Sheri Orange Countysheriff's Department Sheriff-coroner Don Barnes Office of the Sheriff July 14, 2021 Honorable Erick*

An audit of OCSD department reports submitted from March 2018 forward has not been conducted to confirm that current OCSD policies and procedures regarding evidence booking and reporting are being followed. Response: Disagrees with finding. Several mechanisms are in place to ensure policies regarding evidence booking and reporting are being followed. Monthly checks, supervisory approval, and improved procedures provide real time oversight of the evidence booking system.

There is no documentation confirming that OCSD lieutenants perform evidence booking spot audits consistently across all divisions, resulting in limited management accountability and weak internal controls. Response: Disagrees with finding. Both management accountability and internal controls are strong. It is the expectation that managers ensure personnel are performing their duties. The policies, procedures, and report mechanisms in place provide managers with the tools necessary to perform this critical oversight. For example, Policy 802.2.1 Property Booking Procedure states: After all items are booked, the member shall attach the Evidence Case Items Report to the respective report within FBR. In the event FBR is offline, and a paper report will be generated, the Evidence Case Items Report should be printed and submitted to Records with the original paper report. Supervisors shall check that all property or evidence has been booked prior to approving any related reports. The documentation reflecting each item of evidence is booked and the subsequent check by the supervisor prior to the approval of any related reports assists managers in confirming that the employees under their purview are properly performing their duties.

Lack of system integration between Remedy and FBR necessitates duplicate data entry and reliance on manual oversight to reconcile the DR# and evidence list between the two systems. Response: Agrees with finding. The current Remedy and FBR systems are not digitally integrated, but the current procedures in place ensures proper data entry and oversight.

A tour of the Property/Evidence Central Booking Facility is no longer included during deputy training. This limits their understanding of the overall chain of custody process. Response: Partially agrees with finding. It is correct that physical tour of the Property/Evidence Central Booking Facility was not part of deputy training. There is substantial training on chain of custody processes and this is not limited by the absence of a physical tour.