NE Board of Parole chided after employees used state cars for personal commutes

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LINCOLN — State auditors used GPS tracking data to uncover inappropriate personal use of state cars by Nebraska parole officers — exposing about 300 unapproved trips and more than 9,000 miles over a year’s time.

Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley said the problematic use was especially striking as the dozen offenders pointed out are government employees whose jobs are to meet with and help former inmates stay on “the straight and narrow path.”

“In a sense, they have to set an example themselves … obey the laws and respect state property,” Foley said.

He noted — as did an audit released this week — that personal use of a state-owned vehicle is a misdemeanor under Nebraska law.

Car use policy was lacking

Rosalyn Cotton, chair of the Nebraska Board of Parole, said Friday that more investigation and research on the board’s end is needed to determine disciplinary action, if any.

While the 26-page audit report covered the Nebraska Board of Pardons as well, it focused more on the Board of Parole and problematic vehicle usage in that agency. The audit covers calendar year 2023.

During that time, the state’s 43 parole officers and Division of Parole Supervision were under the wing of the Board of Parole. A state law passed this year returns those officers and supervision of paroled inmates to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, where they had been prior to 2016.

Cotton said that regardless of the shift, her team is working to ensure that improper use of state vehicles doesn’t happen again, including providing clearer direction about what is and is not allowed.

Auditors noted in their report that the Board of Parole had failed to implement a formal vehicle use policy as guidance.

“Without such procedures there is significantly increased risk for not only abuse of state vehicles but also loss, theft, or misuse of public property or funds,” the report said.

Auditor urges more GPS

Foley said a glaring deficiency was in management not reviewing the Global Positioning System (GPS) usage data generated to ensure that vehicles are used only for essential state work business.

“The agency never even asked for the data to check where those people were going, where those cars went. We could see them going back and forth to their homes.”

– Mike Foley, Nebraska State Auditor

He said his office is pushing for agencies across state government to use GPS tracking to help reduce abuse. He said the devices come with minimal financial cost.

“What we found peculiar is that those vehicles were all equipped with GPS monitors,” Foley said of the parole agency. “The agency never even asked for the data to check where those people were going, where those cars went. We could see them going back and forth to their homes.”

According to the audit, 12 employees of the Board of Parole during 2023 used state vehicles to drive 9,018 unauthorized miles to and from their personal residences.

Total miles driven in state-owned vehicles that year by parole employees was about 390,000.

None of the 12 offenders described in the audit was a member of the  Parole Board. Those five-full-time governor appointees determine if prison inmates get parole.

Two of the offending parole officers racked up the bulk of the questionable miles. Of 291 unapproved trips cited, 255 were attributed to those two.

At times, the auditors said, the two billed the department for “on the clock” hours after they had arrived home.

Auditors said those two faced deeper scrutiny after their car usage emerged early on as more conspicuous.

Circumstances exist, Foley said, where it makes sense for state employees to take a vehicle home. But, he said auditors found no documentation that the trips in question had been approved by managers.

243 miles for retirement party

When questioned by auditors during the process, Board of Parole representatives reportedly said they had no knowledge of the problem activity.

In a response in the final report, board representatives said they will aim to implement the auditing team’s recommendations, including documenting purpose of all travel with a state vehicle and banning commutes to and from home without proper authorization.

Among improprieties brought up by auditors was a parole officer’s 243-mile trip, while not on the clock, to attend a retirement celebration in Lincoln. Another 16 times, employees were not getting paid for work but drove a state car to a personal event.

“Certainly you can’t use a state vehicle on your day off to go to a retirement party,” Foley said.

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