Objective

To determine whether the Division of Criminal Justice Services (Division) is adequately administering and monitoring selected public protection grant programs to ensure expenses are allowable under the related contracts. The audit covered Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) grant contracts that were active during the period July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019, SNUG ("guns" spelled backwards) contracts that were active during the period April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019, and information provided by the Division through December 19, 2019.

About the Program

The Division’s mission is to enhance public safety by providing resources and services that improve the quality of the criminal justice system. To that end, the Division administers State and federal grant programs aimed at crime prevention and control. Its responsibilities include executing contractual agreements with grant recipients, monitoring their performance, and assessing program effectiveness. We focused our audit efforts on the GIVE and SNUG programs, which seek to reduce and prevent shootings and firearm-related homicides.

Established in 2014, GIVE is a crime-fighting program designed to assist law enforcement agencies in the 17 counties that account for about 85 percent of violent crime – such as aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery – in the State, excluding New York City. GIVE contracts may include amounts for confidential funds, which are paid – generally in cash – to confidential informants for tips and information. Contract language requires grantees that receive confidential funds to maintain certain records that authorize payment of the funds and document their receipt. The Division awards SNUG contracts to not-for-profit organizations that use community outreach and that involve residents and other stakeholders to reduce and prevent shootings and gun-related deaths. Together, these two programs make up about $19.2 million of the $42.3 million in Division public protection program funding for the State Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2020 to entities such as law enforcement agencies and not-for-profit organizations.  

Key Finding

We found that the Division’s administration and monitoring of the grant programs we reviewed were adequate to ensure that the related grant expenses were supported and allowable. Of the $3.1 million in combined GIVE and SNUG grant expenditures we reviewed from the three years ended December 31, 2019 (of $57.3 million expended during the period), we identified one exception related to a GIVE grantee’s payments of confidential funds, some of which, totaling $1,652, lacked documentation of approval or receipt.

Key Recommendation

Take steps to increase GIVE grantee accountability over confidential funds. These could include, for example, re-emphasizing the contract requirement to maintain a record of authorization of these funds, and verifying grantee compliance on a sample basis.