OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR Audit Report Stockton City Council Mayor Ann Johnston Vice-Mayor Katherine M. Miller PERFORMANCE AUDIT: POLICE PROPERTY ROOM Council Members Paul Canepa Susan Talamantes Eggman Dale C. Fritchen Elbert H. Holman, Jr. Diana Lowery City Auditor F. Michael Taylor Lead Auditor Mahin Shah February 8, 2012 Stockton, California Audit Team Members James Henthorn Nancy Xiong 20
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Audit Summary 2 Background 2 Objectives and Scope 3 Methodology 3 Results 4 Distribution 9 1 21
AUDIT SUMMARY In accordance with our 2010-2011 audit plan, we have completed an audit of the Police Property Room. The objectives of the audit were to assess adequacy of internal controls and compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The Police Property Room manages all property booked for evidence or safekeeping. The unit is part of the Support Bureau, Technical Services Division and reports to the Technical Services Division Captain. In general the Property Room is well managed with sufficient controls in place to ensure that stored property and evidence are secure, with appropriate documentation establishing the chain of custody. There was also no evidence of any misuse or abuse of stored property. The operations are in compliance with relevant laws and regulations based on our observations. However, in the following areas, improvements to property room operations are needed: Inefficient/ineffective critique process Narcotics being transported by civilian staff Inadequate security camera Stored weapons in unsealed bags Property Room supervisor has disproportionate authority in relation to the responsibility These areas were communicated to management and the department has already taken several steps to correct the issues. Additional corrective action is planned to be completed by January 2013. Property Room processes over 20,000 items annually which includes evidence, stored guns and found property. In addition, we noted other minor issues and communicated our suggestions for improvements to management in a separate memorandum. This audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. BACKGROUND Property Room is a part of the Police Department and is tasked to intake, store, dispose, and release property booked for evidence or safekeeping. The Property Room processes over 20,000 items annually and has a budget of approximately $300,000. The Property Room assists investigations by safekeeping the evidence and maintaining required protocols and integrity of chain of custody. 2 22
The unit is part of the Support Bureau, Technical Services Division and works under the supervision and direction of Technical Services Division Captain. The following organization chart provides an outline of the staff. Police Property Room Organization Chart OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE The objectives of the audit were to assess: 1. The adequacy of internal controls needed to ensure the chain of custody, the integrity of property and evidence, and the accuracy, security and reliability of data; and 2. Whether Property Room procedures are in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The audit scope included property received, processed, stored and disposed in the last five fiscal years. Rapid Work Flow technique is an efficient way of capturing processes and providing a basis for process improvements, as needed. METHODOLOGY To gain an understanding of the Police Property Room operations, we: reviewed City Charter, policies and procedures, POST Guidelines, and other relevant documentation. facilitated Rapid Work Flow Process (Appendix I) sessions, with participation from the Property Room staff. These sessions allowed us to document our understanding of various processes of the operations and to document internal 3 23
controls, identify problems, and develop possible solutions. interviewed staff, booking officers and management. We conducted a tour of the facility to obtain an understanding of the layout. We also observed property being booked, processed, stored and disposed. conducted a system analysis of the inventory system Revolutions, used by the Property Room. conducted random sampling from the property records to verify physical property locations. counted all cash stored in the safe and observed the process of release of cash to fiscal affairs when a deposit was needed. We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. RESULTS The Property Room operations are well managed with good processes. Management has established and implemented sufficient controls to ensure that stored property and evidence are secure, and that the chain of custody is clearly defined. The integrity of the property is strongly maintained. There is also no evidence of any misuse or abuse of stored property. The operations are in compliance with relevant laws and regulation. Between 2005 and 2011, there were over thirteen thousand critiques generated on booking errors. There are however a few areas of identified system weaknesses that resulted in findings. Finding: Critiques process is inefficient and ineffective The critiques process has been established by the department to ensure errors made by booking officers on evidence paperwork are identified and corrected. Between January 2005 and August 2011, there were over thirteen thousand critiques issued. The volume of critiques generated reflects the fact that the process is not working effectively and is labor intensive. The City Charter requires efficient 4 24
administration of all the affairs of the City. The current process does not satisfy the Charter s stipulation. There is an expectation gap between the booking officers and Property Room staff on the critique process. There is no clearly defined written process or instructions available for handling the critiques by the booking officers. The critiques process requires the booking officer to make the correction to their own errors in order to maintain integrity of the chain of custody. However, there are some instances where authority has been p rovided to certain sworn officers to make corrections on bookings done by other officers. To make corrections to certain type of the critiques, officers are physically required to go to the Property Room. This is to maintain the chain of custody. This takes Police Officers out of the field. The Property Room staff has to send these critiques, follow-up on them, and at times send several reminders before the correction is made by the booking officer. This takes time away from essential work required from the Property Room staff. Management Action Plan: The department will take a two phase approach to address this finding. Phase o n e will include the following: 1) All managers and supervisors will receive a reminder notification as to the importance of timely responses to the critiques. As part of that reminder, it will be stressed that supervisors and managers that receive second notifications (and beyond) enforce the expected standard appropriately, up to and including formal discipline. 2) A list of the top repeat offenders for receiving critiques will be updated and distributed to managers/supervisors. The top offenders will receive documented counseling regarding the importance of booking evidence according to the Property Booking Manual and making a timely response to critiques. Phase two will be the creation and convening of a working group to review and revise the entire critique system. This review will consider issues such as: the current requirements for booking property (according to the manual), the errors that meet the criteria to generate a critique, the time frame within which a critique correction should be made, and standards of discipline for failure to timely respond to critiques. Target Date for Corrective Action: January 2013 5 25
