REPORT DIGEST
DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE
COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
For the Two Years Ended: June 30, 2010
Summary of Findings:
Total this audit: 8
Total last audit: 7
Repeated from last audit: 1
Release Date: April 7, 2011
State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor General
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, AUDITOR GENERAL
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SYNOPSIS
• The Department of State Police (Department) did not
exercise adequate control over the recording and reporting of its State
property and equipment.
• The Department did not have adequate controls to ensure
employees on leave of absence were removed from the payroll and were only paid
for actual time worked.
• The Department did not have an adequate process to monitor
interagency agreements.
• The Department did not comply with the Missing Persons
Identification Act.
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INADEQUATE CONTROL OVER PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT
The Department of State Police (Department) did not exercise
adequate control over the recording and reporting of its State property and
equipment. We noted the following:
• Six of eight (75%) Quarterly Reports of State Property
(C-15s) prepared by the Department and submitted to the State Comptroller’s
Office did not accurately reflect Department equipment transactions. We noted additions were understated by
$819,499 in FY09, deletions were understated by $797,080 in FY09 and overstated
by $11,861 in FY10, and net transfers were overstated by $719,452 in FY09 and
by $14,599 in FY10.
• Fifteen of 40 (38%) equipment items tested, totaling
$408,877 were not added to the Department’s inventory records within 30 days of
acquisition. These items were added between
six and sixty days late.
• The Department did not record a discount for one equipment
item until 35 days after the item was originally added to the inventory
records. Also, the Department recorded
an item on the inventory records including a trade-in allowance resulting in a
$50,000 understatement.
• Three of 40 (8%) surplus items did not have the purchase
date or purchase price filled out on the Department of Central Management
Services (CMS) surplus property form and one vehicle was demolished in an
accident in 2005 but not remove from the inventory records until March
2009.
• Four of 25 (16%) Accounting for Leases-Lessee Forms
(SCO-560s) tested were not filled out properly.
• One of ten items selected for testing at the District
level was located and had a tag number but was not found on the Department’s
inventory listing and one item was located in a location other than the
location specified on the Department’ inventory listing. (Finding 1, pages 8-11) This finding was first reported in 2002.
We recommended the Department strengthen controls over the
recording and reporting of its State property and equipment by reviewing their
inventory and recordkeeping practices to ensure compliance with statutory and
regulatory requirements. We also
recommended the Department ensure all equipment is accurately and timely
recorded on the Department’s property records and properly valued. Lastly, we recommended the Department
thoroughly review all reports prepared from internal records for accuracy before
submission to the State Comptroller and CMS.
(For the previous Department response, see Digest Footnote #1.)
Department management agreed with our recommendation and
stated the Property Control Unit has continued to face issues related to
insufficient staffing as well as system malfunctions and the ISP will work
closely with the Public Safety Shared Services Center (PSSSC) to ensure
property is added to the inventory system in a timely manner and required
reporting to the IOC is completed accurately.
Department management further stated the PSSSC has sent emails to all
Property Custodians stating all information must be complete on surplus
delivery forms.
INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER LEAVES OF ABSENCES
The Department did not have adequate controls to ensure
employees on leave of absence were removed from the payroll and were only paid
for actual time worked. In addition, the
Department did not have controls to review supporting documentation for persons
on leave of absence to ensure any overpayments were recouped from the
employee. We noted 8 of 25 (32%)
employees who went on a leave of absence were paid for time not worked
resulting in an overpayment to these eight employees totaling $4,581. (Finding 4, page 18)
We recommended the Department ensure employees on leave of
absence are removed from the payroll and are only paid for time actually
worked. In addition, we recommended the
Department ensure leave of absence documentation is accurate prior to payment
and obtain repayment from all individuals who were overpaid.
Department management agreed with our recommendation and
stated employees are removed from payroll when the Public Safety Shared
Services Center (PSSSC) receives the approved OAR/PAR. The Department will make every effort to have
the OAR/PAR to the PSSSC in a timely manner.
INADEQUATE MONITORING OF INTERAGENCY AGREEMENTS
The Department did not have an adequate process to monitor
interagency agreements. We noted two of
eleven (18%) interagency agreements were not signed by all necessary parties
before the effective date. The
agreements were signed 68 and 217 days late.
In addition, one of eleven (9%) interagency agreements reviewed was not
sign by all appropriate parties.
(Finding 6, page 21)
We recommended the Department ensure all interagency
agreements are approved by an authorized signor prior to the effective date of
the agreement.
Department management agreed with our recommendation and
stated the ISP will provide direction and monitoring, as needed, throughout the
department to reinforce the importance of the appropriate handling of
interagency agreements.
NONCOMPLIANCE WITH THE MISSING PERSONS IDENTIFICATION ACT
The Department did not comply with the Missing Persons
Identification Act. We noted the Department did not upload information for the
National Crime Information Center within 72 hours for three of four cases
tested. We also noted, the Department
did not enter DNA profiles and information in the National DNA Index System
(NDIS) within five business days after the completion of the DNA analysis and
procedures necessary for the entry of the DNA profile for two of four cases
tested. Lastly, we noted the Department
did not enter information sought by the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program
database as soon as practical for four of four cases tested. (Finding 7, pages 22-23)
We recommended the Department comply with the Missing
Persons Identification Act by uploading the information to the state and
federal databases within the required timeframes.
Department management agreed with our recommendation and
stated ISP personnel will work to comply by providing the necessary information
within the allotted time frames for upload into the State and Federal databases
as resources become available.
OTHER FINDINGS
The remaining findings pertain to: 1) lack of project
management, 2) security controls over confidential information, 3) voucher
processing, and 4) accounts receivable reporting. We will follow up on these findings during
our next examination of the Department.
AUDITORS' OPINION
We conducted a compliance examination of the Department as
required by the Illinois State Auditing Act.
The Department has no funds that require an audit leading to an opinion
of financial statements.
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND
Auditor General
WGH:jsc:pp
AUDITORS ASSIGNED:
This examination was performed by the Office of the Auditor
General’s staff.
DIGEST FOOTNOTES
#1 – PROPERTY CONTROL AND REPORTING WEAKNESSES – Previous
Department Response
2008: We concur. The Property Control Unit has continued to face issues related to insufficient staffing. The Department transferred the Property Control Unit responsibilities to the Public Safety Shared Services Center (PSSSC) effective October 1, 2008. The ISP will work closely with the PSSSC to ensure property is added to the inventory system in a timely manner and required reporting to the IOC is completed accurately and in a timely manner. The ISP will work to determine a resolution to the remaining items acquired during the purchase of the AIG building not yet tagged. While ISP acknowledges this is an important task, it will take a sufficient amount of human resources to complete.