As part of its continuing effort to promote organizational accountability and transparency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the release of its Report on Internal Investigations and Employee Accountability: Fiscal Year 2020.
For FY2020, CBP leadership directed OPR and HRM generate a joint report combining information regarding allegation intake and misconduct investigations with information regarding disciplinary outcomes. The intent was to correlate misconduct allegations and investigations with agency-imposed disciplinary penalties. However, because of factors such as statutory due process requirements and collective bargaining agreements, the disciplinary actions meted out by CBP in any given fiscal year cannot be viewed as a one-for-one match with allegations received and investigations conducted over the same period.
Although certain allegations received in FY2020 were fully investigated and adjudicated and are thus accounted for in the FY2020 report, other cases remained under investigation or pending final agency action when the data was pulled. Accordingly, OPR and HRM incorporated two special sections in the report pertaining to Significant Misconduct Investigations and Disciplinary Outcomes. Both sections link summaries of specific misconduct cases with corresponding criminal and/or administrative penalties.
Historically, CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and Office of Human Resources Management (HRM) generated separate, public-facing annual reports for posting on CBP.gov. OPR’s reports detailed the agency’s efforts to prevent, detect, and investigate misconduct and corruption with examples of OPR’s diverse mission, while HRM’s reports summarized penalties imposed to correct misconduct along with highlighted areas of disciplinary emphasis.
CBP is committed to being a leader in law enforcement accountability and transparency by providing multiple ways to report incidents as well as timely, accurate and appropriate information regarding CBP-related deaths, use of force incidents and other critical incidents resulting in serious injuries. The Accountability and Transparency page provides the public with statements, policies, reports and other important information concerning critical incidents and related Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) reviews and investigations.
CBP will publish future annual reports in a timely manner and will continue to prioritize accountability and transparency – hallmark principles in maintaining the trust of the American people.
