San Joaquin County recently announced a new confidential hotline, operated by EthicsPoint, for employees and the public to report fraud, abuse or misuse of resources.
Reports are submitted to NAVEX, a third-party provider, then routed to the Auditor-Controller’s Internal Audit Division. If necessary, they are referred to other county departments or external agencies for investigation. Access is restricted to trained personnel responsible for assessing reports based on violation type and location, according to EthicsPoint.
The county’s Auditor-Controller Jeffery Woltkamp said the internal audit chief and assistant auditor-controller are responsible for the initial receipt of the reports.
Woltkamp said the hotline was part of his 2022 campaign plans and addressed a gap he saw in county resources. He said that larger counties like Los Angeles havSan Joaquin County residents and employees now have a secure, anonymous channel to report wrongdoing with the county’s new whistleblower hotline.
e dedicated departments that handle reports of fraud, but smaller counties such as San Luis Obispo and San Joaquin have chosen to outsource the reports to a third-party service, like EthicsPoint.
Woltkamp said outsourcing the service to an independent third party helps assure reporters that their identity is protected and retaliation is prevented.
“The outsourcing is also to provide confidentiality and to make people feel a little more comfortable reporting,” Woltkamp said. “Having this...
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