Important records allegedly destroyed by California officials

When a company loses records or they are destroyed in a disaster, the business runs the risk of damaging its reputation or having to close altogether. However, if the firm's leaders are the ones doing eliminating the files, there may be larger consequences, like a forced shut down by law enforcement officials or jail time for those involved.

With this in mind, the California Department of Parks and Recreation is looking into whether leaders at the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area park near San Diego purposefully destroyed files, the Sacramento Bee reported. The source said the investigation was launched after an Ocotillo Wells janitor found multiple bags of shredded papers and told park officials.

The news provider detailed that park superintendent Kathy Dolinar has been placed on administrative leaves as a result of the incident. If Dolinar or other employees had a hand in willfully destroying records, the Bee explained, they would have been in violation of a directive requiring the preservation of all park documents because of a pending financial misconduct case. 

However, if the files had been stored on servers using an information management system that only allowed access to certain Ocotillo Wells leaders, this scenario might have been avoided. This technology can be particularly beneficial when organizations are undergoing litigation.

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