PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the county is in jeopardy of losing access to the Maricopa County Integrated Criminal Justice Information System, known as ICJIS.

Thomas said the Maricopa Board of Supervisors refuses to hand control of the law enforcement database over to the sheriff’s office.

“If we're kicked off this system, public safety will suffer very directly,” Thomas said.

“It is vital,” Thomas said. “If a deputy sheriff pulls over somebody they need to be able to go in and check to see if a person is wanted on warrant.”

The Arizona Department of Public Safety sent the sheriff’s office a letter in August 2008 expressing concern about how the system is being managed.

Currently, workers in the Maricopa County Office of Enterprise Technology operate the hardware for ICJIS.

In DPS letter, Arizona Information Security Officer Sharon Wilson writes “a criminal justice agency must have management control of any system” that gives access to criminal justice records.

Wilson said if the county fails to comply with the federal and state regulations, their ability to use ICJIS would be in jeopardy.

Thomas said the Board of Supervisors has refused to relinquish control of the system.

"They reality is they know they're violating the law. and they care more about this power grab than they do about protecting the public,” he said.

In a statement to CBS 5 News, the Board of Supervisors wrote, “There is no power grab here, at least not by the Board of Supervisors or the Office of Enterprise Technology.”

“The county technology office has been operating the computer hardware system for years. The sheriff’s office has never handled it,” the statement said.

The sheriff filed a lawsuit April 30 against the Board of Supervisors to gain control of ICJIS.

DPS officials say they are waiting to see what the courts decide before a decision is made about Maricopa County’s access to ICJIS.

The Maricopa Board of Supervisors declined multiple interview requests for this story.

Supervisor Andrew Kunasek was out of town.