BUFFALO, N.Y. — The New York State inspector general released the results of an investigation into the NFTA Transit Police, finding that it lost seized money from people it arrested on several occasions.
The investigation found that around $3,100 taken from suspects during arrests remains missing and that those suspects had to be paid out from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's general funds instead.
The inspector general's office gave a few recommendations to help the NFTA clean up its policies and procedures moving forward. Those recommendations include using a barcode labeling system for evidence, labeling evidence bags and logging them in an electronic database, and also providing more training for its officers on these new policies.
Following the release of the inspector general's report, the NFTA issued a response on Wednesday afternoon.
“We thank and appreciate the office of the New York Inspector General for accepting our referral, conducting the investigation and for recommending remediation consistent with measures already undertaken by the NFTA," the statement began.
"It’s important to point out, the report of the IG reveals no evidence concerning corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of interest, or abuse, but indicated that our written policies were not consistently followed. Any such mishandling of currency, no matter how infrequent or insignificant, is unacceptable.
"When first brought to our attention, we recognized the shortcomings and revised our internal controls and began the process necessary for application for accreditation by the New York Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council to insure that such errors never occur again."
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