CCC Driver License Reinstatements - Dated December 27, 2024

Summary

8 findings

1. Finding 1mediumpolicy

   Driver license reinstatements issued without meeting eligibility criteria

   Of 198 combined cases tested, 9 cases had D6 clearances or ARDLs issued without verifying court costs, fines, and fees were paid in full, without confirming court requirements were met, or without having an accurate, completed, or signed payment plan docketed as required by internal policies. In some instances, teammates handling phone customers issued the clearance or ARDL at the time they mailed payment plan paperwork rather than after receipt of a signed agreement. Compliance with established criteria before issuing reinstatement documents is required by internal procedures and Florida Statute.

   Recommendation: No additional recommendation was provided beyond mandatory compliance; management was directed to follow existing laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
   Management response: Agree. Corrective actions included creating procedure CR-027 Generating a Uniform Payment Plan, updating CR-CS133 Clearing a Driver's License to require a signed payment plan and down payment before clearing a license, implementing a monitoring process using docket codes to identify unacknowledged versus signed payment plans, and providing training to teammates. Target implementation dates ranged from completed May 26, 2022, through March 2025.
2. Finding 2mediumpolicy

   Inconsistent payment processing creates numerous unmatched reinstatement records

   Inconsistencies in processing payments for payment plans and reinstating driver licenses resulted in 1,722 unmatched records across the D6 Transaction Report, ARDL Report, Payment Report, and Payment Plan Report. Issues included suspensions cleared without proper documentation, ARDLs issued to wrong case numbers, ARDL fees assessed but not collected or not applied, and 14 cases where the reason for the mismatch could not be determined. The ARDL report also lacked a data field to identify the teammate who issued the ARDL, limiting accountability.

   Recommendation: Review the reports to determine why some payments were excluded from Payment Reports; add a username field to the ARDL report; improve quality control practices to ensure data accuracy; and establish policies and procedures for waiving ARDL fees and clearing licenses at the request of outside agencies.
   Management response: Agree (Criminal and IT). Criminal will continue using CR-CS134 Quality Control Cashiering Paperwork, revised the ARDL form to include the Windows login username, implemented the DL Sanction tool via CCIS to electronically clear criminal cases, and will establish procedures for ARDL fee waivers. IT Call Center will utilize the updated ARDL with the username field and the IT-TRCS006 DL Clearance Quality Assurance process. Target implementation dates ranged from completed March 5, 2021, through March 2025.
3. Finding 3mediumpolicy

   Vague and inconsistent documented procedures for reinstatements and quality control

   Documented policies and procedures related to the driver license reinstatement process, seven-year dismissals, and quality control review were vague, did not reflect current processes or all relevant steps, or did not exist. Key controls were not required or addressed in the documented procedures. Additionally, different locations (Dade City and New Port Richey) used different procedures, resulting in inconsistencies between departments in how reinstatements were processed and how quality control reviews were performed.

   Recommendation: Achieve policies and procedures that are consistent among multiple departments, align with current processes, and reflect all key processes. Periodically review policies and procedures to ensure they remain up to date.
   Management response: Agree (Criminal and IT). Criminal will update CR-CS133, CR-CS134, and CR-CS130 to include all processing steps, dual control requirements, and seven-year dismissal guidance, and will publish advisory bulletins for process changes. IT will update procedures IT-TRCS001, IT-TRCS002, IT-TRCS004, and IT-DCCC-0014, and will compare them with Criminal procedures for consistency. Target implementation date: March 2025.
4. Finding 4highdata access

   32 of 86 teammates held inappropriate CCIS driver license clearance permissions

   The Pasco Users with DHSMV D6 Clearance County Permissions Report reflected 86 teammates had permission to reinstate suspended driver licenses in CCIS. Formal documented policies and procedures for reviewing and updating user permissions did not exist, and the CCIS Security User Agreement did not provide guidance for removing access for former or transferred teammates. As a result, 32 of the 86 teammates had permissions that were not appropriate, no longer required, or were not updated in a timely manner, spanning Administration (1), Civil (15), Criminal (9), Finance (2), IT (4), and Records (1), increasing the risk of unauthorized reinstatements.

