An audit of the Nebraska State Patrol has shown the agency has lost track of laptop computers, sophisticated forensic-investigation equipment, shotguns and other items.
NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press | Posted: Friday, July 3, 2009 12:00 am
Laptop computers, sophisticated forensic-investigation equipment and shotguns are among the items the Nebraska State Patrol listed as property they had but couldn't find, an audit shows.
The regular review of the patrol by State Auditor Mike Foley shows troopers couldn't locate 105 items that cost more than $696,000 early this year. The items included several laptop computers costing about $2,000 each, a $74,000 piece of forensics equipment that measures wavelengths to identify substances, a pair of $3,200 night-vision binoculars and a couple of shotguns costing more than $360 each.
The patrol reported the items as purchased but lost. Foley's staff tried to find four of the items and discovered one, a $128,700 machine that does chemical analysis, in the patrol's stockpile of surplus property. They also turned up a $35,600 fingerprint-identification system and a $3,400 data converter and discovered a $365 shotgun had been sold.
Foley asked how the agency could validly claim it needs money for equipment.
"If you don't know what you have and can't find what you purchased, how can you make a good case as to what you need?" Foley said.
Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said the audit showed the agency needs to do a better job of keeping tabs on surplus property.
"The audit highlights a need to improve the system," Collins said.
The state Department of Administrative Services is helping the patrol move from a paper system to an electronic one, she said.
The $696,000 cited in Foley's audit represents the total, original cost of the items the patrol listed as lost, not their current value. The items were bought between 1969 to 2007.
The combined, original cost of the nearly 5,800 pieces of property owned by the patrol early this year was more than $35.4 million.
The patrol's inability to locate property is not unique.
An audit by Foley's office revealed the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Association couldn't find property with a combined, original cost of almost $600,000 last fiscal year. The items included a $71,000 antenna and a $4,445 chain-link fence and gate.
Another audit showed the University of Nebraska at Omaha wrote off almost $500,000 worth of lost property last fiscal year. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska Medical Center also had write-offs, but the amounts weren't specified.
"It's a problem with larger agencies," Foley said.