Follow-up review program evaluation. Peace Officer Standards and Training Council results based budgeting and organization

FOLLOW-UP REVIEW
Program Evaluation
Prepared For the Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee

Peace Officer Standards and Training Council Results-Based Budgeting and Organization January 2004

Russell W. Hinton, State Auditor Performance Audit Operations Division Department of Audits and Accounts

254 Washington St., S.W. Atlanta, GA 30334-8400

This is a Follow-up Review of the Program Evaluation on the Results-Based Budgeting and Organization of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. The original Evaluation was conducted by the Performance Audit Operations Division of the Department of Audits and Accounts in July 2001. This Follow-up Review was conducted to determine the extent to which the Program has addressed the recommendations presented in the report. A copy of the original report can be obtained through the contact information on the back of this Review.
Background
The mission of the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council is to provide the citizens of Georgia with qualified, professionally trained, ethical, and competent peace officers and criminal justice professionals. To achieve its mission, POST is responsible for certifying and regulating peace officers and other various public safety personnel and establishing minimum training standards and curriculum for these personnel. In addition, POST certifies training facilities, instructors, and training academy directors across the state.
Established in 1970 as a regulatory body, the POST Council consists of 19 voting members and 22 advisory members. The Council meets quarterly to vote on any proposed changes to training standards, to review investigation findings, to hear requests for waivers for various training requirements, and to impose necessary sanctions against certified officers.
POST's rules and policies are executed by an Executive Director and a 20-member staff in four divisions: Investigations, Program Support, Training Standards, and Certification and Administrative Hearings. (One additional authorized position is not filled due to funding constraints.) POST is attached to the Department of Public Safety for administrative purposes only. Expenditures totaled $1.5 million in fiscal year 2003. POST's fiscal year 2004 budget is approximately $1.4 million.
As of November 2003, POST reported that 120,828 individuals hold certifications, and 52,301 of them are actively employed with 1,000 state, county, and local law enforcement agencies. During fiscal year 2003, POST reported that it opened 1,282 investigations on officers, placed 212 officers on probation, suspended or revoked 495 officers' certifications, and denied 180 applications for certification.

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Synopsis of Program Evaluation
The program evaluation identified that POST's results-based budgeting goals and desired results measures were not good indicators of its effectiveness and identified problems with the reliability of data used to measure POST's effectiveness. The evaluation also identified concerns regarding the length of time required to resolve cases that involved revoking or suspending an officer's certification. In addition, the evaluation recommended that POST not be combined with the Georgia Public Safety Training Center; however, it recommended that POST consider the financial advantages that might result by relocating to the Training Center complex. POST has taken action to address most of the findings identified in the original report. The current status of each finding is detailed on the following pages.
Evaluation Issues and Status of Findings
Issue: Are the POST Council's results-based budgeting goals and desired results valid performance measures?
Finding in 2001: As they are currently worded, the POST Council's fiscal year 2002 resultsbased budgeting (RBB) desired results measures are not good indicators of its effectiveness. At the request of the evaluation team, POST and the Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) met during the evaluation to clarify the desired results for fiscal year 2003 to better measure the Council's effectiveness and to ensure the correct data is collected and reported.
Current Status: POST established new RBB desired results measures for fiscal year 2003 that were good indicators of its effectiveness. POST's desired results measures are being changed for fiscal year 2005 as a result of the newly created Prioritized Program Budgeting (PPB). POST's new PPB measures are being reviewed by OPB and have not been finalized as of November 2003.
Finding in 2001: The Executive Director of POST cited that a concern of the Governor and the General Assembly was the length of time it takes POST to resolve cases that involved revoking or suspending an officer's certification. While this issue is not addressed in POST's RBB goals or its Annual Report, the evaluation found that POST needed to review stages within the investigations and hearings processes to identify areas in which it could improve processing times and determine whether POST needs additional resources to ensure cases are resolved expeditiously.
Current Status: POST has taken action to resolve cases more quickly as described below. Assigning Investigations: POST added an investigator in January 2002 and personnel are
watching incoming cases more closely in order to assign them in a timely manner. A review of a sample of files by the follow-up team indicated that the time required to assign cases to investigators has decreased to an average of 49 days from an average of 81 days at the time of the original evaluation. Completing Investigations: In addition to the previously mentioned additional investigator, POST reorganized its districts in January 2002. POST is also currently evaluating the types of actions that it investigates in order to reduce the number of investigations so more egregious cases can be addressed in a timely manner.

