YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

December 6, 1999
Report No. 99-115

The following problems were discovered as a result of our office's most recent audit of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. Earlier this year, the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) requested the State Auditor's Office audit its Forfeiture Fund; the department's Forfeiture Fund audit was included in our statewide report on forfeited property (Report No. 99-97).

The following audit was conducted along with that request.

The KCPD Personnel Policy No. 450 provides that retiring employees will be compensated for any accumulated unused sick leave. It would appear this policy is intended to reduce the amount of sick leave used by department personnel.

This policy may be excessive compared to buyout plans of other law enforcement agencies, and appears to be a drain on departmental resources. In addition, this policy may not be a cost-effective means of reducing sick leave. Sick leave buyout payments for the two years ended April 30, 1999 totaled $3.9 million.

Based on the significant costs of the sick leave buyout program and the comparison of the KCPD's policy with other similar departments, the State Auditor recommended the KCPD reevaluate its policies and consider limiting the amounts paid to individuals under this program. It appears there are various alternatives to the present policy that would allow the department to continue to provide a benefit to employees at a lesser cost. These alternatives could include, but not be limited to, maximum levels of payout phased in over a period of time, reductions in the payout ratios, or possible conversion to a retirement enhancement device whereby unused sick leave is converted to additional months of service used in the calculation of retirement benefits.

During the two years ended April 30, 1999, the KCPD expended approximately $2.5 million on new vehicles. The department purchased 94 new marked and unmarked cars, 10 motorcycles, 10 bicycles, and 20 other vehicles, which included a command post bus costing approximately $300,000. The fleet operation unit, which is part of the Executive Services Bureau, is responsible for maintaining the department's fleet of approximately 750 marked and unmarked police cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles. The unit provides routine preventive maintenance, repairs, and body work for the department's vehicles.

The State Auditor's review of fleet operations noted that the department has not adopted a vehicle replacement plan which sets guidelines for the retirement of police vehicles. Vehicles are funded through the annual budget process, so replacement requests compete with other spending priorities. For the past several years, fleet operations has received an appropriation from the city of approximately $500,000 to purchase new vehicles. Additional, or alternative, funding for vehicle purchases of approximately $400,000 may also come from special revenue or grant funds. However, department personnel indicated that the alternative funding sources are not stable and cannot be relied on for vehicle replacement.

The auditors determined the average age of the entire department's fleet to be approximately 6.1 years and the average mileage to be approximately 100,000 miles as of February 1999. In addition, the audit noted at least 157 cars in the fleet with in excess of 150,000 miles, and 224 of 750 vehicles were over 7 years old.

Police vehicles are a very important part of officers being able to provide timely assistance to citizens. As a result, the department needs to develop a vehicle replacement plan that will allow for a reduction in the average mileage and age of its fleet. By maintaining a fleet of lower mileage and newer vehicles, the department should reduce vehicle down time and increase department efficiency.

We also reviewed reports of repair costs prepared for December 31, 1997 and 1998, as well as April 30, 1999, and selected several vehicles on a test basis to determine the amount of fleet resources which were being expended on wrecked, higher mileage vehicles. We found in several instances that the amount of resources expended to repair a vehicle did not appear reasonable based on the age and mileage of the vehicle.

The Fleet Operations Unit indicated that in some instances, even though the costs to repair a vehicle are high, the department has no choice but to fix the vehicle because funding is not available to replace them. During our review of these reports, we noted the department spent approximately $10,000 to repair a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria with over 77,000 miles, and approximately $8,000 to repair a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria with over 160,000 miles. It appears the department has repaired vehicles which should have been considered for retirement.

Other findings include:

Disbursement of funds by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners for which no public purpose was documented.

The Accounting Unit's controls and procedures could be improved. All monies received are not transmitted daily.

In regard to the Record's Unit, accounting duties are not adequately segregated. Also, the method of payment is not indicated on receipt slips, mail logs are not kept to record each check received by mail, and mail receipts are not processed on a timely basis. Access to collections is not adequately controlled.

Some fixed assets of the department are not properly numbered, tagged, or otherwise identified, and physical inventory procedures need to be improved.

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