Gee, how does one federal agency (FBI), lose 212 functional weapons and 317 laptops in a 28-month period? Just ask the U.S.Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. It is wondering the same question.

From a 121-page report:

The OIG’s 2002 report on the FBI disclosed significant losses of weapons and laptop computers and examined the adequacy of the FBI’s response to these losses. The report concluded that the FBI’s procedures to prevent the loss of such equipment were not adequate. Specifically, we found that the FBI:

• identified 212 functional weapons, 142 inoperable training weapons, and 317 laptop computers as lost, missing, or stolen for our 28-month review period.
• did not always report the missing items to the DOJ or enter lost and stolen weapons and laptop computers into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.2

The report goes on to say that things are getting better at the FBI. In a follow-up audit covering a 44 month period:

“Our follow-up audit found that over a 44-month period the FBI reported 160 weapons and 160 laptop computers as lost or stolen. We determined that, except for stolen laptop computers, the rate of loss for each property category decreased, as detailed below.”

All right. Only 160 weapons and 160 laptops lost or stolen. Things are looking up.

Full report here in .pdf format.

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Tags: fbi, lost, weapon, laptop