GAO questions HUD IG's handling of anti-crime program

Congress should take steps to ensure more accountability in an anti-crime program run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general office, according to a new General Accounting Office study. The program, known as Operation Safe Home, sets up law enforcement task forces to investigate criminal activity in public housing communities. The Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Justice and Treasury departments also participate in the program, under which special agents from HUD's IG office conduct undercover operations, make arrests and refer cases for criminal prosecution. In its report, "HUD Inspector General: Actions Needed to Strengthen Management and Oversight of Operation Safe Home" (GAO-01-794), GAO investigated how the money appropriated for the program was spent, the number of arrests and convictions netted, complaints made against IG special agents, and the ability of the IG office to independently conduct audits of a program it runs. Congress appropriated more than $92 million to HUD for Operation Safe Home from fiscal 1996 to fiscal 2001, but according to GAO, IG officials couldn't specify how much money was allotted to individual task forces or even how the money was spent. In addition, data on arrests and convictions was inconsistent, incomplete and inaccurate, the report said. "Managers had differing interpretations of the types of arrest and convictions to report," the report found. "Moreover, the [Office of Inspector General] could not provide documentation supporting summary data, including the number of arrests, contained in 12 semi-annual reports to the Congress." According to GAO, the arrest statistics reported to Congress by the IG's office since 1994 are neither reliable nor supportable. GAO suggested that Congress re-consider if the HUD IG should have oversight of Operation Safe Home activities, questioning the IG office's ability to independently and impartially audit a program that it runs and participates in. Other GAO recommendations included improved accountability measures over task force funds and increasing the reliability of Operation Safe Home investigative data for arrests and convictions. While HUD's acting deputy IG disagreed with many of the report's findings, he concurred with GAO's recommendations. In March, HUD implemented a new management information system designed to improve the reliability of its data. The agency is also developing guidance for IG special agents to use in reporting arrest and conviction data.