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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., today released a follow-up audit, which found that the Sheriff’s Office could make additional improvements in its enforcement of child support. 

“My previous audit found a number of weaknesses in how the Sheriff’s Office served summonses and subpoenas for child support,” Thompson said. “While the Sheriff’s Office has considerably improved its timeliness, it still has further improvements to make. Families rely on child support payments to be able to care for their children. Any delays in getting that support can have a profoundly negative impact on families. The Sheriff’s Office should continue to improve its enforcement services so that children are not shortchanged.”

The Sheriff’s Office, which is within the Department of Finance, is the City’s chief civil law enforcement agency. The Sheriff’s Office Family Court Warrants Unit works in partnership with the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Human Resources Administration to obtain child support payments from parents who fail to make them. The agencies’ cooperation permits the Sheriff’s Office to assist custodial parents in obtaining child support payments by serving summonses and subpoenas to the noncustodial parents (respondents) within the five boroughs and by executing arrest warrants throughout the State of New York.

The previous audit, which covered Fiscal Year 2003, concluded that the Sheriff’s Office did not adequately research respondent address information; did not make initial attempts to find respondents at different times of the day; did not make initial attempts to find respondents in a timely manner; and used alternate personal service (service to a person other than the actual respondent) on initial attempts to find respondents rather than making additional attempts of personal service.

As a result of the previous audit’s findings, Comptroller Thompson made six recommendations. The Sheriff’s Office has implemented the recommendation to use the Child Support Management System in obtaining addresses for respondents. The Office has partially implemented two recommendations to use computer databases such as Lexis Nexis and to serve respondents at different times of the day. Two recommendations - to establish written guidelines governing the length of time it should take to make initial attempts to find respondents and monitor adherence to those guidelines - are no longer applicable since the Sheriff’s Office has considerably improved its timeliness. The remaining recommendation that the Sheriff’s Office should adhere to its written agreement with HRA to initially use personal service rather than alternate personal service is no longer applicable.

The current audit, which covered Fiscal Year 2007, can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.

To address the issues that continue to exist, Comptroller Thompson recommended that the Sheriff’s Office:

• Fully utilize Lexis Nexis and indicate on the mock case cards that a search was performed and record the results.  

• Follow its own procedure to ensure that Deputies make attempts to find respondents at different times of the day, including the morning, afternoon and evening.

• Revise its agreement with HRA to reflect that using either personal service or alternate personal service is acceptable in serving respondents.

DOF officials generally agreed with the audit’s recommendations.

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