An audit of Aurora Police Department’s firearms inventory and procedures concluded that the agency did not adequately track its weapons or the certifications of its officers to use weapons.

City Auditor Michelle Crawford told members of the public safety, courts and civil service policy committee Thursday that the audit showed several failures of the department — it does not have adequate procedures in place to manage its firearm inventory, it needs to improve its tracking for training and it does not have adequate controls for trading or transferring firearms.

Department Chief Todd Chamberlain has accepted the audit’s findings and agreed to implement all of the recommendations. The auditor said the department already rectified several of the issues and some fixes are in the works.

“There were some faulty business practices without question that needed to be modified and corrected,” Chamberlain said.

Notably, Crawford said the department’s inventory report showed one missing shotgun, which department officials filed a police report for late last year per the auditor’s recommendation. 

The missing shotgun was a consequence of the series of what Chamberlain called “faulty business practices,” according to the auditor. 

Crawford said the department’s weapon inventory was not accurate or complete. The inventory list of department weapons did not include seven rifles the department bought in 2019 or 26 40mm launchers bought between 2021 and 2023. 

It also included 45 shotguns that were transferred to other agencies and 10 rifles that had been transferred for credit, she added. 

Police departments also have requirements for how frequently inventory counts should be done and where the documentation should be sent. None of the department’s units met all of the inventory requirements, she said. 

Chamberlain said the inventory issues have been mostly dealt with and corrected for accuracy per the auditor’s recommendations.

Officials are looking into a new system for weapons inventory to organize and streamline the process, he added.

In the department system, there were inaccurate assignment listings for 22% of rifles, 35% of shotguns and 64% of 40mm launchers, Crawford said. 

She added that officers should be signing for their weapons when they get them to document their acceptance of the weapon and responsibility for it. The audit showed that more than half of the handguns, almost all of the shotguns, 70% of the rifles and all of the 40mm launchers lacked signatures upon distribution.

Auditors also found noncompliance with a policy requiring that officers qualify or complete a qualification course on all of the weapons, and specifically for rifles and breaching shotguns, Crawford said. 

They are required to re-certify every year, she added.

The audit also found security issues, with four of the rooms holding weapons lacking access controls, Crawford said. Notably, one of the rooms with weapons was accessible to IT, facilities, court employees, city employees and unidentified persons, she said.

That issue was addressed during the audit, she added. 

The auditor said the department has agreed to implement all of the recommendations and has worked to fix issues, including updating the inventory, requiring signatures on every weapon issued, streamlining the process of officers qualifying for weapons use, and looking at different vendors to manage inventory and other systems. 

“It’s unfortunate that it had to be found, it’s unfortunate that the system was what it was, but it’s been addressed and rectified,” Chamberlain said, adding the department is doing its own audits and addressing the auditor’s recommendations.