Government inspector

“ To reorganize the executive branch of the Government and increase its economy and efficiency by establishing Offices of Inspector General within the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation, and within the Community Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Veterans' Administration, and for other purposes. ”

“ The unreliable and haphazard inspection of town officials has passed entirely, superseded by the inspector whose sole duty is inspection, in which duty he is aided by assistants immediately under his own command, or by members of other departments of government. The tendency towards the development of distinct inspection departments is quite unmistakable though the exact form of their future organization is less easily predicted. There are two toward which present forms lean, one exemplified in Massachusetts, the other in New York. ”

“ I refuse the dowry.—Helena d'Orleans."——The new Ministry of Police has been organized by decree. The Minister is to have attached to his office three directors-general, who are to appoint inspector-general, special inspectors, and commissaries of police in the departments. Prominent among the duties of all of these officials are those of watching and reporting every attempt to influence public opinion against the government, keeping a close eye on the press and on publications of every sort—upon theatres, prisons, schools, and political and commercial associations. ”

“ There shall be an Inspector General of the Department of State and the Foreign Service, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation from among individuals exceptionally qualified for the position by virtue of their integrity and their demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations, or their knowledge and experience in the conduct of foreign affairs. ”

“ While an inspector retains possession of a document, the inspector must permit a person who would be entitled to inspect the document were it not in the possession of the inspector to inspect the document at any reasonable time and make a copy of, or take extracts from, the document. ”

“ But not far off, though in a different square of the statutable chess-board where few of these dainty items of ratable property were to be found, the suspicion and savour of nuisance being rife, difficulties arose in getting the right sort of man to be an inspector, and greater difficulties in getting him voted adequate pay. ”

“ A person must not—
(a)
give information to an inspector that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular; or
(b)
produce a document that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular without indicating the respect in which it is false or misleading and, if practicable, providing correct information.
Penalty:
60 penalty units. (3)
A person must not without reasonable excuse obstruct or hinder an inspector exercising functions under this Act. ”

“ If the Commission on Public Integrity has not issued a Final Report within
60 days after the filing of a Complaint that relates to actions taken by a
minister or an Inspector General and there is no showing that such delays
are due to the bad faith of the aggrieved government employee or
government contractor, then the aggrieved government employee or
government contractor may bring a civil action in a court of competent
jurisdiction seeking appropriate judicial relief. ”

“ Government inspectors began to call more often than they used to, inspecting my light—my light, that I've tended nigh onto twenty-five years now. I began to hear rumors that my assistant wasn't altogether straight. ”

“ An inspector—
(a)
must not exercise a power under subsection (1) in any part of the premises that is used for residential purposes; and
(b)
must not exercise a power under subsection (1) , except between the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or when the premises are open for business.
(3)
If an inspector exercises a power of entry under this section without the owner or occupier being present the inspector must, on leaving the premises, leave a notice setting out—
(a)
the time of entry ”

“ ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INSPECTORS GENERAL ON INTEGRITY AND EFFICIENCY. `` (a) Establishment and Mission— `` (1) ESTABLISHMENT— There is established as an independent entity within the executive branch the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (in this section referred to as the `Council ́) . `` (2) MISSION— The mission of the Council shall be to— `` (A) address integrity, economy, and effectiveness issues that transcend individual Government agencies ”

“ The present organization of the field staff not only gives work of both kinds commonly to the same inspector but tends toward an identity of viewpoint as between inspectors who are chiefly doing only one or the other kind of work. ”

“ LUKA. But why, Anton Antonovich? What for? Why should we have an Inspector?
GOVERNOR. It's fate, I suppose. [Sighs.] Till now, thank goodness, they have been nosing about in other towns. Now our turn has come.
AMMOS. My opinion is, Anton Antonovich, that the cause is a deep one and rather political in character. It means this, that Russia—yes—that Russia intends to go to war, and the Government has secretly commissioned an official to find out if there is any treasonable activity anywhere.
GOVERNOR. The wise man has hit on the very thing. Treason in this little country town! ”

“ They are intrusted with the superintendence of all that is going on, and it is their duty to report privately to the king. The city inspectors employ as their coadjutors the city courtesans; and the inspectors of the camp, the women who follow it. The best and the most faithful persons are appointed to the office of inspector. ”

“ The head of the department, whether he be called general inspector or vice-president, will have to remember that untrained persons do not necessarily become endowed with superior intelligence and professional acumen by the privilege of personal contact with him and assignment to his department. To be successful his department will consist of a corps of highly trained inspectors of official rank and experience, capable of first hand dealing with things and men. The tendency of both inspection and audit is to become perfunctory. ”

“ The businessman, too, has that right placed in jeopardy if the decision to enter and inspect for violation of regulatory laws can be made and enforced by the inspector in the field without official authority evidenced by warrant. ”

