A Case Calling Out for Answers

Officials in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and elsewhere in county government owe taxpayers an explanation for inaction in a case of hundreds of unauthorized telephone calls to chat lines.

Only after The Times obtained copies of records under the California Public Records Act this month did the phone calls, many to “America’s hottest party� line, come to light. The records showed that most were made from the sheriff’s internal affairs division. That’s the branch that is supposed to investigate misconduct by other officers. Sources said the caller to the chat lines was a sergeant, on duty, who was later promoted and transferred.

The calls were discovered at least three years ago. But not until last month, after The Times asked for the telephone records, was the matter referred to the district attorney’s office to see if it was a criminal matter requiring prosecution. The county needs to explain what took so long.

County officials also need to stop stonewalling and say how much taxpayers were billed for the calls. A county lawyer said some reimbursement was made, but refused to specify an amount. Said the lawyer: “There’s nothing anywhere that requires an official to comment.�

County residents pay the sergeant’s salary and the lawyer’s salary and the telephone bills. They have a right to be told when something goes wrong and what it will cost.

The Sheriff’s Department won’t comment, nor will the sergeant, nor the sergeant’s lawyer. The county is refusing to release records of calls from the sergeant’s new post, saying that to do so would interfere with a criminal investigation and possible prosecution.

This isn’t the county’s first public embarrassment over unauthorized phone calls. A dozen years ago an intern in a supervisor’s office was fired after making more than 100 calls in several months to sexually explicit tape recordings. That case, in which officials provided a better explanation of what happened and what it cost, prompted the county to block access to some telephone prefixes. However, county officials acknowledge that it’s not possible to block calls to 800 numbers or standard long-distance prefixes.

The county’s manager of information and technology said supervisors are supposed to review telephone bills and “take care of� unauthorized calls. What, if anything, was done in this instance needs to be answered.

Unauthorized phone calls aren’t the biggest offense on the books. But phone calls to chat lines while on the county’s business are at least unprofessional and a waste of money. Taxpayers expect public servants to work as hard and with as much thrift as the taxpayers themselves do. Hearing about money wasted contributes to cynicism about government. Refusing to release basic facts that people have a right to know deepens it.