Employee Misconduct

Justice Should Clearly Document Investigative Actions Gao ID: GGD-92-31 February 7, 1992

This report reviews the operations of the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, which was established to review allegations of criminal and ethical misconduct by Justice employees ranging from drug use to improper disclosure of grand jury information. GAO estimates that allegations were substantiated in nine percent of 411 cases handled from January 1988 through May 1990. While GAO cannot conclude that the Office of Professional Responsibility has failed to protect the integrity of the Justice Department, its informal approach to investigations, the limited scope of many of its investigations, and the minimal documentation contained in its files expose it and the Justice Department to a variety of risks.

GAO found that: (1) OPR investigates allegations of criminal and ethical misconduct against DOJ employees, including such offenses as drug use, assault, improper disclosure of grand jury information, and improper acceptance of gratuities; (2) of the 411 cases OPR investigated, it substantiated the allegations in 9 percent of the cases, could not substantiate the allegations in 67 percent of the cases, and closed 24 percent of the cases without completing its investigation; (3) half of the 411 cases involved allegations against officials in U.S. Attorneys' offices, 24 percent involved DOJ division employees, and 15 percent involved DOJ component employees; (4) of the 50 cases reviewed that OPR monitored, allegations were substantiated in whole or in part in 9 cases, allegations were not substantiated in 25 cases, and OPR closed 16 cases; (5) since OPR does not require extensive case file documentation, the degree of documentation in OPR case files varies widely; and (6) OPR does not always follow all investigative leads.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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