City of Atwater Introduction/background The Grand Jury selected to review several departments within the City of Atwater

There was repeated failure of Atwater Police Department detectives to use standard investigative techniques in child molestation investigations .

The repeated failure of standard investigative techniques compromised the investigation of a number of cases thereby adversely affecting public safety in the City of Atwater. 2002-2003 Grand Jurv Report -18-

Commander Richard Hawthorn and Commander Frank Pietro repeatedly requested Chief Moore to place new officers in the Detective Division . Chief Moore informed the Grand Jury that he had only recently become aware of the problems in the detective division and of the need to rotate personnel .

Chief Moore gave an unsatisfactory explanation of why a new detective failed to utilize a standard investigative interview technique .

Changes in the detective division were made and standard investigative techniques are now being used.

The City of Atwater's VISA credit cards are assigned to each department .

In reviewing the City of Atwater's invoices, it was discovered that city employees were utilizing the city's VISA credit card for items in which a purchase order should have been requested. This practice allowed employees to make purchases without planning ahead. The City of Atwater's purchasing policy for items under $1,000 is broadly interpreted.

In reviewing the City of Atwater's Annual Financial Report for the year ended June 30,2002, prepared by Price Paige & Company, the following finding was reported: 'During our testing we found that purchase orders were not being used consistently by the city in accordance with their established policy to use purchase orders for expenditures of nonrecurring goods and services in excess of $1,000."

The City of Atwater has no transportatiojo andtravel policy. Currently, reimbursement is based on actual costs with receipts . RFCOMNIENDATIONS

The City of Atwater Police Department should continue to use standard investigative techniques in the detective division.

VISA credit cards should be kept locked up by each department head and signed out and in for each transaction. All receipts shall be turned in to the department head when returning the credit card .

All departments should use more efficient purchasing practices for items under $1,000 (grouping, planning, bulk purchases) to avoid small and frequent VISA credit card purchases. 2002-2003 GrandJuryReport