Yost reminds locals about crime reporting
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office is pushing local law enforcement and courts around Ohio to report criminal history information to the state so it can keep updating a database used to run background checks on those purchasing guns or obtaining a concealed carry license.
The letter, dated Wednesday, from Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) Superintendent Joe Morbitzer came less than two weeks after Columbus and Dayton sued Yost's office over what they said was its failure to update the criminal background check system.
The cities argued in their lawsuit, filed Nov. 9 in Franklin County Common
Pleas Court, that the attorney general is responsible for obtaining information about a person convicted of a felony and adding it to the state database.
Reports by Ohio Auditor Keith Faber and former Gov. John Kasich's administration indicated that reporting is incomplete.
“All of you have a duty to report criminal history information to BCI,” Morbitzer wrote.
Sheriffs and law enforcement agency chiefs are required to report arrests and fingerprints to the state immediately for certain offenses under Ohio law, according to the letter, and trial courts must ensure fingerprints have been taken at arraignment and sentencing.
Clerks of courts must send weekly reports to the state, according to the letter.
Missing fingerprints create a trickledown problem, Morbitzer wrote, preventing the agency from getting a tracking number that clerks need to report dispositions.
“The unique identifier for each individual is that person's fingerprints. Fingerprints tie all three events together — from arrests to court proceedings to final disposition,” Morbitzer wrote. “This ensures that records are accurate and complete.”
The letter was not an admission of wrongdoing on the part of Yost's office, spokeswoman Bethany Mccorkle wrote in an email, “but rather open communication to make sure everyone is aware of certain reporting requirements.”
“The letter was written as a reminder of the reporting responsibilities that are legally required of each party. The requirements of when to report are established in (state law),” she said.
Mccorkle declined further comment because of the pending litigation.
Asked Friday about the letter, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said it doesn't satisfy the lawsuit, but it suggests there could be common ground for the cities to work with the attorney general to fix problems in the system.
“The purpose of the lawsuit is still in effect. We need to repair a broken system. I just think it's encouraging that we have a meeting of the minds, that at least there's a recognition by the defendants in this case that we need to work together to fix this broken system,” he said. rrouan@dispatch.com @Rickrouan