The report provides a summary of OIG activity from October 1 through December 31, 2013. The final quarterly report of 2013 reflects a maturing oversight body that fully inhabits its statutory mission to root out misconduct, waste, and inefficiency. In the last year the office expanded the responsibilities of its Hiring Oversight section, and its Audit and Program Review section became fully operational. It implemented these services in the public interest, while improving the quality and efficiency of the OIG Investigations section.
Highlights from this quarter’s report include,
- Four OIG investigations established that various current and former Department of Transportation (CDOT) personnel and contractors violated the City’s Personnel Rules and the Shakman Accord. The department’s responses included suspending some employees.
- A now retired Department of Street and Sanitation (DSS) Manager demonstrated preferential treatment during a promotion process. DSS directed that a copy of OIG’s report be placed in the Manager’s personnel file.
- Two OIG advisories prompted immediate action by the City. One advisory, regarding the duty of City vendors to report corrupt or other unlawful conduct, led to a proposed ordinance to tighten anti-corruption mechanisms. Another advisory found critical variations in the way disciplinary sanctions were coded and imposed across and within City departments. In response, the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Finance have already begun drafting a City-wide policy for the assessment, coding, and enforcement of unpaid suspensions and other disciplinary sanctions.
- An OIG audit of the Police Department’s (CPD) 2012 Gun Turn-In Event found that CPD accurately and appropriately accounted for all the gift cards distributed to event participants. However, the department misclassified up to 6.5% of the replicas as firearms, which could have resulted in up to $4,680 in overpayments. The audit was unable to determine how effective the program is at removing guns from the streets of Chicago due to CPD’s “no questions asked” policy, under which CPD neither requests nor records identifying information, including proof of residency, from the individuals turning in guns.