Dear Editor:
Culver City residents deserve to know whether complaints of fraud, waste, and abuse receive meaningful, independent review. A hotline is useful only if people trust what happens after they report a concern.
Resident Les Greenberg has raised important questions about the City’s compliance with its fraud, waste, and abuse reporting policy, including whether quarterly reports adequately identify the types of complaints received. These questions deserve clear, public answers.
Protecting confidentiality is essential. Whistleblowers should not face retaliation, and an allegation should never be presented as proof of wrongdoing. But confidentiality should not prevent the City from publishing useful summaries: the category of complaint, the general level of responsibility involved, who conducted the review, whether the allegation was substantiated, and what corrective action followed. Those summaries can omit identifying details.
Independence matters just as much. When a complaint concerns City management or an elected official, who decides whether to investigate? Who selects the investigator? What prevents someone with a conflict of interest from controlling the process? Culver City should establish clear criteria for referring complaints to an outside investigator.
The City should also explain the qualifications required of those responsible for these investigations, whether professional certification is required, and how their work is reviewed.
An increase in reports does not, by itself, establish an increase in misconduct. It does make clear reporting and credible oversight especially important.
As a forensic psychologist, I understand the importance of evaluating evidence fairly and explaining how conclusions were reached. Residents deserve that same discipline from their local government.
The City Council should publicly address these concerns, explain how its reporting practices satisfy its policy, and strengthen independent oversight wherever necessary.
Public trust requires answers.
Dr. Franklin Carvajal
Culver City resident and candidate for City Council