“ Inspectors, whether appointed by the engineer in charge or not, should be absolutely under his control, including the power of dismissal without unnecessary formalities. Where they are under civil service regulations and can be dismissed only upon charges and after a hearing before some third person, the obstacles in the way of promptly getting rid of an incompetent or unfaithful inspector are often so great as to be discouraging if not deterrent. ”

“ He caused the creation of the grade of inspector, and the appointment of energetic and reliable men. These inspectors are required to keep a constant watch over the rank and file of the force. They report every breach of discipline, examine the station houses and every thing connected with them, at pleasure. No member or officer of the force has the right to refuse to allow such examination or to refuse to answer any question put to him concerning his duty. ”

“ The inspectors of permanent way are responsible for the discipline of their men, and for keeping a correct account of the time they work, and the wages paid to them. It is their duty also to keep a record of all materials received and used, to see that every care is taken of the property of the Company, and to report to the chief inspector of the district, or to the divisional engineer, every circumstance of an unusual character which may come within their knowledge. ”

“ In the 13th and 14th centuries the monarchy had organized a species of inspection (chevauchée) over the provincial functionaries, which was performed by the maîtres des requêtes, and this the reform ordinances of the 16th century sought to revive. This inspectorate passed to the intendant, who became the resident local inspector and supervisor of all the other functionaries in his district; its connexion with the old chevauchée is plainly shown by the fact that the intendants were almost invariably selected from the maîtres des requêtes. ”

“ The professional reader knows them already: the unprofessional reader would not be interested. Briefly I may say, that he has to see that the District Inspectors and their staff do their work, and maintain the requisite standard of education; he has to advise the staff in all cases of difficulty; he has to hold enquiries in cases of dispute between the District Inspector and the local authority. Also he has to attend conferences at the Office, and to advise the Board “before any important change [Pg 263] is made.” ”

“ The officials in charge of enforcement of the system, here made defendants, are the commissioner of agriculture, a general inspector of oils, and numerous local inspectors, whose duties are set forth in the cited Code sections and in the Act of 1912. ”

“ It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with, obstruct, or hinder, by force or otherwise, any officer appointed to enforce the provisions of this act, while in the performance of his or her duties, or to refuse to properly answer questions asked by such officer with reference to any of the provisions hereof. The Factory Inspector may divide the State into districts, and assign one or more Deputy Factory Inspectors to each district, and transfer them from one district to another as the best interests of the State may, in his judgment, require. ”

“ Nor, after the inspection is finished, should the inspector remain among friends or enemies who have much or little property. Neither should he remain with those of whom there is any doubt. They are fortunate if they are such men as are suitable for this task, and if they proceed with rectitude, rigor, and example, and with zeal for the glory of God, the service of your Majesty, the welfare of this country, with a Christian and disinterested heart. ”

“ Inspectors now must possess high qualifications, both as teachers and in scholarship, while the emoluments of the office make it an object of ambition to every school teacher; and we have many teachers in the Province who posses qualifications of the high standard prescribed for Public School Inspectors. The tenure of the office of County Inspector is such as should secure their impartiality. So long as an Inspector discharges his duties efficiently, he can be removed only by a two-thirds majority of the County Council. ”

“ Disclosure of or access to matters pertinent to an inquiry or investigation will be limited to persons whose official duties require such knowledge. The Manual for Courts Martial, 1951, states that inspector-general investigations are privileged information. The same privileged status applies to inquiries and investigations conducted under this Regulation. Also paragraph 3, AFR 190-16, 29 July 1954, excludes investigative reports and reports of inspectors general and base inspectors from release to the public as information. ”

“ National inspectors and inspection
19.— (1) All authorised officers shall be national inspectors for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Director-General may, from time to time, appoint in writing any other person to be a national inspector.
(3) A national inspector may—
(a) with the consent of the person who owns, or who is in control of, any premises; or (b) under a warrant issued under section 24 or 25 in respect of any premises, enter the premises and exercise, on or in the premises, any inspection power for a compliance purpose. ”

“ But the inspector’s boundary is the workshop or workroom, and beyond this he is powerless to interfere; although on his way to his department he frequently passes by large numbers of those who need supervision and protection fully as much as those on whose behalf his visit is paid, yet who, as the law now stands, are utterly and hopelessly in the power of employers, who are free if they will to work their victims to death with impunity. ”

“ The minority were of opinion that the statute having fixed the salary of a special inspector of foreign steam vessels, it was beyond the power of the Secretary, in whom was vested the power of appointment, to prescribe as a condition of the plaintiff's appointment that he should serve as such special inspector without compensation beyond that received by him as a local inspector. ”

“ In our opinion, these arguments unduly discount the purposes behind the warrant machinery contemplated by the Fourth Amendment. Under the present system, when the inspector demands entry, the occupant has no way of knowing whether enforcement of the municipal code involved requires inspection of his premises, no way of knowing the lawful limits of the inspector's power to search, and no way of knowing whether the inspector himself is acting under proper authorization. ”