Audit of the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office

This is a state performance audit of the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office covering July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has performed an audit of the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) for the period July 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017.”

The audit looked at whether office expenses, purchasing contracts, and overtime oversight were handled properly.

“In this performance audit, we examined BCSO activities related to the appropriateness of its non-payroll expenses, its process for contracting for goods and services, and its oversight of staff overtime.”

The sheriff’s office runs key public-safety operations, including the county jail and emergency dispatch center.

“BCSO is responsible for operating the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction and the Regional 911 Dispatch Center, both located in Pittsfield.”

For residents, this office affects emergency communications, jail operations, legal document service, and programs for people leaving incarceration.

“According to BCSO’s website, the Regional 911 Dispatch Center “provides fire, police and ambulance emergency and non-emergency communications for twenty-six cities and towns.””

For the areas auditors tested, BCSO answered yes on all three audit questions.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding each objective.”

The report does not identify major problems requiring public reporting, so it does not lay out corrective actions in the provided text.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance by BCSO that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

The office handles a multimillion-dollar state-funded operation, with about 210 employees and hundreds of inmates during the audit period.

“For its operations, BCSO received state appropriations of $17,738,932 in fiscal year 2016, $17,724,658 in fiscal year 2017, and $17,813,281 in fiscal year 2018.”

“Non-payroll expenses” means spending other than employee pay; “contracting process” means how the office buys goods and services; “overtime” means extra hours staff were paid for.

“We evaluated the design and effectiveness of controls over non-payroll expenses, contracting, and staff overtime and determined whether they operated as intended during the audit period.”