City seeks Attorney General’s guidance on $92,000 cyber contract
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Former Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine’s termination wasn’t the end of the saga between himself and the city. In fact, it just opens a new chapter.
On the same day Prine was fired, the City of Mobile sought the guidance of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Prine’s claims that a cyber contract with a Florida-based company known as 321z Insights LLC was suspicious.
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The contract, passed by the city council on Nov. 21, 2023, authorized 321z Insights to review Gulf Coast Technology Center’s forensic lab standards.
All documents provided to WKRG News 5, were provided by former Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine, who had already marked the documents.
City-Contract-with-321z-InsightsDownload
“A contract, such as with 321z Insights, was not vetted by me now was it approved by me,” Prine said.
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Mobile’s Director of Communication, Candace Cooksey, said Prine was the sponsor of the contract.
“There were no surprises, and he was told that a company would be conducting a ‘peer review,'” Cooksey said.
Public records showed that 321z Insights is based out of a house in Palm Bay, Florida. The city said Jonnie Baker and her husband, Mark Baker, are owners of the company.
The company, according to Prine, was established weeks before the city signed them into the $92,000 contract.
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“There was no online established footprint of the company. There was no work number, no store front. There was no online website,” Prine said. “How did a company that does not have an established footprint for any type of service they offer — how did we know?”
The city said Mark Baker worked for Securus Technologies, a company that has done multiple reviews on the Gulf Coast Technology Center. The city said Baker has an “extensive career” in cyber security, and the city had worked with Baker before on other projects.
At some point in Baker’s review of the Gulf Coast Technology Center, city officials said MPD Commander Kevin Levy approached Baker to do a peer review of an independent report he had written on Operation Echo Stop.
Operation Echo Stop is a community-driven initiative that aims to reduce gun violence within Mobile. OES uses technology like the Shot Spotter Program to detect the sound of gunfire.
“When this contract was originally submitted, it was not intended to become involved with Operation Echo Stop,” Cooksey said. “This was a choice Levy made after observing what appeared to be a potential communication breakdown.”
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According to the city, that “communication breakdown” stemmed from Levy and Prine’s fragmented relationship. That relationship in shambles, according to the city, was a pivotal reason why Levy asked Baker to be a “second set of eyes.”
Levy’s review, published March 11, 2024, showed that the ShotSpotter program used in OES proved ineffective. The program cost the city $400,000.
Cooksey said OES was implemented in three phases:
Year one: implement the technology
Year two: implement the services and responses
Year three: implement an evaluation
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OES was in its year three evaluations.
“The recommendation from the Gulf Coast Technology Center was to discontinue the gunshot detection technology but to find ways to continue using the other elements of Operation Echo Stop that appeared to yield positive results,” Cooksey said.
Kevin-Levy-Review-of-OESDownload
Prine offered a rebuttal to Levy’s findings which was signed by other officials of the Mobile Police Department.
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Documents showed that the city entered a six-month pay schedule with 321z Insights. Prine said Levy had the authority to sign off on contracts and invoices.
“Essentially doing his own account payables and receivables,” Prine said. “That was problematic because when it comes to financials as leaders, there should always be a certain amount of oversight to ensure there is no impropriety.”
Prine said the invoices to 321z Insights raise red flags due to their quick approval and lack of an itemized list of work the company did.
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However, city officials laid out a list of services the company offered:
Deployment of technology
Technology resources
Training for the Gulf Coast Technology Center
Prine pointed out an invoice for nearly $13,800, which was approved on March 4, a day before the invoice was sent to the city on March 5.
Prine said Levy signed the invoices.
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321z-Insights-InvoicesDownload
Mobile officials said 321z Insight made no money from their peer review of Levy’s report. They only made $92,000 for their services related to their report in the Gulf Coast Technology Center.
“I’ve never once said there is impropriety with this contract,” Prine said. “I just found it strange that there is the appearance of impropriety, and that is a stark difference.”
The city tasked two entities, Burr & Foreman LLP and the city’s Office of Professional Responsibility, to conduct separate investigations into the legalities of the 321z Insights contract.
“Nothing illegal or outside city policy occurred,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said.
City Attorney Ricardo Woods is employed under Burr & Foreman LLP, something District 2 Councilman William Carroll said challenges the legitimacy of the investigations.
“If you’re on the Burr & Foreman team, and you’re on the city’s team, then it’s still not independent,” Carroll said.
Stimpson acknowledged that “many in the community may not be satisfied with who conducted these investigations.”
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“In the interest of transparency and to help restore public confidence, we turned all the investigative materials and reports from both inquiries over to the Alabama Attorney General’s office,” Stimpson said.
The Attorney General is the highest prosecutorial authority in the state, according to City Council Attorney Micheal Linder. Linder said there would be no chance for the city to skew the Marshall’s investigation.
Some city council members expressed interest in writing Marshall a letter, asking him to expedite his investigation.
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