This news comes not from a law-enforcement agency, but from King County Executive Dow Constantine‘s office: Someone has been arrested for stealing King County Water Taxi fare cash from a “locked safe” in the County Marine Division’s office; the theft was discovered last week. (King County Water Taxi refers to the Seattle-Vashon passenger-ferry run as well as West Seattle-Downtown Seattle.) We’ll be seeking more information, but for starters, here’s the full news release:
King County Executive Dow Constantine has directed Executive-branch agencies to evaluate all cash transactions for compliance with the county’s policies and procedures, following the arrest of a suspect in the theft of about $7,500 in cash receipts from a locked safe in the office of the King County Marine Division.
“I am angered to learn that it was possible for any amount of cash to be stolen from a locked safe at the Marine Division,” said Executive Constantine. “We have the right policies in place to ensure that public dollars are protected; I have ordered swift and appropriate action to make sure staff are following those procedures.”
The Executive has directed the county Finance and Business Operations Division to review compliance by Executive-branch agencies with a 2007 Administrative Procedure establishing best practices for cash handling, recording, and bank reconciliation.
King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) Director Harold Taniguchi is asking an outside organization to review the agency’s current handling of cash receipts, and to design additional procedures and training for employees responsible for cash counting, reconciliation and deposits.
King County Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a suspect in the theft of
fare collection containers for King County water taxi routes. Staff in
DOT’s Marine Division discovered the theft on May 24, and an internal
investigation found evidence of improper access to a locked county safe
where cash fares from the water taxi routes are stored until they are
picked up by armored truck for transport and deposit.The police investigation led to the arrest of a suspect and a search of
his home which turned up missing fare containers. The Marine Division
terminated the employee and took immediate steps to better secure ferry
cash collections. The Executive today thanked the Sheriff’s Office for
its swift action in the case.In 2009, the state auditor’s office conducted an annual accountability
audit of county operations and made a number of findings, one of which
pertained to Metro Transit, another division of KCDOT. In that case the
audit found no evidence of missing cash, but made recommendations for
better handling of cash from fare boxes.As a result, Metro made a number of changes, including limiting access
to cash, improving personnel monitoring, strengthening security of cash
transfers, providing ongoing training, improving reconciliation of fares
collected to cash receipts, and generally improving controls in the
process.The Sheriff will refer the results of its theft investigation to the
King County Prosecuting Attorney for a decision on charges.
The Marine Division’s offices are on South Jackson Street downtown, according to its website.
| 7 COMMENTS