City of Lawton agrees to share utility account information with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics

The City of Lawton is entering into an agreement with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics to give that entity information on city utility account holders.

City Council members signed off on a one-year agreement this week after city staff addressed concerns that the memorandum of understanding might violate the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Information Technology Director Judy Franco said the agreement specifies information gathered under the terms of the agreement may be used only in on-going investigations over which the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) has jurisdiction, adding that the city’s role is confirming whether the utility account still is active.

“We will help them further their investigation,” Franco said, of information that would include the name of the utility account holder, account number and account address, and phone number of the account holder.

The memorandum of understanding sets specific criteria for sharing utility account information:

• Accessed by OBN through reasonable provisioning by the city.

• Water records shall be used by OBN when records are relevant and material to an ongoing investigation.

• The city shall be solely responsible for maintaining the security of the data. OBN has no authority to allow anyone other than its authorized agents and employees access to the data, and OBN shall take steps to ensure that those they employ have a legitimate need for access.

• All water records data accessed by OBN remain the City of Lawton’s data, subject to the city’s control.

• OBN must take reasonable steps to make agents and employees aware of the terms, conditions, limitations, duties and responsibilities of having access to the data and maintaining its security.