Pubdate: Sat, 13 Mar 2010
Source: Peoria Journal Star (IL)
Copyright: 2010 Peoria Journal Star
Contact:  http://pjstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/338
Note: Does not publish letters from outside our circulation area.
Author: Terry Bibo, Journal Star
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

P-MEG, DIRECTOR MUST BECOME ACCOUNTABLE

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons is not the only one to 
raise questions about central Illinois' undercover drug enforcement.

He's just the only one willing to do so in public. Lyons is convinced 
he made no progress with law-enforcement officials in private.

"Everyone in the room will have guns and a bullet-proof vest except 
for me," he says via e-mail. "How wrong is that???"

Drugs. Guns. Cash. Peoria's Multi-County Narcotics Enforcement Group 
is the place where that unholy trio collides, with support from your 
federal, state and local tax dollars. But P-MEG's own audits raise 
questions about how those resources are handled.

"Our consideration of internal control over financial reporting . . . 
would not necessarily identify all deficiencies in internal control," 
says the financial report from auditors Crowe Horwath LLC, which was 
sent to the MEG policy board on Dec. 16. "However, as discussed 
below, we identified certain deficiencies in internal control over 
financial reporting that we consider to be significant deficiencies."

Translation: We didn't dig too deep, or we might have found more. 
Still, we've got problems here.

Four specific areas were cited as having deficiencies. Most of it 
sounds like paperwork that makes more sense to the numbers guys, 
although the auditors helpfully noted the possible effects.

. Internal control: "The effect is an increased risk of material 
misstatement due to improper reporting . . ."

. Entity level controls: "The effect is that the group's management 
may not consider all fraud risks present . . ."

. Basis of accounting: "This could lead to interim financial 
information being provided to the Illinois Criminal Justice 
Information Authority and other funding agencies that is inaccurate . . ."

. Noncompliance with maintaining fingerprints of the informer 
requirement: "This could lead to errors in identifying informers 
based on their fingerprints."

Misstatement? Risk of fraud? Inaccurate information and misidentified 
informers? Hello? What does that mean?

Well, the "basis of accounting" item says P-MEG didn't include 
$32,494 of new assets seized before June 30. And, under every item, 
where P-MEG has a chance to reply to the questions, the report says 
"RESPONSE: The Group did not provide a response."

MEG operations don't involve chump change, toy pistols and generic 
aspirin. We're talking about roughly $1 million in salaries for 
undercover cops who seize almost as much in street value for drugs 
including heroin and methamphetamines.

"In 2009, agents confiscated drugs with an approximate street value 
of $905,000, and we seized $104,800 in cash," P-MEG Director Larry 
Hawkins summarized for his board members on Feb. 24. At that point, 
the MEG board had not seen the financial audit or an Illinois State 
Police audit of MEG operations. That state police audit also 
indicated some changes need to be made, according to Hawkins' own 
remarks to the board, although I have not seen it and may never. I 
filed a Freedom of Information Act request for both on March 5 with 
the state police, which then filed for an extension. Tazewell County 
Sheriff Bob Huston provided the financial report last week. ISP 
apparently has decided its operational report should remain 
confidential, although the formal response has not arrived here yet.

This all sounds worse than it is, according to both Hawkins and state 
police Lt. Jeff Jacobs. Hawkins says the financial audit mostly 
involves smaller items. The reason each item indicates no response is 
because he was told if he corrected them, there was no need to 
respond. So he did correct them, and he didn't respond.

"The auditors are not saying there is fraud. They're saying the board 
needs to discuss areas of possible fraud," Hawkins says. "Believe me, 
if they'd found any evidence, we'd have had Internal Affairs from the 
Illinois State Police in here investigating."

By definition, an undercover unit operates in the shadows; there can 
always be questions about how that money is used. P-MEG has almost 
$160,000 stashed in certificates of deposit at Smith Barney, money 
seized from drug dealers and earning interest. Drugs, guns and cash 
are kept until the case involved has worked its way through the court 
system. Then the money is split 60/40 between P-MEG and the other 
governments involved; weapons and drugs are destroyed by the state police.

"The guns do not go back on the street," Hawkins says. "We never want 
to deal with them again."

P-MEG agents drive public cars, talk on public cell phones, carry 
public credit cards to charge public gas.

In 2009, this resulted in 318 arrests - less than one per day - and 
that was up 20 percent over the year before.

But that includes 74 arrests for crack cocaine, 60 for marijuana, 49 
for methamphetamines, 44 for cocaine, 21 for heroin, 19 for ecstasy 
and nine for LSD. And that means 83 pounds of pot off the street, 
along with 23.5 pounds of cocaine, 535 hits of ecstasy, 2.5 ounces of 
heroin, 1.25 ounces of ketamine, 1,215 doses of LSD, 2.5 ounces of 
meth and 59 guns.

"It's dangerous. We're bringing drugs, money and guns to the same 
location. My biggest worry is the safety of my guys," Hawkins says, 
adding the average MEG agent lasts just three or four years before 
approaching burn-out. "We're out there every day. They work very hard."

A retired Peoria County deputy, Hawkins may be the only MEG director 
in Illinois who is not a state police employee. He is still under ISP 
oversight, with Jacobs as his liaison. Jacobs says the second audit - 
the operational report - covers "discrepancies" between P-MEG 
procedures and ISP procedures.

"Those are minor, for the most part," Jacobs says, mentioning forms 
that might be missing an initial as one example.

OK. Assuming these are all small things, the bigger one is: Are we 
getting enough bang for the buck? How does the public know its money 
is being used effectively?

"That's a tough question to answer," Jacobs says. "I can give you 
some numbers to show how P-MEG stacks up with other units around the state."

He did. There are 27 squads operating statewide. In 2008, with 285 
arrests, P-MEG was fourth. In 2009, with 308 arrests, P-MEG was 
third. Jacobs said he did not know the size and number of officers 
for each of these units, so it's hard to compare the number of 
arrests per agent.

"In my opinion, I think P-MEG is doing an outstanding job," Jacobs 
says. "I don't know how you put a dollar amount on that."

Yet that's the key. Government budgets are so tight they yelp. Other 
than the folks who want to legalize pot - and tax it - in order to 
solve that problem, most people would say drug enforcement is vital. 
So how do you prove this is the best use of those limited dollars?

Lyons says MEG's own board wants to know.

"Even though I may outwardly appear to be the accusatory devil and 
cranky fingerpointer at MEG and Hawkins, MANY board members have now 
(since your recent column), on their own, communicated to me their 
private support of an effort to make MEG, and particularly its 
director, accountable. Gee, what a grand idea," Lyons says. "I 
believe it is past that time and that things are not correctable as 
presently formed or staffed."

There is accounting, and there is accountability. P-MEG could use a 
bit of both. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake