Two contractors suspended over alleged doctoring of “before and after” photos.
Two contractors have been suspended from Detroit’s federally-funded demolition program amidst claims they manipulated photographs of sidewalk repairs on demolition sites to hide incomplete work so they could get paid.
Detroit’s Office of Inspector General — at the request of the Detroit Land Bank Authority — launched two separate investigations in December into allegations sidewalk repair photographs were being doctored. The land bank requires its contractors to take “before and after” photographs of sidewalks, drive approaches, neighboring residences and surrounding areas to document conditions.
“We expect that the information a contractor submits to the city is accurate and truthful. Whenever we find that is not the case, we are going to attempt to hold the contractor accountable,” Inspector General James Heath told The News on Tuesday. “The city has to have honest partners in performing services.”
One of the contractors submitted photographs that forensic analysis revealed had been modified with computer software. The other contractor turned in a photograph with two sidewalk slabs that appeared oversized, later acknowledging the shot had been doctored by an employee as an “inside joke.”
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