Substantiated Investigation & Keeping My Commitment To You

Serving Oakland With Integrity

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MY COMMITMENT

When I was re-elected as Oakland’s City Auditor a little over a year ago, I promised to shine a light on what's working well, and what isn't. The two reports released today, demonstrate this commitment.

WHAT'S WORKING

Workforce Development Board Follow-Up Audit

I want to congratulate the City’s Workforce Development Board for working so diligently on implementing all six of our 2018 audit recommendations. Our 2020 follow-up report produced no findings. What does this mean? This means the Workforce Development Department is committed to ensuring their administrative costs are within federal guidelines, there is appropriate monitoring of grantees awarded with Service Provider contracts to confirm contract compliance and taking actions to resolve monitoring issues.

Read the full report here .

WHAT'S NOT

Substantiated Investigation

In 2018 our Measure N - Paramedic Services Act identified deficiencies in Oakland Fire Department's Medical Services Division regarding their management of controlled substances and made recommendations to correct these deficiencies. While management agreed with these recommendations, the substantiated investigation that my Office is releasing today, is alarming at best.

In July 2019, my Office received a whistleblower report alleging Medical Services management of controlled substances was inadequate. Our investigation revealed that not only were the 2018 audit recommendations never implemented, but also substantiated the whistleblower's allegations and much more. Overall, the investigation concluded Medical Services lacks the necessary safeguards to secure controlled substances. Specifically, we found:

Drug tracking procedures are inadequate and have not been reliably followed;
The central drug vault is vulnerable to tampering and lacks important security features;
There is no video surveillance near the drug vault;
Medical Services has failed to perform essential work to improve the management of controlled substances; and
Continued reliance on one Medical Services staff member reveals questionable professional judgement.

Medical Services needs to immediately rectify these findings.

To read the full Investigation report, click here .

Should you have any questions, please direct them to cityauditor@oaklandca.gov .

Committed to serving you with the utmost integrity,

Courtney A. Ruby, CPA, CFE

City Auditor

NEWS RELEASE

Office of the City Auditor

City of Oakland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :

February 26, 2020

INVESTIGATION REVEALS MISMANAGEMENT OF OAKLAND'S CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES

Inadequate oversight and inept management leads to loss of drugs

OAKLAND, Calif. (Feb. 26, 2020): Today, Oakland City Auditor Courtney Ruby released an investigation on Oakland Fire Department’s (OFD) Medical Services Division (MSD) management of controlled substances. The investigation was prompted by a whistleblower complaint, received in July 2019, alleging poor oversight of the controlled substances, Fentanyl and Midazolam, including not performing drug counts. The investigation substantiated these claims finding MSD’s regulation of controlled substances completely unacceptable and requiring OFD’s urgent attention.

Midazolam is a prescription sedative used during minor surgeries that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has designated as a “Schedule IV” substance. Fentanyl, a “Schedule II” substance, is a prescription pain reliever that is high-risk for addiction. The illicit sale and widespread abuse of Fentanyl is well-documented. “MSD’s mismanagement has demonstrated a bold disregard for the safety of our community and employees. The country is in the midst of an opioid epidemic and our residents, and fellow employees, who work everyday to safeguard the City, deserve better than this,” stated Oakland City Auditor Courtney Ruby.

In September 2018, MSD lost 8 vials of Fentanyl. While the vials were recovered in February 2019, this investigation highlights that the environment allowing this incident to occur, persists in MSD. In fact, during our investigation, drugs that expired in 2017 were found in a station storage box that were never reported as missing. The investigation was unable to substantiate misuse of controlled substances, however, given the environment, we cannot confirm that misuse did not occur.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time these grave deficiencies in MSD’s control over Fentanyl and Midazolam have been called out by the City Auditor. Back in 2018, the City Auditor’s Office issued an audit that identified many of the same issues. City Auditor Ruby stated, “While management agreed to implement corrections in 2018, our investigation found no evidence of such corrections, instead, management falsified reports during the investigation stating improvements had been made.”

Auditor Ruby noted, “I want to take this opportunity to raise up whistleblowers—it is through their courage that the lax control, inadequate monitoring, and inept management was put on the City Auditor’s radar.”

To read the full report please click here .

Contact: Dena Shupe

Office: (510) 238-3378

dshupe@oaklandca.gov

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