Audit Figures Out How Dallas PD Civilian Employee Stole $17,000 Out of Petty Cash

Speaking of crime stats ...City Hall sends word this morning that City Auditor Craig Kinton's look-see into how the Dallas Police Department handles its cash turned up a crime: "Approximately $17,000 was misappropriated by a DPD employee between Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 and FY 2008." The report doesn't name names,...

By Robert Wilonsky

February 16, 2010

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Speaking of crime stats ...

City Hall sends word this morning that City Auditor Craig Kinton's look-see into how the Dallas Police Department handles its cash turned up a crime: "Approximately $17,000 was misappropriated by a DPD employee between Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 and FY 2008." The report doesn't name names, but as Rudy Bush points out this morning, last May 32-year-old Ruby Rodriguez, a civilian employee in DPD, was indicted for swiping $17,506.

So how did he do it? Says the audit, money management at DPD HQ tends to be a bit of a mess, as seized dough -- from narcotics raids, vice-squad busts and the auto-theft unit, for starters -- isn't properly "segregated." That, and the fact the spreadsheet keeping track of all the incoming funds isn't password-protected (meaning anyone can get in and tinker with the figures), makes it easy to pocket the scratch.

Despite Kinton's patting the department on the back for fixing some issues since its last cash-management audit in '05, there are myriad other issues as well, chief among them: Too many people have too much access to the cash vault, which is awful easy to get into.

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