Employee Misconduct: Justice Should Clearly Document Investigative Actions
GGD-92-31
Published: Feb 07, 1992. Publicly Released: Mar 09, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the operations of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), focusing on the: (1) contents of OPR case files; and (2) quality of OPR investigations.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should direct the Counsel, OPR, to establish basic standards for conducting OPR investigations. These standards could be adapted from procedures used by other DOJ units. |
Closed – Implemented
OPR has developed and internally published standards for conducting investigations.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should direct the Counsel, OPR, to establish standards for case documentation, including requirements for the contents of each case file such as a listing of potential interview subjects in the case, a chronology of actions taken, and a rationale for actions taken or not taken and for decisions reached. |
Closed – Implemented
OPR is applying the standards it developed and documenting its case files accordingly.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should direct the Counsel, OPR, to, as appropriate, review the case files to identify any possible systemic changes that might be needed to DOJ procedures and operations. |
Closed – Implemented
OPR agreed to identify systemic problems.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should direct the Counsel, OPR, to follow up more consistently on the results of misconduct investigations done by other units and what disciplinary actions, if any, were taken as a result of all misconduct investigations, both those done by OPR attorneys and those done by other units within DOJ. This information should be made part of the files. |
Closed – Implemented
OPR is applying standards it developed and when appropriate, is documenting its files with information on disciplinary action taken. However, OPR has no plans to follow up on action taken by others.
|
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Topics
CrimesEthical conductFederal employeesInvestigations by federal agenciesLaw enforcement agenciesPersonnel managementRecordsReporting requirementsDisciplinary actionsLaw enforcement