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FAQs

You may have questions about the OIG’s authority and how it investigates information. Or you may have questions about your rights and responsibilities as a witness or person with information that can help explain some circumstance or document that could be relevant to or lead to evidence about an allegation.

The OIG intends this page to help you understa​nd its process and what you can expect.

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Witness FAQs

If you have contacted the OIG to provide information or if the OIG has identified you as a person who may have information, you may be contacted for an interview.  Please work with the investigator to schedule an interview at the earliest opportunity, so that our work is not unnecessarily delayed.  If you can interview privately and you wish to do so, we can come to your office.  Otherwise, we can interview at our offices in Plantation.

After we receive more information, we may ask to interview you again.

Last modified: 1/18/2024

All active OIG investigations are confidential and exempt from disclosure.  The law prohibits us from telling you about the case – including what information we received and who we got it from – until the case is closed.​

To safeguard the integrity of the investigation, to best preserve the evidence, and to protect the reputations of those involved, we ask that you do not disclose the substance of our communications to anyone except your attorney.

The documents we produce during an investigation will become public records (available for copying and inspection) when we close the case.  ​

Last modified: 12/14/2023

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Even after the case is closed, unless absolutely necessary as determined by the Inspector General or ordered by a judge, we will not identify or release those parts of our records that identify who filed the original tip(s) or complaint(s) alleging misconduct or gross mismanagement by a government employee or contractor.

But, whether or not you are a protected tipster or complainant, if you have knowledge about relevant facts, we may contact you to ask about the facts, in which case you will be identified in our records as a witness.

​When we publish a Final Report, we may identify the individuals who were implicated during the investigation.  It is our practice not to identify in our published records the names of cooperating witnesses who were not implicated and were not the focus of the misconduct or gross mismanagement allegations and findings.

Last modified: 1/22/2025

​If you are an employee of Broward Count, one of its municipalities, or the School Board, ​ your employer should also be cooperating with the OIG, because, according to Section 1​​0.01 of the Broward County Charter, “All Officials, Employees, and Providers shall fully cooperate with investigations conducted by the Inspector General."  10.01 B.(9). 

If you are an employee of a state, regional, county, or local government​ agency or contractor, and you have provided certain qualifying information to the OIG in a written and signed complaint or are requested to participate in an OIG investigation, the provisions of Sec​tion 112.3187, Florida Statutes, may prohibit your employer from taking retaliatory or adverse personnel action against you. ​

The OIG is not your employer and cannot take or control retaliatory or adverse action against you.  As a government employee, you must file any complaint regarding retaliatory or adverse personnel action with the chief executive officer or other appropriate local official of your employing agency (usually the city manager or the County's Office of Professional Standards), not the OIG.  As an employee of an independent contractor, your remedy would be through a civil action against your employer.  In any event, report any retaliation or adverse personnel action to us, as it may be relevant in proving the facts we are investigating.

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Last modified: 1/22/2025

As stated above, according to ​​​Section 10.01 of the Broward County Charter, “All Officials, Employees, and Providers shall fully cooperate with investigations conducted by the Inspector General."  10.01 B.(9).  In addition, “In connection with an investigation, the Inspector General shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and require (through subpoena or otherwise) the production of documents and records."  10.01 B.(6).  Thus, where appropriate, the OIG may report on an individual's refusal to cooperate, refusal to take an oath, or refusal to produce documents or records and may consider such a refusal as evidence of the witness's involvement in misconduct or gross mismanagement.​​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

You have the right to answer or respond to any findings against you during an OIG investigation.​

​Any person who is implicated in an OIG investigation has the right to an interview. 10.01 B.(10).  In addition, if the OIG is issuing a Final Report, implicated officials, employees, and providers have the right to a Preliminary Report.  We give such an individual or entity thirty (30) days to respond to the Prelimi​nary Report's findings and recommendations.  Then we must consider and include any responses of implicated officials, employees, or providers in preparing and issuing the Final Report, which we must issue within 30 days of the response deadline.  Broward County Charter 10.01 D.(2).​​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

It is impossible to predict how long an OIG inquiry or investigation will take.  As our work progresses, often, we are presented with additional facts that we must investigate.  The OIG follows up reasonable leads with due diligence, and we strive to make our findings fair to the individuals and entities that our work may implicate, the individuals who participate in our investigations as witnesses, the local governments that may have failed to institute or uphold appropriate internal controls, the local governments that implicated parties may have used or victimized, and the public on whose behalf we do our work.​​

Last modified: 12/14/2023

When we close an inquiry or investigation, we may publish a Closing Memorandum or Final Report.  You can search our publications h​ere.  Otherwise, we do not announce when we close a case.​​​​

Last modified: 1/18/2024


W​hen the OIG requests records, we will give you a date for compliance, in other words, a deadline.  If you need an extension of the deadline, as soon as possible but in any event before the deadline, contact the investigator named in the request or subpoena.  If the request is reasonable under the circumstances, the Inspector General will approve an extension or some other type of accommodation.​

Last modified: 12/14/2023

General FAQs

The OIG was established by Section 10.01​ of the Charter of Broward County, which was voted in by the voters of Broward County in November 2010. The charter authorizes the OIG to investigate misconduct, including fraud, corruption, and abuse, and gross mismanagement.

