U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Missouri State Highway Patrol

GR-50-98-008

February 26, 1998

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of three grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to the Missouri State Highway Patrol (State Patrol). The State Patrol received $5,393,928 to hire or rehire 72 sworn police officers under the Accelerated Hiring, Education, and Deployment (AHEAD) and the Universal Hiring Supplemental Award (UHP) programs. In addition, the State Patrol received $3,370,942 under the Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) program to redeploy 35 sworn police officers for 3 years and purchase computer equipment to redeploy the equivalent of 56.7 sworn police officers. The purpose of these officers is to enhance community policing efforts. Generally, the State Patrol properly managed the grants; however, it violated some grant conditions as follows:

- One of the civilian employee positions under the MORE grant was filled by abolishing the employee's existing position and transferring her to a COPS position. This condition does not meet the COPS grant requirement stating that funds must be in addition to, not in lieu of, funds previously committed to law enforcement. Therefore, we question $29,558 in salary and fringe benefits charged to the grant.

- The State Patrol submitted 7 of 13 Financial Status Reports to the Office of Justice Programs late. Also, total program costs for the AHEAD grant were under-reported by $119,690 for the period ending June 30, 1997.

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