Welcome to the City of San Antonio's Office of Municipal Integrity
Organization and Mission
The Municipal Integrity Division was created:
To strengthen the public's confidence in the integrity of municipal government employees by establishing a formal process for reporting investigating, and resolving cases of fraud, waste, and abuse.
To raise the awareness of municipal officials/employees to integrity-related issues by initiating integrity-related programs and policies throughout City Departments
To provide guidance and assistance to City Department/agency heads concerning recommendations for specific integrity related issues that emphasize prevention, detection and correction of fraud, corruption, and abuse within their organizations.
Our Responsibility is to...
- Accept and promptly investigate complaints of employee misconduct, whether from a citizen or a city employee.
- Maintain liaison and coordinate with the concerned City Department on matters referred to Municipal Integrity that relate to alleged or suspected employee misconduct.
- Provide direct investigative coverage or oversight to complaints involving employee conduct/behavior as requested by the Department Director/liaison.
- Perform surveillance, conduct interviews, collect evidence and gather documentation necessary for resolution of case.
- Issue a final report of findings and recommendations which serves as the basis for further action as necessary.
- Provide testimony for Civil Service and judicial hearings.
Closed Investigations
- An employee who abused the authority of his position to harass a citizen was terminated and indicted for Official Oppression.
- An employee who had been obtaining sexual favors from clients was terminated and his state license revoked.
- A covert surveillance operation was conducted which led to the dismissal of an employee who was "selling" favors.
- An Investigation was conducted which cleared a City employee of a serious allegation of misuse of office.
- Investigated City vendor for submission of fraudulent vouchers for payment.
How do I report fraud, waste, or abuse of
City of San Antonio government resources?
To report fraud, waste, and abuse
anonymously:
CALL: (210) 207-7103 or the Fraud Hotline - (210) 207-CLUE. You may call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An investigator will answer the message between the hours of 7:45 A.M. and 4:30 P.M.. After hours, an answering machine will take the call.
Fraud Hotline: (210) 207-CLUE (2583)
WRITE: 800 Dolorosa, Suite 115 San Antonio, Texas 78207
FAX: (210) 207-5028
If you prefer to e-mail us, please click on the following link: Richard Hernandez
Municipal Integrity's authority extends only to the City of San Antonio municipal government resources and activities. Any type of fraudulent activity outside the City of San Antonio should be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
To illustrate, fraud is understood to mean a dishonest and deliberate course of action which results in the obtaining of money, property or an advantage to which the recipient would not normally be entitled. This would include:
Theft, misuse, or diversion of money, equipment and/or materials
Worker's compensation fraud
Utilization of position for personal reasons, or to secure otherwise unavailable opportunity
Failure to report damage or waste
Failure to provide product or service
Intentional misrepresentation of City's or public's interests
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Conversion: use of City equipment for non-City business
Payroll falsification (theft of time)
Waste entails the expenditure or allocation of resources significantly in excess of need. An example would be the negligent or reckless requisition of three times as much perishable produce as required. Waste need not necessarily involve an element of private use nor of personal gain, but invariably signifies poor management.
Abuse, defined here as a subset of waste, entails the exploitation of "loopholes" to the limits of the law, primarily for personal advantage. One abuses a system of travel allowances by intentionally and unnecessarily scheduling meetings in another city on a Friday afternoon and on the following Monday morning in order to claim per diem over a weekend.
From the above discussion, it is not difficult to imagine how mismanagement in the form of waste can constitute an implicit invitation to abuse and to fraud, by companies doing business with the government as well as by public servants.