NCJ Number
82904
Date Published
1977
Length
92 pages
Annotation
This report focuses on specific instances of abuse, waste, fraud, neglect, and laxity in the New York State Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) disclosed by the State's Temporary Commission of Investigation and public hearings.
Abstract
The Commission concentrated its inquiry on the OVR program in the New York City area, with particular reference to three OVR offices. Books and records were examined, and many employees, clients, and vendors were questioned. Some employees of OVR who initially cooperated with the investigation later refused to testify. The Commission concludes that procedures and controls over OVR do not adequately safeguard the program from abuse by its own employees, by vendors, or by clients. During 1974 and 1975, the Driver Training Institute (DTI) charged OVR 2.5 times what the general public paid for the same program. Failure to deal with that abuse belongs exclusively to the OVR's Albany administrators. Also during 1974 and 1975, OVR counselors from Brooklyn State Hospital processed 365 DTI cases at a cost of nearly $1,000,000 and frequently did nothing more than book the client's medical examinations and driver training. Clients who had been sent to DTI frequently did not receive training in courses for which OVR paid. At the direction of a senior counselor, the OVR counselors at Brooklyn State Hospital knowingly supplied false information about the source of client referrals. The commission concludes that OVR's present leadership has failed to meet its responsibilities, that the Commissioner of Education undertake a sweeping review of OVR's present policies and organizational structure, and that wasteful middle-man profits be eliminated. Contracts for supplies and equipment should be negotiated at competitive prices. As a result of the Commission's work and other investigations, guilty pleas were entered in 23 cases involving fraud and kick-back schemes to OVR counselors. Data are appended.