DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Audit Report

OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES

EDINBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT EDINBURG, TEXAS

AUDIT REPORT NUMBER GR-80-98-011

MARCH 27, 1998

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of two grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to the City of Edinburg, Texas. Edinburg received a grant of $119,049 to hire two police officers under the Funding Accelerated for Smaller Towns (FAST) program and $194,926 to hire three police officers under the Universal Hiring Program (UHP.) The purpose of the additional officers is to enhance community policing efforts.

Generally, the City of Edinburg properly managed the COPS grants; however, we found the following weaknesses with regard to meeting the grant conditions:

- The Edinburg Police Department overstated its FAST/UHP grant application by $17,095.

- The two Requests for Reimbursement that were completed but not yet submitted to the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) did not allow for a decreasing Federal share of total allowable costs.

- Both Financial Status Reports were submitted late to OJP.

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