NORWICH – A resolution allowing the Chenango County Department of Social Services to use a special software program to search various online public databases of welfare recipients received the approval of the county’s Board of Supervisors Monday.
The newly adopted resolution permits Chenango County DSS to enter an agreement with Lexis Nexis - a tech company that provides legal, government and business information software. Under terms of said agreement, DSS will have licensing for five of its supervising employees to use a Lexis Nexis software program, called Accurint, to search online public information such as criminal databases, real property tax records, and DMV records from all over the country.
According to DSS, Accurint will help reduce instances of abuse in nearly every DSS department including: fraud, collections, child support, burials, child protective services, adult protective services, foster care and adoption, and homeless requesting emergency housing.
“I look forward to having positive results using this software,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne. “We hope to have it up and running before the end of the year.”
Accurint comes at a cost of $110 per month per license, totaling $6,600 a year for five licenses - money Osborne said is worth spending if it cuts down on instances of welfare fraud and collections evasion.
There are, however, stipulations tied to Accurint. Osborne explained the software program will not search online accounts that are not public information, meaning it only searches databases that DSS employees can already search manually. And although every beneficiary of public assistance is subject to a search with Accurint, “There has to be something on their application for assistance that raises a red flag,” Osborne said. “There has to be an underlying reason and we have to document that reason.”
Use of Accurint for reasons other than business is strictly forbidden and is a violation of state and federal laws and subject to prosecution, as per the Accurint usage agreement for DSS employees.
The same resolution allowing DSS to use Accurint went before the Board of Supervisors last month but was tabled because board members argued a lack of clarity in the program’s usage policy, its restrictions, and the disciplinary actions for misuse. But with a stricter policy now in place, most board members favored the proposal even while some were still uneasy about it.
“My personal opinion is that it’s not very robust,” said Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner, referring to the disciplinary actions of the policy that led him to vote against the resolution.
But disciplinary action for DSS employees who violate terms of the policy should be decided on a case by case basis, said Osborne. According to the policy, inappropriate and unauthorized use or disclosure of information obtained through Accurint may result in administrative, civil, or criminal penalties and may include termination.
A similar resolution went before the Board of Supervisors in May, but was returned to the county’s Health and Human Services Committee for further review. Board members had requested that a stricter user policy be established before adopting a resolution of authorization with Lexis Nexis.
The original policy would have also authorized DSS to use Accurint to monitor popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter for leads on cases of possible welfare fraud, but the ability to do so was kept out of the revised agreement.