Investigative Unit To Return To LA Department Of Building And Safety

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Responding to a request from the mayor and the recent arrests of two Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety inspectors for allegedly taking bribes, general manager Bud Ovrom is reviving an investigative unit, it was reported Saturday.

In his letter asking Ovrom to do an audit and to revive the unit, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa suggested using GPS devices to keep tabs on the department's 315 inspectors whose jobs it is to approve construction work to make sure it conforms to applicable laws, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In a sworn statement filed in the case against the two building inspectors, an informant told the FBI he gave inspectors as many as 40 bribes.

"We've got to put the full weight of the law on them for what they've done," Villaraigosa told KNX 1070's Ed Mertz.

"Stealing money that way, taking money in the way these people have done for sevices the city was supposed to provide in the first place or actually not providing the service and taking that money is just outrageous," Villaraigosa said, adding that, "I think everybody who works for the city feels like they've let us down, they've let us all down."

The Building and Safety Department had an investigative unit that was disbanded in 1999, partly to cut costs, a mayoral aide told the newspaper.

The FBI is reviewing the records of at least 11 active and former department employees, The Times reported. One employee has pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for building approvals; two others have been arrested and two more have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

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