Last modified: 1/18/2024

The Broward County Commission is required to provide sufficient funds for the OIG to carry out its duties in an efficient manner.​

The School Board of Broward County pays the County for expenses related to the OIG's provision of inspector general services to the School Board.

Last modified: 1/22/2025

Although our office cooperates with the county government and other agencies whenever it is appropriate, the charter requires that the OIG function as an independent body to assure that we carry out our responsibilities free from any external interference or influence.​​​

Last modified: 12/14/2023

The OIG’s authority is provided in Broward County Charter Section 10.01​. It extends over all elected and appointed county officials and employees, all elected and appointed officials and employees of the 31 municipalities located in the county, the School Board, and all entities and persons who provide goods and services to those governmental entities.

Last modified: 1/22/2025


Section 10.01 of the charter empowers the OIG to investigate misconduct and gross mismanagement within the government of Broward County, all of its municipalities, and the School B​oard. This authority extends to all elected and appointed officials, employees and all providers of goods and services to those governmental entities. The OIG is also empowered to issue reports, including recommendations, and to require officials to provide reports regarding the implementation of those recommendations.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

On her own initiative, or based on a signed complaint, the Inspector General shall commence an investigation upon a finding of good cause that any county, municipal or school board official, employee, or provider has engaged in misconduct or gross mismanagement.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

Section 10.01 of the Charter of Broward County defines misconduct as “any violation of the state or federal constitution, any state or federal statute or code, any county or municipal ordinance or code; or conduct involving fraud, corruption, or abuse."​​

For the School Board, the OIG also investigates School Board rules and regulations about accounting, administrative operations and procedures, budgeting, building permitting and licensing, building inspection, codes of conduct (other than those only for instructional personnel), collections, construction management, contracting and contract management, cybersecurity, engineering, equipment and property maintenance, ethics, expenditures, faciliaties management and safety, finance, financial management, financial reporting, funds management, information technology, insurance, payments, payent oblications, procurement, property control, records and information management, and risk management.

Last modified: 1/22/2025

Section 10.01 of the Charter of Broward County defines gross mismanagement as “the material waste or significant mismanagement of public resources.”​

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Last modified: 1/18/2024

As part of any investigation, the Inspector General shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, require the production of documents and records, and audit any program, contract, and the operations of any division of the county, its municipalities, the School Board, and any providers. All officials, employees, and providers of thos entities are required by law to fully cooperate with OIG investigations. The OIG also works in conjunction with the County Auditor, law enforcement agencies, the Broward State Attorney’s Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

The OIG issues final reports, including recommendations, of investigations involving allegations of gross mismanagement and misconduct, unless it is determined that a report of misconduct would not help the governmental entities involved to prevent similar misconduct or might jeopardize a pending criminal investigation. The Inspector General may also follow up on any recommendations she makes to determine whether such recommendations have been implemented. OIG final reports are provided to the governmental entities and to the officials, employees, and providers implicated in the report. Copies of the final reports are also posted on the OIG’s website.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

There are several ways to report this information to the OIG. First, you may report any concerns you may have to us by mail, fax, phone, or secure email at InspectorGeneral@Broward.org. Second, you may file a formal complaint—although you are not required to do so—by following the process described in the File a Complaint section of this website. Third, you may stop by our office at One North University Drive, Suite 111, Plantation, FL 33324 and provide your information directly to us. Finally, you may call our anonymous Tips Hotline at (954) 357-TIPS.​​​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

All active OIG investigations are confidential and exempt from disclosure. After that time, pursuant to Florida’s public records laws, they are open to inspection by members of the public.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

The identity of people providing the OIG with tips or complaints remains confidential in accordance with Florida law, even after the case is closed.  In addition, there are provisions under Florida law that protect employees from retaliation under certain circumstances.​

Last modified: 1/22/2025

Yes, all reports of misconduct and gross mismanagement are reviewed and may provide the basis upon which to open an investigation. However, anonymous reports are harder to investigate because the OIG is limited to the information provided and may lack the ability to corroborate details of the report, so that it may be more difficult to establish the good cause necessary to commence an investigation.​​

Last modified: 12/14/2023