   Recommendation: Develop and implement a policy and procedure to ensure CCIS access is reviewed and monitored regularly with documented results; update the CCIS Security Agreement to clearly present permissions and provide guidance for removing access for terminated or transferred teammates; and update user access to reflect appropriate permissions.
   Management response: Agree (IT and all affected departments). IT will conduct a phased review: Phase I distributing D6 Clearance permissions data to departments for quarterly verification; Phase II expanding to all CCIS permissions with formal procedures. IT will create a CCIS Access form to track permission changes. Permissions identified in the audit were updated by October 26, 2022. Procedural documentation target: December 31, 2024.
5. Observation 1mediumpolicy

   Compliance due dates in Clericus not always monitored or updated timely

   Suspension letters and suspensions were not always processed in compliance with timeliness standards reflected in Clericus due dates. Compliance dates were not always entered into Clericus, as pre-conversion cases lacked compliance tabs unless manually added. Payment plans were not always reviewed timely to confirm good standing. Delays were partly attributable to the COVID-19 moratorium backlog on driver license suspensions from March 19, 2020, through January 7, 2021.

   Recommendation: No additional recommendation was provided beyond mandatory compliance with Florida Statute 322.245(1) and existing policies.
   Management response: Agree. A weekly Criminal Compliance Report was created to ensure compliance due dates related to driver license suspensions are completed timely for all case types, and resources were reallocated to manage suspension-related compliances. Both actions completed (May 2021 and April 2023).
6. Observation 2lowevidence

   Incorrect images docketed to cases due to auto-docketing error

   Two cases had the incorrect image docketed; the CCIS transaction report was docketed as the DL Check. Management attributed this to an auto-docketing error. The incorrect docketing reduces the reliability and accuracy of case records.

   Recommendation: Update the incorrectly docketed images to reflect the correct document and evaluate the auto-docketing and validation processes to ensure images are docketed accurately and thoroughly reviewed for quality control purposes.
   Management response: Agree. Docket corrections were completed. Criminal evaluated the auto-docketing process and determined the cause was human error. CR-CS134 Quality Control Cashiering Paperwork already includes a reviewer verification step. Additional training on CR-CS134 will be provided. Corrections completed September 2022, April 2023, and October 2024.
7. Observation 3mediumpolicy

   Satisfactions of Certified Judgments not docketed for 20 fully paid cases

   Upon full payment of all outstanding court costs, fines, and fees, a Satisfaction of Judgment for Costs and Fees must be created, triggering Official Records via docket code SJCC. For 20 cases where all court costs, fines, and fees had been paid in full, a satisfaction was not docketed to the case, meaning Official Records was not properly notified to record the satisfaction.

   Recommendation: Establish policies and procedures to ensure satisfactions are created and docketed timely.
   Management response: Agree. A backlog clean-up project covering 9,770 cases requiring satisfactions was completed (August 2023). A weekly quality assurance report titled 'Cases That Need Satisfactions' was created (February 2023). Procedure CR-189 Creating and Recording Satisfaction of Judgment was created (May 5, 2023).
8. Observation 4mediumpolicy

   Backlog of seven-year dismissals from 2013 left unprocessed

   Pursuant to a July 2, 1999 order by Judge Webb, license suspensions on cases outstanding for seven or more years must be recalled, canceled, and satisfied. At the time of audit, a backlog of seven-year dismissals dating to 2013 had not been reviewed, and management indicated these were processed only as time permitted, indicating a lack of timely, systematic processing.

   Recommendation: No additional recommendation was provided beyond mandatory compliance with the applicable court order and internal procedures.
   Management response: Agree. A weekly quality assurance report was implemented for better workload management (February 2023), the seven-year dismissal backlog was completed (January 2023), and procedure CR-CS130 Seven Year Order Dismissing Civil Citations was created (November 10, 2020).