz, told Collins in a letter Wednesday that the auditors would descend on the Central Police Services Department the next day to explain their audit’s focus and schedule interviews.
The comptroller’s staff wants to determine whether Central Police Services still has all the computer equipment it is supposed to have.
“The audit will examine computers (including laptop computers), computer hard drives, handheld devices and other related devices and data,” Szukala wrote. “The audit will examine asset tracking, asset tagging and departmental and other controls and protocols.”
County Attorney Cheryl A. Green has said some Central Police Services employees dispute Comerford’s contention that he left the hard drives behind. One of the employees, Deputy Director Marlaine Hoffman, told a sheriff’s investigator that she believes Comerford took the information.
Green initially asked Poloncarz to delay his audit, so as not to jeopardize an FBI investigation. However, she left a meeting with Poloncarz late Wednesday assured that documents that might either interest federal agents or back up a potential lawsuit against Comerford or others would not be jeopardized, said a spokesman for the county executive’s office.
A spokesman for the local office of the FBI, Paul Moskal, would not confirm whether the bureau is involved.
Comerford has told The Buffalo News that he was merely trying to protect sensitive information, as his job required, when he removed the drives. And he is willing to help the department re-create information stored on them.
mspina@buffnews.com
Copyright 2008 - The Buffalo News
