LeeClerk-oRG LINDA DOGGETT: CLERK OF COURT

Transcription

1 LeeClerk-oRG LINDA DOGGETT: CLERK OF COURT Internal Audit Report LCCC Court Report Number: Date: January 10, 2019

2 To: The Honorable Linda Doggett, Lee County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller From: Tim Parks, Chief Internal Audit Officer/Inspector General Date: January 10, 2019 Re: LCCC Court Audit Dear Ms. Doggett, The Inspector General Department has completed an audit of LCCC Court Criminal Evidence Inventory. Dave Rollman, CIA, Senior Internal Auditor and Chris Stanisci, CPA, Internal Auditor conducted this review. This audit activity conforms to the Institute of Internal Auditor's (IIA) International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Red Book) and the Association of Inspectors General (AIG) Principles and Standards for Offices of Inspector General (Green Book). The audit client's response is attached to this report. We wish to express our appreciation for the cooperation and assistance provided us by management and staff during this review. This report will be posted to the Clerk of Courts website, under Inspector General, Audit Reports. A link to this report has been sent to the appropriate parties. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Tim Parks, Chief Internal Audit Officer/Inspector General Inspector General Department TJP/GK

3 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 1 Background... 1 Objective, Scope, and Methodology... 2 Observations and Recommendations... 3

4 Executive Summary The audit of the Lee County Clerk of Courts (LCCC) was included in the 2018 LCCC Annual Audit Plan. A risk assessment project was completed for all LCCC business units prior to creating the audit plan. The Department s risk factors were identified in a risk assessment questionnaire that was completed by the court staff. An entrance conference was held with management to discuss the results, confirm the audit s objective and scope, and to solicit current information regarding risks. The objective of the LCCC audit focused on inventory intake, inventory management, and inventory disposal. Our conclusion is that LCCC has met its overall objectives in providing satisfactory inventory intake, inventory management, and inventory disposal. The Department has maintained and updated its standard operating procedures timely in order to continuously improve efficiency of its operations. Recommendations were offered to management to add value and enhance the Department s functions. We believe that enhancements can be made in terms of: Background Designating an employee other than the Evidence Specialist to perform the monthly/bi-monthly inventories. Improving the accuracy of the Odyssey system report to include all items stored in the vaults. The Lee County Clerk of Court & Comptroller s (LCCC) office performs various functions for the residents of Lee County. One of the duties of the LCCC is to maintain custody of evidence and exhibits entered into the court. The Court Clerk takes possession and control over the evidence after court proceedings are completed. Evidence remains in the custody of the Court Clerk or Attorney-before submission until it is delivered to the Court Records Management Department. The Court Records Department is responsible for receiving, securing, recording, storing, and disposing of evidence presented in the courts. The Evidence Specialist is under the direction of a Supervisor and Court Manager. The Court Records Management Department stores the inventory in two evidence vaults within the Justice Center; one for the more sensitive items such as guns, drugs, jewelry, and money. The other vault is for paper, physical, and biohazard evidence. Evidence is 1

5 restricted to authorized personnel only, with entry recorded on printed vault access logs. Evidence is retrieved primarily for hearings or trial activities. When a trial or hearing concludes or a hearing on an evidence matter is over, the Court Clerk transfers custody of the evidence to the Court Records Management Department. Bi-Monthly Audit reports are created and processed by the Records Management Department team for case management system verification and vault verification for locations. Destruction reports are created and processed annually with a three year retention plus one year audit retention basis. All attorneys of records including any Pro Se defendants are notified with a Notice of Intent to destroy exhibits prior to the Order granting destruction being signed. Destruction is a very long, detailed process and can take up to four months at a time before destruction is granted. The Clerk s case management system (Odyssey) is used to document the evidence by case number. The Evidence Specialist affixes unique bar codes for storage in the secure vaults. The bar codes identify the case and location of the evidence, allowing for easy retrieval at a later time. A single case number may have multiple evidence items. Since inception, the Court Records Management Department has handled over 28,700 cases with each case having one or more items of inventory. Objective, Scope, and Methodology The objective of the LCCC Court audit was to: Assess the Department s ability to measure and monitor its internal objectives and its contribution to the overall mission of the LCCC, Determine that controls are in place to ensure compliance with applicable policies, standards, laws, and regulations. The audit scope focused on the Department s operational activities including: Inventory Intake Inventory Management Inventory Disposal The audit methodology was comprised of four steps: Preliminary Risk Assessment: A meeting was held with management to discuss the audit objective and scope and to solicit information regarding risks Planning: Audit procedures were developed based upon research, audit objective, scope, and the preliminary meeting 2

6 Field Work: Managers and employees were interviewed for insights on the operations. Evaluations and tests were conducted on operations and procedures to address and complete the audit fieldwork Wrap-up: An Exit Conference was held with management to discuss the audit results Observations and Recommendations Separation of Duties It was noted that the Court Records Management Department has not designated an employee separate from the Evidence Specialist to perform the periodic inventory. In accordance with best practices of the Florida Clerk of Courts Advisory Bulletin dated February 10, 2015, "Evidence in storage should be inventoried and/or audited based on the county's inventory/audit schedule. It is recommended that inventories and audits be done by someone other than the deputy clerks who regularly process/handle the evidence." Recommendation We recommend that the Court Records Management Department adopt the noted best practices and designate an employee other than the Evidence Specialist to perform the monthly/bi-monthly inventories. Inaccurate Evidence Inventory Reports out of Odyssey It was noted that Court Records Management was not able to generate an accurate evidence inventory report out of Odyssey, which would be useful for performing monthly/bi-monthly inventory. For 20 of the 40 sampled items that were reviewed in the vault and compared to the November 2018 Odyssey Inventory Report, we could not locate those items on the inventory report. It was noted that these items were recorded in Odyssey, but the report did not list them. Subsequently a list generated from Hyperion listed all items that were not located on the Odyssey report. Recommendation We recommend that the Courts Records Management work with Court Operations Support to ensure the accuracy of inventory reports that are generated from Odyssey. 3

7 COURTS DEPARTMENT COURT S AUDIT RESPONSE TO: TIM PARKS, CHIEF INTERNAL AUDIT OFFICER / INSPECTOR GENERAL FROM: SANDRA ORTEGA SUBJECT: AUDIT OF EVIDANCE DEPARTMENT DATE: DECEMBER 28, 2018 CC: KEVIN KARNES, CHIEF OFFICER OF COURTS Mr. Parks, The Courts Department thanks you for allowing us the opportunity to review the recommendations made and implement solutions to ensure office practices & procedures are in compliance. Below are the two recommendations made to the Court Records Management Department regarding the Evidence process, along with the Courts response to the recommendations. We recommend that the Court Records Management Department adopt the noted best practices and designate an employee other than the Evidence Specialist to perform the monthly/bi-monthly inventories. o Courts Response: Courts Department is in agreement with the recommendation, therefore the Records Manager will have the Evidence Policy and any Evidence procedures updated to reflect having someone else other than the Evidence Specialist perform the monthly /bi-monthly inventory reviews such as the Records Specialist or Civil Evidence Specialist. o Compliance Date: February 1, 2019 o We recommend that the Courts Records Management work with Court Operations Support to ensure the accuracy of inventory reports that are generated from Odyssey. o Courts Response: The Records leadership team will collaborate with the Court Operations team to implement an audit report that is generated from BI (Business Intelligence), the Clerks reporting software. o Compliance Date: March 1, 2019 Thank you, Sandra Ortega, CCM, CPM Courts Manager Lee County Clerk of Courts Phone: sortega@gleeclerk.org