Frustrated by a slow and antiquated computer system, the city of Los Angeles is weighing a plan to replace its e-mail and records retention software with a service provided by Google, a move that could allow the Internet giant to retain sensitive records transmitted by the police and other municipal agencies.
If approved by the City Council, responsibility for protecting the internal data and public records would be shifted from the city to Google, according to a report submitted this week to a council committee that will weigh the proposed $7.25-million contract.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa favors the effort to modernize the e-mail system, which his spokesman, Matt Szabo, described as "Pac-Man-era technology."
The current system "has got to be the slowest, most inefficient, crash-prone e-mail system in the history of mankind," Szabo added.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Lt. John Romero said it would be inappropriate for his agency to comment while a contract is being negotiated. But acting City Administrative Officer Ray Ciranna, the city's top financial advisor, said the LAPD has raised questions about Google's ability to shield sensitive arrest information.
"Of all the city agencies, they certainly have been the one that's the most concerned," Ciranna said. "They don't want any information that, for any reason, gets un-encrypted and you have sensitive information being leaked out."
Washington, D.C., is the only major city using Google e-mail and office applications, but others are contemplating a switch, according to a Google official. The applications and data would be housed on Google servers, not on city property, and accessible via presumably secure Internet connections.
'Cloud computing'
That system, known as "cloud computing," would eliminate the need for the city to store programs or information on individual in-house computers. "Government agencies at all levels -- federal, state and city -- are looking to cloud computing as a way to advance innovation while decreasing costs," Google spokeswoman Aviva Gilbert said.
The contract, which could cover a maximum of five years, would need approval from the full council and Villaraigosa's signature. A high-level official with the city's Information Technology Agency, which has handled the bidding process, said he expects the LAPD to join the Google e-mail system once it receives assurance from the state's Department of Justice that arrest records will be protected.
