P-MEG, DIRECTOR MUST BECOME ACCOUNTABLE

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons is not the only one to
raise questions about central Illinois' undercover drug enforcement.

He's just the only one willing to do so in public. Lyons is convinced
he made no progress with law-enforcement officials in private.

"Everyone in the room will have guns and a bullet-proof vest except
for me," he says via e-mail. "How wrong is that???"

Drugs. Guns. Cash. Peoria's Multi-County Narcotics Enforcement Group
is the place where that unholy trio collides, with support from your
federal, state and local tax dollars. But P-MEG's own audits raise
questions about how those resources are handled.

"Our consideration of internal control over financial reporting . . .
would not necessarily identify all deficiencies in internal control,"
says the financial report from auditors Crowe Horwath LLC, which was
sent to the MEG policy board on Dec. 16. "However, as discussed
below, we identified certain deficiencies in internal control over
financial reporting that we consider to be significant deficiencies."

Translation: We didn't dig too deep, or we might have found more.
Still, we've got problems here.

Four specific areas were cited as having deficiencies. Most of it
sounds like paperwork that makes more sense to the numbers guys,
although the auditors helpfully noted the possible effects.

. Internal control: "The effect is an increased risk of material
misstatement due to improper reporting . . ."

. Entity level controls: "The effect is that the group's management
may not consider all fraud risks present . . ."

. Basis of accounting: "This could lead to interim financial
information being provided to the Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority and other funding agencies that is inaccurate . . ."

. Noncompliance with maintaining fingerprints of the informer
requirement: "This could lead to errors in identifying informers
based on their fingerprints."

Misstatement? Risk of fraud? Inaccurate information and misidentified
informers? Hello? What does that mean?

Well, the "basis of accounting" item says P-MEG didn't include
$32,494 of new assets seized before June 30. And, under every item,
where P-MEG has a chance to reply to the questions, the report says
"RESPONSE: The Group did not provide a response."

MEG operations don't involve chump change, toy pistols and generic
aspirin. We're talking about roughly $1 million in salaries for
undercover cops who seize almost as much in street value for drugs
including heroin and methamphetamines.

"In 2009, agents confiscated drugs with an approximate street value
of $905,000, and we seized $104,800 in cash," P-MEG Director Larry
Hawkins summarized for his board members on Feb. 24. At that point,
the MEG board had not seen the financial audit or an Illinois State
Police audit of MEG operations. That state police audit also
indicated some changes need to be made, according to Hawkins' own
remarks to the board, although I have not seen it and may never. I
filed a Freedom of Information Act request for both on March 5 with
the state police, which then filed for an extension. Tazewell County
Sheriff Bob Huston provided the financial report last week. ISP
apparently has decided its operational report should remain
confidential, although the formal response has not arrived here yet.

This all sounds worse than it is, according to both Hawkins and state
police Lt. Jeff Jacobs. Hawkins says the financial audit mostly
involves smaller items. The reason each item indicates no response is
because he was told if he corrected them, there was no need to
respond. So he did correct them, and he didn't respond.

"The auditors are not saying there is fraud. They're saying the board
needs to discuss areas of possible fraud," Hawkins says. "Believe me,
if they'd found any evidence, we'd have had Internal Affairs from the
Illinois State Police in here investigating."

By definition, an undercover unit operates in the shadows; there can
always be questions about how that money is used. P-MEG has almost
$160,000 stashed in certificates of deposit at Smith Barney, money
seized from drug dealers and earning interest. Drugs, guns and cash
are kept until the case involved has worked its way through the court
system. Then the money is split 60/40 between P-MEG and the other
governments involved; weapons and drugs are destroyed by the state police.

"The guns do not go back on the street," Hawkins says. "We never want
to deal with them again."

P-MEG agents drive public cars, talk on public cell phones, carry
public credit cards to charge public gas.

In 2009, this resulted in 318 arrests - less than one per day - and
that was up 20 percent over the year before.

But that includes 74 arrests for crack cocaine, 60 for marijuana, 49
for methamphetamines, 44 for cocaine, 21 for heroin, 19 for ecstasy
and nine for LSD. And that means 83 pounds of pot off the street,
along with 23.5 pounds of cocaine, 535 hits of ecstasy, 2.5 ounces of
heroin, 1.25 ounces of ketamine, 1,215 doses of LSD, 2.5 ounces of
meth and 59 guns.

"It's dangerous. We're bringing drugs, money and guns to the same
location. My biggest worry is the safety of my guys," Hawkins says,
adding the average MEG agent lasts just three or four years before
approaching burn-out. "We're out there every day. They work very hard."

A retired Peoria County deputy, Hawkins may be the only MEG director
in Illinois who is not a state police employee. He is still under ISP
oversight, with Jacobs as his liaison. Jacobs says the second audit -
the operational report - covers "discrepancies" between P-MEG
procedures and ISP procedures.

"Those are minor, for the most part," Jacobs says, mentioning forms
that might be missing an initial as one example.

OK. Assuming these are all small things, the bigger one is: Are we
getting enough bang for the buck? How does the public know its money
is being used effectively?

"That's a tough question to answer," Jacobs says. "I can give you
some numbers to show how P-MEG stacks up with other units around the state."

He did. There are 27 squads operating statewide. In 2008, with 285
arrests, P-MEG was fourth. In 2009, with 308 arrests, P-MEG was
third. Jacobs said he did not know the size and number of officers
for each of these units, so it's hard to compare the number of
arrests per agent.

"In my opinion, I think P-MEG is doing an outstanding job," Jacobs
says. "I don't know how you put a dollar amount on that."

Yet that's the key. Government budgets are so tight they yelp. Other
than the folks who want to legalize pot - and tax it - in order to
solve that problem, most people would say drug enforcement is vital.
So how do you prove this is the best use of those limited dollars?

Lyons says MEG's own board wants to know.

"Even though I may outwardly appear to be the accusatory devil and
cranky fingerpointer at MEG and Hawkins, MANY board members have now
(since your recent column), on their own, communicated to me their
private support of an effort to make MEG, and particularly its
director, accountable. Gee, what a grand idea," Lyons says. "I
believe it is past that time and that things are not correctable as
presently formed or staffed."

There is accounting, and there is accountability. P-MEG could use a
bit of both.