The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an Audit Report regarding Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) Off-Duty Details and Mardi Gras Pay.
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The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a follow-up Public Letter finding a lack of progress by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) in adopting a more transparent accounting and purchasing system.
Today’s letter is a follow-up to an OIG letter released in October 2023, which recommended OPSO transition to the Budget, Requisition, and Accounting Services System (BRASS), the procurement platform used by the City of New Orleans.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides an independent and objective assessment of government policies, programs, and operations by conducting audits, evaluations, and investigations. The purpose of this letter is to address concerns regarding overtime pay raised during an ongoing audit. It is the opinion of this office that in order to mitigate waste and promote efficiency by public entities, voluntary hours worked for a premium rate in excess of normal working hours should be excluded when calculating overtime.
It is important that government entities spend public funds in an efficient and effective manner. This includes properly following relevant laws when compensating public employees. This is especially important during Carnival season when many employees work overtime for higher rates of pay. We anticipate this guidance will help these entities properly calculate their overtime pay going forward.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the City of New Orleans (City) concluded the investigation into the allegation that the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office (OPSO) improperly obtained hotel rooms for command staff during Mardi Gras 2023.
This investigation was predicated upon an anonymous complaint provided to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alleging that the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office (OPSO) improperly secured and paid for hotel rooms at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, located at 621 St. Louis St., New Orleans, LA 70130, in the French Quarter to house OPSO Command Staff during Mardi Gras 2023. The complaint also alleged rooms were left vacant by other staff members.
Based upon the review of records obtained from the Omni, a total of 90 room nights were secured and paid for by the OPSO. In the OIG analysis of the Omni records and interviews conducted of OPSO employees, 37 hotel nights were occupied by the OPSO Command Staff. Four employees stayed six nights or more, three employees did not occupy a room at all, and six employees stayed three nights or less in a room secured and paid for by the OPSO.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is authorized to comment on rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and transactions for the purpose of preventing fraud, waste, and abuse, or promoting efficient and effective government. This letter addresses the potential benefits of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) using the City’s existing Budget, Requisition, and Accounting Services System (BRASS) as its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to replace its current, outdated ERP system.
OPSO is charged with providing for the care, custody, control and rehabilitation of inmates, as well as providing the highest level of service and security to the court systems, the execution of court mandates, and the protection of individuals’ rights and freedoms. OPSO receives significant funding from the City. As shown in Figure 1, the City provided $112 million, or approximately 73%, of OPSO’s total operating revenue over the past two budget cycles. The City appropriated $56 million of OPSO’s $76 million budgeted revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 and $56 million of OPSO’s $77 million budgeted revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023.2
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a public letter to Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Sheriff Marlin Gusman regarding issues related to the construction of a new jail facility.
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office administration of the City’s electronic monitoring program (EMP) to examine EMP operations, review program protocols, assess how the monitoring deputies responded to alerts, and determine whether adequate performance measures were in place to gauge the effectiveness of the program.
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a public letter to Sheriff Marlin Gusman to express concern about the selection process for an outside vendor to provide medical and mental health services at the jail. The letter references best practices for awarding professional service contracts.
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) wrote members of the Orleans delegation to the Louisiana State Legislature to express his opposition to HB 430, which added an exclusion to La. R.S. 44:11 for virtually all personnel records of law enforcement personnel in the State of Louisiana, including completed internal affairs investigations.
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an evaluation of the City’s Electronic Monitoring Program (EMP) administered by the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO). The objectives of this evaluation were to identify the goals of the EMP program, identify and assess the program’s performance measures; review the program’s annual budget allocation and expenses; and examine alerts and OPSO responses in April 2013.
