U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Audit Report

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Grants to the

Newark, New Jersey Police Department

GR-70-98-007

June 5, 1998

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, has completed an audit of grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to the Newark, New Jersey Police Department. Newark was awarded a total of $21,051,258 in COPS grants to hire 249 new sworn police officers and redeploy 77.5 full-time-equivalent (FTE) sworn police officers from administrative duties to community policing.

Newark violated the following grant conditions.

• The number of budgeted city-funded sworn-officer positions decreased from 1,411 in FY 1995 (the baseline year for UHP grants) to 1,215 in FY 1997, a decrease of 196. The actual number of sworn uniformed officers on Newark's police force also decreased by 142 from FY 1996 to FY 1997. The decline in the number of both budgeted and actual city-funded sworn-officer positions demonstrates that Newark improperly supplanted local funds with COPS grant funds. Consequently, we question about $1.2 million in grant reimbursements and recommend that about $2.5 million be put to better use.
  
  
• Requests for Federal Share were not accurate because they included about $1.3 million in unallowable salaries and fringe benefits charged to Newark's 1995 Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE 95)¹, Accelerated Hiring, Education and Deployment (AHEAD), and Universal Hiring Program (UHP) grants which were not expended in accordance with grant conditions. As a result, we question about $532,000 of the reimbursements Newark has received and recommend that about $188,000 be put to a better use.
  
  
• Newark did not have a formal plan to retain grant-funded positions after the expiration of its COPS grants. The COPS office has told Newark that it will not fund additional officers until Newark provides it with assurances that the city has begun to plan for the termination of federal funding.
  
  
• Newark did not deploy the required number of officers to community policing. As of the date of our audit, of the 326.5 FTE for which Newark had received grants, it had hired 279 FTE in accordance with grant conditions. As a result, it was required to increase its deployment to community policing by 279. However, Newark increased the number of officers deployed to its community policing unit (Quality of Life Task Force) by 191, 88 short of the 279 required. As a result, we question about $37,000 in grant reimbursements received by Newark under its AHEAD grant.²
  
  
• Newark did not seek COPS' permission to make a major program change to its community policing program.

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

¹ Jurisdictions were allowed to apply for and receive MORE grants in both 1995 and 1996. In this report, MORE grants funded with FY 1995 funds are referred to as MORE 95 and MORE grants funded with FY 1996 funds are referred to as MORE 96.

² Newark supplanted local funds with COPS funds during the same period in which it had not deployed enough officers to community policing. As a result, the questioned costs for the community policing shortfall have been prorated to eliminate our questioning the same reimbursement twice. Our calculation also accounts for those officers and civilians whose expenses we questioned because Newark hired them prior to their respective grant start dates. If Newark had not supplanted or used grant funds for personnel hired before the grant start dates, we would have questioned about $1,000,000 in reimbursements as the result of the community policing shortfall.

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