Providence Journal
Providence has released the first-ever report from its new whistleblower hotline and online tip center, called SpeakUpPVD!
Over the last year, the city received 19 anonymous whistleblower tips, found 13 of them to be "substantive," referred 10 to other city departments (including Human Resources for issues regarding compensation), and launched four internal investigations.
Whistleblowers helped the city to uncover a modest total of $831.42 in cost to the city, resulting from one investigation into the ex-spouse of a police officer who continued using city health insurance (but did not bill the health insurance for any medical expenses).
But Gina Costa, the city's internal auditor who pushed the city to launch the service, said it was important to create an avenue for employees to speak up. "I believe it has the potential to prevent misspending, fraud and abuse," she said. "One [report uncovering abuse] would be good. The quantity didn't really matter."
And after one year, Costa thinks the city can continue promoting the whistleblower hotline and fine-tune its operations.
The only problem: Costa is retiring this year, after spending 25 years serving the City of Providence.
"The auditor's job is very difficult," she said, always prodding into people's work. "It's never personal. I’m there for the taxpayers. That's my job."
Her recommendations to make the...
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