The Greenfield Village Council on Monday, July 15, revealed that unauthorized access was found to the Greenfield Police Department’s computer network. That news was discussed by the council. who deliberated on how to proceed with information from an independent review of allegations by Greenfield Police Chief Jeremiah Oyer of the allegations, which were found from the review done by Hamilton Township Chief of Police Scott Hughes.

The incident that involved a technician from the IT company VC3 who had been alone in the room that houses the server for the police department’s computer network was initially investigated by Greenfield City Manager Todd Wilkin.

The investigation by Hughes found that the Village of Greenfield conducted a fair complete investigation and that there was no improper or illegal access into the village’s computer servers.

Councilmember Carlos Ooten raised questions about the incident that he has received from village residents.

“First, I would like to acknowledge the diligent effort of Chief Scott Hughes’ handling of the township in receiving the body of Mr.Wilkin’s previous report as well as other associated pieces of information surrounding the concerns about our server room security and unauthorized access,” Ooten said. “His expertise and insights are greatly appreciated, and we are thankful for his time.”

Ooten said a motion to hire a third-party IT company to investigate the matter was passed by the council during a previous meeting.

Ooten, however, asked if an “impartial third-party” IT company had been hired.

“I’m confused,” said Ooten “I’m not taking anything away from Mr Hughes, but he didn’t meet the qualifications to even perform this, and I have no idea what this cost us.”

Council Chairman Phil Clyburn said an IT company was not hired because an impartial chief of police was a better option to conduct the investigation.

Wilkin said he reached out to some IT companies, but they were unable to perform the work.

“In communications with them, they were not able to provide the forensics information that could be processed through the IT work,” he said. “Their recommendation was to hire someone that would understand and be able to look at it from a BCI [Bureau of Criminal Investigation] or a police kind of background or mindset.”

Ooten responded that he has reached out to five neighboring counties and obtained a list of IT companies they use.

“One of the best groups that everybody recommends … are the ones that saved Fayette County when they were cyberattacked,” said Ooten.

Clyburn agreed that an independent investigation into the matter by an IT company should be conducted.

“If IT people are already playing in the system or haven’t played in the system, that’s fine,” Ooten said. “Whether we find it or not, it needs to be checked.”

Ooten said he does not believe Wilkin should have headed the initial investigation. Ooten asked,

“Do I feel that Todd should have recused himself? … I definitely do when he took it upon himself to run the investigation,” Ooten said. “Do I like his investigation? No … “Any investigator with any kind of salt, and I happen to have been a licensed private investigator, doesn’t do a desk investigation, and that’s what this investigation was in my opinion.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.