BALTIMORE, MD — When employees of the Maryland Department of Transportation said they were hard at work, they may very well have been speaking the truth — which is why 22 of them are currently looking for new jobs.Thanks to an anonymous tip to the state’s fraud hotline, Legislative Auditor Bruce Myers was able to uncover hundreds of visits by Department of Transportation employees to websites containing “nude and/or pornographic” pictures.
Exactly how many times the employees, primarily police officers and maintenance staff, refreshed themselves each week is unknown, but Myers told the Baltimore Examiner that he was “a little disappointed, a little surprised” by the results of the audit.
Although the initial tip only referred authorities to the Maryland Aviation Administration, the more Myers’ staff investigated matters, the wider they discovered the habits extended. Before long it was revealed that employees of the Maryland Transportation Authority were also visiting websites of a most non-transportation related sort.
Erring on the side of caution, Myers’ staff did not include single visits to an adult site to be evidence of intentional use or misuse, since such a thing was presumed to be a potential accident and could not necessarily be traced to any specific employee. Given that there were apparently hundreds of such theoretically accidental visits during the audit period, each with no way to determine who made them, Myers cautioned in his report that “the number of employees and occurrences is understated.”
Managers for the two agencies agreed with the results of the report and vowed to address the issue, indicating that limitation or suspension of internet privileges and other “appropriate disciplinary actions” would be employed to ensure that the problem does not repeat itself. The agencies already employ filtering technology, but the report concluded that it did not prevent all access to off-limit sites.
Ronald Freeland, executive secretary for the transportation authority told the Baltimore Sun that disciplinary action had already been taken against some of the 16 identified employees. “We as an agency take this very seriously,” he assured the press, adding that the transportation police are investigating officers believed to have been involved with inappropriate internet usage. A letter going out to all employees this month will remind them about what types of at-work internet use are permissible. Each employee will be required to sign a statement indicating that they have read and understood the rules.
Jonathan Dean, a representative for the aviation agency, indicated that a letter had already been sent out to employees by agency executive director Timothy L. Campbell, outlining punishments fur unauthorized internet access, including firing. The six employees found to have been violating policy were immediately disciplined.
