FMPD tackling audit recommendations despite funding shortfall

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City of Fort Myers Police Department

FORT MYERS, Fla. The city’s police department is taking the recommendations of a scathing audit to heart, but it needs more money.

That’s one of the conclusions of a progress report issued Monday by Freeh Group International Solutions LLC, the same Delaware-based risk management firm hired by the city to conduct the audit released earlier this year.

City Council on Monday pushed back a discussion on applying for a more than $1 million grant that would fund the hiring of more officers.

Still, the city hired Randall L. Pepitone, who worked under Diggs in Toledo, Ohio, as deputy chief in May, fulfilling one of the audit recommendations. The department also hired a public information officer as part of an effort to become more transparent.

A substation will be built near the site of the deadly 2016 Club Blu mass shooting, and other substations are under consideration as Chief Derrick Diggs seeks to improve the relationship between officers and residents.

Police are also investigating the audit’s allegations of officer misconduct.

Below is the full progress report:

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