State & Local Reports

What Was Performed? An Examination of the Christina School District’s Schedule of Construction Projects for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2019 was performed.Why This Engagement? School construction examination engagements are performed to determine compliance with Delaware Code, the State of Delaware Department of Education School Construction Technical Assistance Manual, and the State of Delaware Budget and Accounting Policy Manual. This engagement was performed in accordance with 29 Del. C. §7526 and examines Bond Bill construction project expenditures incurred by the school district. What Was Found? It is my pleasure to report this engagement contained an unmodified opinion.1 In addition, our examination disclosed no findings required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.The Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2019, Statewide School Districts’ Construction Projects Examination Engagements for Christina School District can be found on our website.

The audit found MBCC has failed to take steps previously recommended by the office to improve the tracking of valuable college property. The Community College has also done a poor job tracking and maintaining IT inventory. The audit examined the period of July 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019.

What Was Performed? An Examination of the Lake Forest School District’s Schedule of Construction Projects for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2019, was performed.Why This Engagement? School construction examination engagements are performed to determine compliance with Delaware Code, the State of Delaware Department of Education School Construction Technical Assistance Manual, and the State of Delaware Budget and Accounting Policy Manual. This engagement was performed in accordance with 29 Del. C. §7526 and examines Bond Bill construction project expenditures incurred by the school district. What Was Found? It is my pleasure to report this engagement contained an unmodified opinion.1 In addition, our examination includes two findings required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards:• Two of eight purchase orders were tested, and one of those orders was missing the contract number. The purchase order was for $264,950.• The district did not document whether it notified the Department of Education (DOE), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Insurance Coverage Office, and the Office of Auditor of Accounts (OAOA) upon completion of Lake Forest High School renovations and Central Elementary School renovations. The district also did not document whether it notified DOE, OMB and OAOA when Lake Forest High School received approval for occupancy after renovations.The School Construction: Lake Forest School District examination can be found on our website.

Pursuant to the Municipal Code of Chicago §§ 2-56-030 and -230, the Public Safety section of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting an inquiry into the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) execution of search warrants, focusing on the accuracy of the addresses at which they are executed. As part of an ongoing inquiry, OIG has analyzed CPD data on search warrants issued between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020. OIG is issuing this Second Interim Report in order to better equip stakeholders––to the extent feasible given the quality of CPD’s data––with clear and accurate information during the ongoing public conversation and policy debate respecting improvements to CPD’s search warrant policy and practices. OIG also aims to highlight the intersections and gaps between the other proposed changes to CPD’s policy and its existing data collection practices, for consideration as those proposed changes are finalized.Through this Second Interim Report, OIG aims to provide the public with clear and accurate information on recent CPD search warrants and to equip stakeholders to knowledgeably participate in the ongoing public conversation and policy debate surrounding improvements to CPD’s search warrant policy and practices. CPD search warrant data from 2017 to 2020 revealed that CPD’s use of search warrants, particularly of residences, has been declining since late 2019. Of search warrants for a residence, the majority (73%) seek drug-related evidence. Depending on metrics, reported rates of successful search warrants may vary widely. When seeking drugs, CPD recovered drug evidence 75.6% of the time, and when seeking guns, recovered them 40.6% of the time. OIG found that “chance hits,” or the discovery of unintended evidence, occurred more often for Black and Hispanic/Latinx subjects than White subjects, with White subjects comprising just 3.5% of all residential search warrant subjects. Members of the public and CPD members will be best-served by data-informed policy decisions and thoughtful consideration of the implications of policy changes for existing data collection systems and practices. OIG’s inquiry on this matter is ongoing and continues to evaluate CPD’s search warrant training, review, and disciplinary processes and their impact on the occurrence of wrong raids.

For the period July 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021, we confirmed the completeness and accuracy for two samples of grant applications and supporting documentation submitted by Louisiana businesses.

The Office of Inspector General’s Public Safety section (OIG) is required by City ordinance to examine Sustained findings of misconduct committed by members of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and accompanying disciplinary recommendations, to assess trends and whether discipline is consistently and fairly applied. To that end, OIG has developed a comprehensive set of flowcharts that detail all stages of the disciplinary process, including all avenues of disciplinary review and appeal. The aim of the flowcharts is to provide an accessible resource—for the public, City officials, and Department members—that also will serve as a foundation for evaluative reports that OIG will periodically release on CPD’s disciplinary process. These periodic reports will analyze procedural consistency and fairness, as well as substantive fairness and consistency of discipline issued to CPD members found to have committed misconduct.

This report examines the use of overtime by New York State agencies over the past ten calendar years.1 The total cost of overtime in calendar year 2020 reached an all-time high at more than $850 million, covering roughly 19.1 million overtime hours worked. Certain agencies experienced major spikes in overtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most overtime was performed in agencies that have typically relied upon it.

This report summarizes identity theft trends in New York during the coronavirus pandemic

the program guidance issued by ACCD on April 27, 2021 for the Economic Recovery Bridge Grant program uses 2020 federal tax loss to establish eligibility for grants consistent with the requirements of H.315 (Act 9). Focusing on tax loss may help target limited resources to businesses that need assistance to remain viable. However, clarification is needed in the program guidance to avoid reliance on a tax-based measure that is not representative of losses associated with the COVID-19 public health emergency and to prevent grant awards that exceed business need.