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Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Grants to the
City of Plainfield Police Division
Plainfield, New Jersey

GR-70-03-003
December 2002
Office of the Inspector General


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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 City of Plainfield, New Jersey, Police Division (Plainfield). The purpose of the grants is to enhance community policing. Plainfield was awarded a total of $1,350,000 to hire 18 new police officers.

We reviewed Plainfield's compliance with six essential grant conditions and found weaknesses in three of the six areas we tested: budgeting for officers, hiring of officers and retention of officer positions. As a result of the deficiencies identified below, we question $147,893 in grant funds received and recommend an additional $91,918 be put to better use.1

These items are discussed in detail in the Findings and Recommendations section of the report. Our audit objectives, scope and methodology appear in Appendix I.


Footnotes

  1. The Inspector General Act of 1988 contains our reporting requirements for questioned costs and funds to better use. However, not all findings are dollar-related. See Appendix III for a breakdown of our dollar-related findings and for definitions of questioned costs and funds to better use.