Del Norte County’s online jail inmate database and call logs will be out of commission for about a month while the sheriff’s office’s computer-aided dispatch system gets overhauled.

Once it’s up and running, the new Sun Ridge Marketing RIMS CAD will mirror Humboldt County’s system, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott said. It’ll allow his office to share information with other agencies — including fire departments, ambulance services and dispatchers — and will allow those agencies to share with the DNSO, he said.

The system comes to Del Norte County courtesy of a $550,000 Department of Justice grant, Scott said.

“It also allows us to replace all the computers in the patrol cars,” he told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Wednesday. “They’ll be able to run license plates for stolen vehicles or stolen property right from their cars.”

According to Scott, the old CAD system is from the late 1980s or early 1990s. Every single incident that had been logged into the old system needs to be inserted into the new system, he said, a transition that will take about three weeks.

“The new online booking and call logs system will look different because it’s a new program,” Scott said.

One difference people will notice right away is a dearth of mugshots, Scott said. This is due to a 2024 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Houston v. Maricopa County.

In that ruling, the court sided with Brian Houston, who had sued Maricopa County in Arizona, alleging that the county’s policy of violating pre-trial photographs of those who have been arrested on its website violated his right to “substantive due process,” which protects people from punishment before they’re found guilty of a crime.

According to the ruling, the photographs are often re-posted elsewhere on the internet after the county removes them from its website.

Houston alleged that Maricopa County posting his mugshot caused him public humiliation and damaged his reputation.

On Wednesday, Scott said that posting mugshots may be permissible if a law enforcement agency can show that there’s a public safety concern.

“People are going to be upset about it,” he said about the 9th Circuit Court ruling. “It’s something that people like to see.”

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