Section 75-306 (2) of the 2012 Charter of City of Detroit (the Charter) requires the OIG to “issue quarterly reports to the City Council and Mayor concerning results of investigations and audits
undertaken by the OIG.” It further states “all reports shall be a public record and additionally published electronically on the World Wide Web.”
Therefore, all OIG’s quarterly reports and formal/final reports have been and will continue to be published on-line. In addition, from time to time, we exercise our discretion to publish some of our internal memoranda through the City and the OIG’s website at: https://detroitmi.gov/government/office-inspector-general or www.detoig.org.
The purpose of the formal report is to assist public servants, City agencies, contractors and all other bodies that fall under the jurisdiction of the OIG, as well as the public, in preventing waste, abuse, fraud, or corruption by providing a detailed analysis related to the recommendation made in the formal report.
Generally, after an OIG file manager (FM) completes his/her/their investigation or audit, the FM seeks to close the investigation or initiate an action by submitting a memorandum to the Inspector General (IG), or when necessary, to the Deputy IG (DIG). After the IG or the DIG completes the review of the memorandum, the IG or the DIG must review and approve the FM’s Request To Close (RTC) or Request To Initiate (RTI). We typically do not publish our internal memoranda, unless we find that the publication the RTC or the RTI may be of a significant public interest. Here are some of the reasons why we exercise such discretion:
- We want to encourage FMs to be candid and frank with their analyses, interpretations, evaluations, assessments of their findings and recommendations, without any external pressure or influence;
- Some of the allegations or complaints we investigate sometimes require our Office to seek and confirm certain information that are personal and private to an individual;
- Some of the complaints we receive are politically or personally motivated between individuals that lack merit, and cannot be substantiated. However, the allegations by themselves, if published, can be prejudicial or harmful to an individual; and
- Sometimes the allegations by themselves can identify the complainant even if the complainant wished to remain anonymous and, as such, publication of such memorandum could have a negative impact on submitting or filing any future complaint.
In order to maintain the integrity and the efficiency of our Office, we must maintain our independence, including our ability to exercise discretionary authority in our operation.
