DuPage sheriff asks county auditor to examine his books
Work has started on what DuPage County officials say will be the most extensive audit of the sheriff's office in recent memory.
Sheriff John Zaruba asked county Auditor Bob Grogan to do the financial examination after determining previous audits of his department conducted by outside firms weren't as thorough as he wanted, a spokesman said.
"He wanted the county auditor to come in at his request to ensure that we were following best practices and that our accounts are accurate," said James Kruse, the sheriff's administrative bureau chief. "We're confident that they are."
County board Chairman Dan Cronin also called for an audit after he said Zaruba didn't fully answer county board members' questions about the department during last fall's budget process. Cronin said the sheriff didn't provide necessary information concerning, among other things, details about seized vehicles and the cost of having video cameras in squad cars.
Cronin said he wants Grogan's audit to be a "deep dive" into the department's expenditures and revenue sources.
"I am optimistic that the auditor will provide us with many of the answers we seek," Cronin said during Tuesday's board meeting. "I also hope this process of opening the books and taking a deep dive will help the county board and the sheriff's department discover new ways that we can work together, streamline costs, and deliver the highest-quality public safety services to our citizens and taxpayers."
Grogan said Zaruba approached him in late November to request the audit.
"It was about time that we came back and gave it a deeper look than we normally do," Grogan said.
The work on the audit started last week and will include an examination of 15 separate bank accounts belonging to the sheriff's office.
"It was the sheriff's request to look at all of them in one felled swoop," said Grogan, adding that some of the accounts haven't been reviewed by an auditor in several years.
As part of the audit, Grogan said he will check to see if there are adequate internal controls.
"The department has a number of bank accounts," he said. "We're going to go through them one by one."
One thing that won't be included in the audit is the sheriff's Explorer program because Grogan said money for that program is controlled by an outside group and not the sheriff's office.
Grogan said he expects the process to take months.
"If you find stuff, sometimes it takes longer," Grogan said. "If you don't find stuff, sometimes it takes longer. It just really varies."