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A review of a sample of cases by the follow-up team identified that the percentage of cases that went before the Probable Cause Committee (PCC) within one year of being assigned to an investigator decreased to 80% compared to 84% at the time of the original evaluation. POST still has a goal of completing at least 90% of investigations within one year of being assigned to an investigator. It should be noted that the PCC only meets four times per year and cases may have to wait for some period of time until the next PCC meeting. In addition, the average number of cases assigned to an investigator during a year increased from 141 to 183 since the original evaluation.
Hearings and Appeals: POST's Hearings Officer has been functioning as the Interim Executive Director of POST since February 2003, which POST believes has had a negative impact on the timeliness of Pre-Hearing Conferences (PHC). The number of hearings requested has also increased from 183 in fiscal year 2000 to 234 in fiscal year 2003 (an increase of 28%). (A new Executive Director started work in January 2004.) POST modified its database during November 2003 to better monitor appealed cases in order to improve the timeliness of PreHearing Conferences.
A sample of cases reviewed by the follow-up team indicated that it is currently taking longer to conduct Pre-Hearing Conferences than it did at the time of the original evaluation. Only 25% of the cases reviewed by the follow-up team met POST's old goal of having at least 90% of PreHearing Conferences within 90 days of the date that the sanction was imposed. In comparison, 75% of the cases that were reviewed by the evaluation team met that goal at the time of the original evaluation. During the follow-up review, POST revised its goal to be at least 90% of Pre-Hearing Conferences should be held within 90 days of the date that the officer's answer regarding a sanction is received. POST's new goal does not count the time required to notify the officer of the sanction and to receive a response from the officer (approximately 30 days). Only 55% of the cases reviewed by the follow-up team had a PHC within the 90 days identified in the new goal; however, all of the cases had a PHC within 106 days.
Issue: Is the data used by the POST Council in their results-based budgeting goals and desired results reliable?
Finding in 2001: POST does not maintain data to support two of the three desired results measures. However, the evaluation found that the data used for the third measure is accurate and reliable.
Current Status: As previously noted, POST is in the process of establishing new desired results measures due to the implementation of Prioritized Program Budgeting. Since the new measures are still being finalized, the reliability of data used for the new measures could not be evaluated.

Finding in 2001: POST needs to address concerns regarding the reliability of its database system and the accuracy of the data being entered into the database.
Current Status: POST has taken action to improve both its database system and the accuracy of the data being entered into the database. POST has addressed problems with its database system by: Fully documenting their computer operations;
Creating adequate security for servers and other computer equipment (i.e., secure room and firewall protection); and
Storing backup files offsite.

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The accuracy of the data in the database has also improved since the original program evaluation. A sample comparison by the follow-up team of case files to the information contained in the database did not identify any errors as compared to an error rate of 42% at the time of the original program evaluation. POST has also improved the usefulness of the database by creating a series of management reports that are generated on request and additional user reports that can be accessed through the internet.
Issue: What are the advantages and disadvantages of merging the Council with the Georgia Public Safety Training Center?
Finding in 2001: To preserve its independence and to avoid any appearance of conflicts of interest, the POST Council should remain an organizationally separate state agency and should not be combined with the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.
Current Status: POST has remained organizationally separate from the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC). The original program evaluation also identified that based on projected rental and construction costs there was a potential financial advantage to building an office facility for POST at the Training Center. POST did not move to the Training Center; however, it reduced its projected fiscal year 2004 office rental costs from $15.26 to $3.12 per square foot when it moved its office to a facility owned by a local government that also housed a regional public safety training academy. The move during fiscal year 2003 enabled POST to obtain a block of space that was more than double their previous space and still cut their total office rental costs nearly in half.

For additional information or to request a copy of the original report, please contact the Performance Audit Operations Division, at 404-657-5220,
or see our website: http://www.audits.state.ga.us/internet/pao.

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