Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 1999 Source: Washington Post (DC) Page: A27 Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Author: Stephen Barr, Washington Post Staff Writer CUSTOMS SERVICE CRITICIZED FOR RESPONSE TO MISCONDUCT The U.S. Customs Service has mishandled investigations of misconduct by agency employees and has even given promotions to disciplined employees, according to a Treasury Department inspector general's report released yesterday. "Customs' inability to equitably administer discipline fosters the perception of favoritism," Michael C. Tarr, Treasury's acting assistant IG for investigations, told the Senate Finance Committee, which is examining the agency and may recommend legislation to revamp its internal operations. But Customs officials and law enforcement experts testified that the agency's new commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, has started a shake-up aimed at improving work force integrity and preventing reprisals against employees who report wrongdoing. Kelly recruited a former prosecutor, William A. Keefer, to head the Customs Office of Internal Affairs, which probes allegations against employees and was called ineffective in a Treasury Department review in February. He also has created a national board for discipline cases and set up a "cold case" team to review investigations that were not properly closed, the officials said. "Every allegation of misconduct, without exception, is now being reported directly to my office," Keefer told the committee. "Every allegation is now being tracked by my office." Customs has been hit in recent months by allegations of cronyism in its Miami office and of racial bias when searching passengers to detect drug smuggling at the Atlanta and Chicago airports. A statistical analysis prepared for the Senate committee showed an increase in allegations of wrongdoing against Customs personnel since 1996, with many of them lodged in Miami, Tucson, El Paso and McAllen, Tex. But Tarr and Keefer said agency-wide reviews had not found evidence of "systemic corruption." Agency officials also cautioned against drawing any conclusions from the statistical data, expressing doubts about their accuracy. Customs is creating a new computer system to collect such data, the officials said. The IG report, though, provided a glimpse of the management problems. Among the findings: * A Customs inspector admitted placing marijuana in the luggage of a cruise ship passenger. But investigating agents never tried to resolve conflicting witness statements and failed to coordinate with the U.S. attorney's office about possible prosecution. "The inspector, although verbally admonished, was allowed to continue working," the report said. The inspector later received seven cash awards and one promotion. * An investigation into the drug smuggling activity of a Customs employee's live-in companion did not take into account previous probes on similar allegations. * Customs management looked into an allegation that an employee drove a government-owned car under the influence of alcohol and left the scene of an accident. "A supervisor who had been drinking with the employee on the night of the incident conducted the management inquiry," the report said. * An employee under criminal investigation received two cash awards and one "time off" award during the four years it took to complete the probe. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D