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Monday, April 20, 2015

ABC DEPUTY DIRECTOR RICK CRISMAN USES POSITION FOR PERSONAL GAIN

ABC DEPUTY DIRECTOR RICK CRISMAN

Rick Crisman, Deputy Director and Education & Instruction Analyst for the DFA/ Alcoholic Beverage Control, has used information obtained in his positions as a police officer and with the ABC to develop a smartphone application that is being sold on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

When Crisman was an officer with the Fayetteville Police Department he began collecting fake and altered id’s.  Using FPD stationary Crisman wrote to authorities in the states that were being used most frequently for fake id’s and asked for authentic “over 21” id’s.  Crisman scanned the real and fake id’s and using information from publications like the I.D. Checking Guide, he put information about each id’s security features and photos in a spreadsheet and transferred the document to his smartphone.  Crisman would pull up the document on his phone when he was checking id’s of bar patrons in the bars on Dickson Street. Fellow officers and bar staff saw the information and asked where they could get it.

OFFICER RICK PROTECTING THE HOGS



JASON BIGBEE (CENTER)

Crisman bounced his idea of a smartphone app around with Jason Bigbee. Bigbee had worked with the Washington County Detention Center on a similar project and together they started to develop an application.

Bigbee is kind of a sketchy character in that most of the businesses that he has incorporated are in limbo due to nonpayment of fees. In fact, we could not locate any filing in Arkansas for Mobile Identification Guide, LLC or Mobile ID Guide, LLC.




BIGBEE (ON RIGHT) DRINKING RESPONSIBLY

In May of 2011, Crisman left the police department and went to work for the DFA/ABC. Crisman was able to stay in Fayetteville and work out of a local Revenue Office.  This allowed him and Bigbee to continue to work on the application.


They even held a contest for a logo design.



CLICK FOR LINK TO CONTEST INFORMATION


In September 2013 Crisman and Bigbee released their Mobile ID Guide application for sale.




CLICK TO SEE APP ON GOOGLE PLAY




CLICK TO SEE APP ON APPLE ITUNES APP STORE


The projected annual revenue from their venture is a mere $600,000 according to information found onbuzzfile.com.



Crisman continues to use his credentials and position as Deputy Director to request authentic id’s from all fifty states to be used in updating the Mobile ID Guide app.




Several articles clearly indicate that Crisman created the application using information obtained when he was a police officer and later as Deputy Director of the ABC.




You might be thinking that this is a great tool and what's wrong with Rick making this?
Well, there are a couple of problems.  The first one is that by making this information available to anyone, the fake ID makers might gain some valuable intelligence. That is what the publisher of the I.D. Checking Guide thought. A representative of their company contacted Crisman when the app came out.  They were concerned that his logo was very close to their own logo and there might be a little matter of copyright infringement. Crisman told them that he would change some things. Crisman apparently had access to the I.D. Checking Guide publications as it is referenced in one of his department publications.

CLICK TO VIEW THE DFA/ABC SERVER TRAINING MATERIAL

CLICK TO GO TO I.D. CHECKING GUIDES WEB PAGE

The I.D. Checking Guide is not sold to the general public.  They only sell it to a certain group and they are very particular about their product, even to the point of getting Amazon to remove old editions from being for sale.

The I.D. Checking Guide was contacted before this story was posted and their representative told us that they had been assured by Crisman that he was not going to sell the app to just anyone.  They were quite surprised to see that it was still being hawked on Itunes and Google. So they tried to contact Crisman again.  They could not reach Crisman but they got a hold of our old friend Bud.  Bud said the app was not big deal and Crisman was not involved with it anymore. Bud said that Crisman was going to "retire" soon. Maybe Rick might ought to head down to Little Rock and get a photo with Asa for his scrapbook before he "retires".

RICK WITH GOV. BEEBEE WEARING HIS FAVORITE SHIRT & TIE

Another and more pressing problem with Crisman's app is that it appears that by using the information he obtained while working as a policeman for the City of Fayetteville and then as Deputy Director of the ABC is that he is and has used information obtained from his positions for personal gain or benefit. In fact Arkansas Code §21-8-304 prohibits such activity. 


Crisman, by possessing all those fake ID's (he carries them around in a Pelican case), appears to be in violation of Arkansas Code §27-16-302.


Crisman might have also gotten himself sideways with (1) his employer, The Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration, by violating it's Code of Ethics. (2) The Arkansas Ethics Commission, for violating their Rules on Conflicts and (3) Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards & Training, The Law enforcment Code of Ethics.

Crisman has violated the public trust by using his position to obtain information that he used for personal gain and benefit. Crisman's apparent violation of the law and ethical standards demand his removal from employment with the State of Arkansas and his law enforcement credentials revoked.