Police spent $524,937.50 as single ‘petty cash’ expense
The Montreal police department filed a single petty cash expense claim of $524,937.50 in October, nearly doubling its petty cash expenditures for the year in one shot.
The entry, which gives little explanation of what the cash was for, shows the payment was authorized Oct. 14 by a member of the police force whose rank is not known. It was approved on the same day that an assistant police chief authorized a separate $25,102 “petty cash” expense.
The Montreal Gazette discovered both entries were added to city records since the newspaper revealed three weeks ago that the police force had filed more than $1 million as “petty cash” expenses in the past two years.
The new $524,937.50 and $25,102 expense claims are identified as having been taken from a fund labelled “Petite Caisse Enquête VDM” (“City of Montreal investigation petty cash”).
The police department has refused for more than a week to answer the Montreal Gazette’s questions about how and why it spent half a million dollars in “petty cash” in one shot.
However, Commander Marie-Claude Dandenault, who is in charge of police communications, contacted La Presse to give the police department’s explanation about the expense. Dandenault told that newspaper the $524,937.50 expense was “exceptional” and was handled according to rules.
The Montreal Gazette reported three weeks ago that the $1 million in police “petty cash” claims were authorized using two different petty cash labels by different police personnel, and that the expenses were as low as $2,000.
The police department had 105 expenses tallying about $550,000 filed as “City of Montreal investigation petty cash” since January 2015, the Gazette reported at the time, before the latest $524,937.50 and $25,102 claims were added to it.
The police also authorized payments of about $480,000 since the fall of 2014 using a second “petty cash” label — “Petite Caisse SPVM” (“Petty cash Montreal police department”).
The entries don’t explain how the “petty cash” money was being used.
The entry for the $524,937.50 expense, for example, says: “Expense — Operation and police investigation, detention. Police activities.”
A payment for the same amount — $524,937.50 — was made one year ago, in September 2015. That entry included the name of a car fleet management company and an explanation that the money was to pay for gas cards for the police department car fleet for 2015. It was not presented as a petty cash payment.
The Montreal Gazette also asked the police department repeatedly to explain the $1 million in petty cash expenditures before publication three weeks ago. Again, the police did not respond before publication.
Afterward, Dandenault granted an interview in which she confirmed the department’s “petty cash” expenses are in cash, like any business petty cash.
“It’s so the manager can pay for something rapidly with liquid cash,” she said two weeks ago. “In investigations, there is often a need to act (quickly).”
Petty cash expenditures are calculated into the police department’s budget, Dandenault added.
It’s the police department’s finance department that determines the amount of petty cash available to a unit, she said.
However, the police department refused to say how much is in its “petty cash,” and told the Gazette to file an access-to-information request.
The force has 107 units and police stations that have a petty cash fund, the smallest of which is $150, Dandenault said.
The petty cash of any police station is $400, while the petty cash of a few units — such as specialized operations, organized crime and “support activities” in the operations division — ranges from $18,500 to $24,000.
Any unit can exceed its petty cash limit with the approval of a superior who has the spending authority, she said.
Every petty cash withdrawal must be signed by the person taking the money, the person responsible for the petty cash box within the unit and by a superior, Dandenault said. The form they fill out is required to include the detail of the expense, she said.
However, when a petty cash expense is required for an investigation, the form with the explanation for the expenditure is locked up with the petty cash box and stays within the unit, Dandenault said. Another form, minus the detail, is entered in the city’s payment system, she said.
These expenses could include payments to sources, space rental, money to buy drugs or vehicle rental, all of which could be for an undercover operation.
“If the expense is divulged, it could jeopardize an investigation that’s underway or it could jeopardize the safety of someone connected to the investigation,” Dandenault said.
“Normally, we imagine a small amount for a unit. And that’s the case in police stations . ... In investigation, we use this money when we can’t issue a bill for reasons of confidentiality and operational reasons.
“We can’t make a bill with a supplier and a description of what it is because imagine if someone gets their hands on that bill and knows we need that type of vehicle, we could be providing elements of evidence that could compromise the safety of our undercover investigators, our sources, our police officers, it could ruin our investigation. The petty cash is there for that.”
The detailed expense form has to be kept within the unit and be available for internal audit or for spot audits by the Quebec public safety department, Dandenault said.
However, the last time the public safety department audited any of the petty cash funds at the Montreal police department was in March, when it audited only the department’s information division.
Other police departments in Canada say they have far smaller petty cash funds and label their investigation expenses as just that — investigation expenses.
The Vancouver Police Department, for example, said it spent $13,950 on petty cash in 2015.
“They are intended to be used for low value, incidental items of $100 or less,” a Vancouver Police Department spokesperson said. “As you know, we are a large department with many sections. Not all sections have a petty cash fund.”
The Calgary Police Service said it had $47,000 in petty cash expenses last year.
The “petty cash” label for Montreal police department expenses began to appear in city records two years ago. However, Dandenault said she spoke with a 28-year veteran investigator who told her the department has “always” used “petty cash” to pay for investigative expenses.