180 Days
By statute the Board has 180 day complete an investigation. There are some problems with this. First, it does not mean anything. There are no consequences if the Board fails to complete the investigation in this time frame. Moreover, the Board is required to submit a letter explaining why it takes over 180 days if it surpasses it. I have never received such a letter and I have several cases well beyond that date. Even when I asked for such letters, I have not received them.
Second, what does investigation mean? They have the pre-investigation…that doesn’t count. When it’s under internal review, does that count? What about waiting for the Board to act, even in a dismissal, does that count? I have never received a straight response to what 180 days actually means.
Third, it harms the investigation. This is a double edged sword; however, because there are only between 22 and 26 investigators (depending on who is hired and who quits) and there is over thousands of investigation opened, investigators cannot give each investigation the time and energy it needs. The initial reviewers are too liberal when opening investigations and the investigations do not have sufficient time to really investigate claims.
Several things can be done about this; however, in my opinion the 180 deadline is a joke. Just get rid of it.
