The Powers, Authorities, and Transparency of State and Local Offices of Inspector General

• In Event: Standards in Policing

Abstract

Inspectors General (IG) are the frontline government watchdogs tasked with combating fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption, and promoting efficiency and effectiveness of the agencies, programs, and jurisdictions they oversee. Unlike federal IGs, state and local IGs are not required to adhere to the reporting requirements of the federal IG Act of 1978, which raises questions on state and local IG transparency. To date, there is limited research on state and local IGs given their vast differences in reporting requirements and data availability. The author brings attributes from Stohl’s Information Visibility Scale and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Transparency Act to develop a 5-point scale to measure transparency (Transparency Scale) of state and local IGs. This project also identifies which powers and authorities makes an IG more transparent to the public.

Author

• Frank Chen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice