CINCINNATI -- A city agency developed to foster "mutual respect and understanding" between different cultural groups in Cincinnati failed to track reports of discrimination, housing complaints and crime, according to an internal audit.
Auditors found the Cincinnati Office of Human Relations, an organization meant to help constituents hold their government accountable for incidents of bias and discrimination, lacked accountability itself.
According to city documents, the office had no management oversight, kept contradictory records and failed to update its key materials as its purpose and partnerships evolved.
Without consistent measures in place to track how the office responded to complaints such as hate crimes, auditors were "unable to accurately test the timeliness and efficiency of resolving these cases."
Additionally, community outreach advocates who were supposed to hold quarterly meetings in city neighborhoods failed to do so, and no board of commissioners existed to hold employees accountable.
The audit recommended the office create a board of commissioners, check internal data for accuracy and thoroughness and establish better policies for monitoring employees' performance.
Office of Human Relations Audit by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
