Local News in Brief : ‘Tattler’ Hot Line for County Workers
Los Angeles County announced Tuesday that its employees who observe fraud going on around them will soon be able to report it anonymously to a “tattler” telephone hot line.
The hot line, to be staffed by the auditor-controller’s office, was proposed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich earlier this year after a county Fire Department accountant was charged with the theft of about $800,000.
Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon said during a news conference that the hot line, available as of Oct. 1, may help the county catch fraud problems early and would also deter employee fraud.
Dixon said there are no estimates as to how much money the county loses because of employee fraud, but he said the hot line, which will cost $5,000 a year, should more than pay for itself.
Antonovich, Dixon and county Auditor-Controller Mark Bloodgood were quick to say they believed that most of the county’s nearly 80,000 employees are hard working and honest.
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