Police Department General Orders require all narcotics to be transported by an officer. Finding: Transportation of narcotics for testing by a civilian Narcotics are transported to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Laboratory for testing by civilian staff with no secondary presence or escort. These drugs are kept in a box in the Property Room work area until ready to be transported. Police Department General Orders (3) states that "All narcotics will be transported to and from the DOJ laboratory by a representative of the Narcotics/Vice Section." Contrary to the General Orders, a civilian is assigned to transport narcotics for testing. The City and employee transporting the drugs is exposed to risk. Management Action Plan: The Police Department will assign a sworn officer from the Special Investigations Section to transport narcotics to the DOJ laboratory, effective immediately. This will bring the department into compliance with the General Order. Target Date for Corrective Action: January 2012 The security camera records only when the safe doors are open, and can easily be disabled before opening the safe. Finding: Safe camera equipment inadequate/antiquated The camera system used to monitor the Property Room safe is inadequate. The Police Department General Orders (2) state that "all money will be secured and isolated in a safe in an alarmed, locked room." This is accomplished by housing the safe inside the property room which has an alarm system installed. However, during business hours, the alarm is disabled and the security camera becomes the primary security feature. The camera and VHS tape recorder sit on top of the safe, and are activated only when the safe door is opened. The camera system could be easily disabled, as there is no mechanism in place to restrict access to the camera, recording media, or cables. The current equipment is insufficient and can result in potential loss of assets for the City. Management Action Plan: The department is working with IT Division to review the current camera system and discuss potential fixes. IT Division is in the process of contacting vendors for suggested solutions and estimates. Once a new camera solution is chosen, steps for purchasing and implementation will be taken. Target Date for Corrective Action: September 2012 6 26
The Property Room staff breaks seals on all weapons to verify critical information. They are then re-sealed before being placed in storage. Finding: Weapons in storage with broken seals There were several instances of weapons in storage bags with broken seals. These are all large weapons, some of them guns, where the seals have been broken or have become unglued due to aging. The Police Department General Orders (1) provide guidance and procedural requirements for the department. They require all property to remain sealed in the Property Room at all times. The volume of firearms and the varying sizes of the weapons make storage in a sealed bag difficult. The open seals could affect the outcome of investigations and court proceedings if the court deems that the integrity of evidence was not maintained by staff. Management Action Plan: The General Order will be re-written to indicate that For purposes of serial number verification on Firearms, Property Room personnel will be allowed to break the seals during the verification process. The Property Room will begin purchasing and using a higher quality, heavy duty, sealing tape and/or evidence tape. Items identified as having broken seals will be resealed by the department. Target Date for Corrective Action: June 2012 The inventory system maintains an edit history and audit trails on any records changed. A report will be created to monitor such changes. Finding: The Property Room Supervisor has disproportionate authority in relation to the responsibility The Property Room Supervisor is responsible for maintaining the integrity and chain of custody for all property/evidence stored in the Property Room. The Supervisor also has access to all areas of the property room and administrative access for Revolution, the property records system. The Property Room Supervisor has administrative access to the records system for the stored property, along with the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the records. The Supervisor also is the assigned person for the safekeeping of cash, and has full access to the safe and all areas of the property room. While these duties have been assigned to someone with the ability to perform, the impact of these assignments on the system of internal control was not fully considered. This creates a situation 7 27
where the duties have become incompatible with the responsibility and authority assigned. This situation creates a risk for both the City and the employee serving in the position of the Property Room Supervisor. While no instances of abuse were found, there are no safeguards built in the system to detect abuse if it does occur. Management Action Plan: In response to this Finding, the software designer for the Revolution system has amended the system configuration and removed the ability for the Property Room Supervisor/System Administrator to access/view individual passwords from users. Now, if a password is forgotten and must be re-issued, the Supervisor can only allow the user to re-set their password. Also, under the current system, the Supervisor cannot delete Property Records, nor amend Property Records without an edit history of the changes made being retained in the system. The edit history cannot be altered or deleted. The department will request the vendor to configure a report that indicates all records that have been edited and what those changes were. This report will be accessed and reviewed, at least quarterly by Professional Standards Section staff. Additionally, written requests (via email or memorandum) to add or delete users will continue to be submitted to the system administrator via the Chief s office. A hard copy of the written request will be retained by the system administrator prior to making the addition or deletion. Retention of such documentation will justify such changes. If changes must be made to a user s access settings, these user access changes will need to first be approved by the Technical Services Division Commander. This may also be done via e-mail, however a hard copy of the e-mail approval will also need to be retained to justify such changes. The Department believes the noted system changes address the concerns of this Finding, while still retaining the need for efficient operations in the Property Room. Target Date for Corrective Action: June 2012 8 28
DISTRIBUTION Mayor and City Council Bob Deis, City Manager John Luebberke, City Attorney Bonnie Paige, City Clerk Blair Ulring, Chief of Police Connie Cochran, Public Information Officer Maze & Associates The Record (1) General Order G-1 011807, Section IV (2) General Orders G-03 031009, Section II B 2 (3) General Orders G-02 011807, Section II K 5 9 29
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