Today October 10, 2013 OIG released the findings of a follow-up inquiry into actions taken by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in response to a September OIG 2012 audit of internal controls of CPD’s Evidence and Recovered Property Section (ERPS). The 2012 OIG audit showed that CPD ERPS failed to ensure that evidence and property seized or taken into custody by CPD were adequately protected, properly documented, and readily available when required. OIG recommended that CPD management:
- Immediately design and implement internal controls to ensure that all physical inventory and records can be located
- Implement the recommendations made by the CPD Internal Auditing and Control Division in a 2005 audit and make necessary changes to ensure that inventory is transported to ERPS in a timely manner and its location is accurately recorded
- Adopt the standards established by the International Association for Property and Evidence related to ventilation systems within the narcotics storage area
The OIG’s follow-up inquiry found that CPD ERPS is still implementing many of the corrective actions it committed itself to in response to the September 2012 audit. While those actions remain incomplete, once fully implemented OIG believes the corrective actions reported by CPD ERPS may reasonably be expected to resolve the core findings noted above.