U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Audit Report

Police Hiring Supplement Grant

Awarded to City of Cleveland, Ohio Police Department

Award Numbers 94-DL-CX-0018

Audit Report Number GR-50-98-032

September 23, 1998

The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of a $2 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), to the Cleveland, Ohio Police Department (CPD). The CPD received the grant to hire or rehire 30 additional sworn police officers under the Police Hiring Supplement (PHS). The purpose of the grant was to enhance community policing efforts. In brief, our audit revealed the following:

• Reimbursements requested and received were overstated because the CPD was reimbursed at a rate of 70 percent instead of the 49 percent permissible under the grant award. As a result, we question the $569,577 overstated reimbursement.

• Costs charged to the PHS grant were not always in accordance with grant requirements. This occurred because the CPD did not consistently maintain the minimum number of locally funded sworn officers while being reimbursed by OJP for additional officers. Consequently, we question $21,707 charged to the grant.

These items are discussed in the Findings and Recommendations section of the report. Our scope and methodology appear in Appendix II.

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