AUDIT CENTAC

The county should hire the Southern Police Institute

Larry Givens, councilman-at large and former Akron police chief,
intends to oppose spending $53,500 of Summit County money on a
managerial audit of CenTac, the drug and organized crime task force.
His reason is simple: The good police chiefs on the CenTac board of
control know how to straighten out the mess that CenTac has created
for itself.

The question arises, however: Why haven't the good chiefs done just
that? Instead, they've allowed evidence to mount that CenTac has not
been following its own rules during investigations such as that in the
escort case.

The CenTac board has done too little, too late to reclaim its
squandered credibility. Summit County Sheriff Richard L. Warren, head
of the board, knows this. He's seeking the audit.

The CenTac board unanimously supports an examination by the Southern
Police Institute, which is part of Department of Justice
Administration at the University of Louisville. Critics among the
board's former members, the chiefs of various Summit County police
departments, charge that the board has been a weak administrative
body, kept out of the loop of day-to-day activities by its own operatives.

There is much to question about CenTac. The institute would examine
investigative methodologies, operation procedures, staffing and
supervisory oversight. The County Council should approve the money for
the audit.