Grove Asks Attorney General to Investigate Records Deletion

February 1, 2024

HARRISBURG – State Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) recently sent a letter to State Attorney General Michelle Henry requesting a review of the recent IT failure affecting the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and State Employee Retirement System (SERS).  

“The deleted files from the PSP contained criminal evidence which may never be recovered,” Grove said.  “The loss of these files could negatively affect the investigation and prosecution of many criminal cases. While Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has chalked this up to ‘human error’ – which I hope is the case – I am requesting an investigation from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General to ensure the employee responsible is not connected to these deleted criminal evidence files in any way.” 

Grove further asked the attorney general to provide a list of best practices from the investigation so similar record retention issues don’t happen in the future.  

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time Pennsylvania’s state government has been affected by IT failures, and it likely will not be the last,” Grove added. “For the past eight years, Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill and I have introduced legislation which would establish IT governance, oversight and cybersecurity standards with House Bill 883 and Senate Bill 284. Time and time again, Pennsylvania has shown it is behind the ball in IT oversight and cybersecurity. I am hopeful this administration will support this legislation and do what is best for Pennsylvanians.”