Westchester whistle-blower hotline
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- August
- 7
Hey whistle-blowers, Westchester County will soon have a hotline to annonymously report government fraud and waste.
County Executive Andrew Spano’s office today announced it was adding a hotline whereby county workers can report instances of government abuse, fraud or waste. Dubbed W.A.T.C.H. for Waste, Abuse, Theft County Hotline, the initiative is to improve controls, crackdown on abuse and waste and root out ethical conflicts, according to Susan Tolchin, the county executive’s chief advisor. A one-year $8,400 contract with Allegiance Inc., an independent third party, was approved today.
Tolchin expected the hotline would be up and running by September. The number is not yet operable, she said. After allegations are reported, cases will then be investigated by the county Department of Public Safety’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
“There is no room for waste, abuse or fraud in this government,” said Spano in a press release. “We want to send a message to our employees that we not only encourage them, but we expect them to step forward if they see something is wrong. We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to the misuse of public money, resources or property.”
The move comes a few months after the county earlier this year established a code of conduct that set guidelines for the use of county equipment and property. It also reinforced a policy that prohibits political or outside business on county time or using county equipment.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 4:09 pm by Gerald McKinstry.
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Since the whole county gov’t is a form of ”...abuse, fraud or waste”, isn’t this just another sick joke???
I hear that Gary Kriss will be in charge of answering the phones.
Yes, I’d like to report the Westchester County gov’t for sucking us tax payers dry.