State & Local Reports

An audit of the Economic Development Loan Portfolio for processes in place during the period of January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2022 was performed. The main objective was to assess the effectiveness and adequacy of policy, procedures, and controls in mitigating the risk of servicing the County’s development loan portfolio including collection of payments.Department of Internal Audit (DIA) relied on authoritative guidance to determine lending best practices that mitigate risk, providing a basis for assessing the adequacy of Department of Development’s (DoD) policies, procedures, and controls. DIA made its assessments by conducting interviews with management and staff regarding processes, reviewing the Department of Development’s (DoD) policy and procedures, and obtaining various documentation from staff. In addition, where best practices were observed, DIA performed audit procedures to determine effectiveness. The audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses or areas of potential process improvement relative to board oversight, loan underwriting and monitoring, risk analysis, job creation and diversity monitoring, prevailing wage compliance monitoring, disbursements and receipts reconciliations, financial reporting, and IT controls. DIA recommended DoD implement the following: risk-rating process to score new loans and a formal loan portfolio risk analysis process to monitor risk exposures, formal loan collectability and write-off review policy to ensure the timeliness of collections activities and financial reporting accuracy, monthly reconciliation of loan disbursements and receipts between financial systems, update policies and procedures, and implement additional IT controls, including a system access policy to achieve least privilege access, stronger password requirements, and policy requirement as to an expected timeframe for user deactivation.

The Public Safety section of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed a follow-up inquiry of its February 2021 review of “Chicago’s Response to George Floyd Protests and Unrest.” In its February 2021 report, OIG found that despite advance information signaling the planning of large-scale public protest gatherings following the murder of George Floyd, the Chicago Police Department was under-equipped and unprepared to respond to the scale of the protests and unrest in the downtown area and across Chicago’s neighborhoods from May 29 through June 7, 2020. OIG identified failures within intelligence assessment, major event planning, field communication and operation, administrative systems, and, most significantly, from CPD’s senior leadership.

This quarterly report provides an overview of the operations of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) from January 1, 2024, through March 31, 2024, and includes information required by the Municipal Code of Chicago.

Civil asset forfeiture is a legal tool that allows police agencies to seize and forfeit (retain) property believed to be involved in or the proceeds of a crime. While property owners may file a claim to recover it, a performance audit in Washington found police agencies retained up to 90 percent of such property. This totaled nearly $40 million in forfeitures from January 2020 through December 2022. This published report examined eight police agencies to better understand forfeitures in the state, and included recommendations to strengthen transparency and protections for property owners.