| Police Chief Jack Harris - You can't prove I cooked the books!!!! http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/04/26/20110426phoenix-auditor-review-panel-evidence.html Phoenix city auditor: No proof police fudged kidnap data to get federal grant by William Hermann - Apr. 26, 2011 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic The Phoenix city auditor on Monday told a special review panel that he has found no evidence that the Police Department intentionally inflated kidnapping statistics to land a $1.7 million federal grant. "We noted no evidence that supports the allegations that kidnapping or home-invasion statistics . . . were intentionally inflated," a report submitted by City Auditor Randy Spenla said. "The data gives no indication anyone orchestrated bad data." Spenla said in his testimony. The city panel was convened to review and determine the veracity of allegations of misreporting lodged against the department. Spenla's testimony contradicted allegations at the panel's last meeting that the numbers had been fudged to get the grant. Those allegations were made by a police sergeant and by the head of the police union. Former Police Chief Jack Harris, who was removed from direct authority over the department because of the controversy and retired April 15, has maintained that neither he nor anyone he was aware of in the department had intentionally inflated numbers or relabeled departmental reports to land a grant. Harris and others in the department have conceded that the statistics used - and many departmental reports put forward after the grant was applied for - could have been better chosen. Phoenix police research Supervisor Connie Kostelac told the city panel on Monday that it was subsequently determined that some departmental reports are not classified correctly, that there is "too little checking" by superiors on reports made by officers and that training in documentation is needed. Spenla said that although he and his staff have been "double-checking the double-check" that the Police Department's Professional Standards Bureau is doing on the departmental reports relating to the grant, auditors from the U.S. Justice Department still have not determined whether problems with the reports would justify asking for the grant money to be returned. The city review panel will give a preliminary report on its findings in early May. |