Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Grants to the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, Montana
Report No. GR-60-04-010
August 2004
Office of the Inspector General
The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of grants awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council (Council), Montana. The purpose of the grants is to enhance community policing. The Council was awarded a total of $2,615,662 to hire 17 new full time police officers, and to provide equipment and training for the police officers. We reviewed the Council's compliance with six essential grant conditions and except for local match requirements, which were waived, and budgeting for local officer positions, we found weaknesses in each of the areas we tested: hiring of additional officers, reimbursement requests, retention of officer positions, and community policing. As a result of the deficiencies identified below, we question $1,173,045 in grant funds received and recommend an additional $597,465 be put to better use.1 Specifically we found:
These items are discussed in detail in the Findings and Recommendations section of this report. Our audit objectives, scope and methodology appear in Appendix I. Footnotes
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