A unit created to investigate police shootings in St. Louis was riddled with delays, errors and incomplete work, a report found. The city is fighting to keep it secret.

The city has been fighting to keep the audit out of public view ever since it was finished.

The administration of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones has denied the Post-Dispatch’s Sunshine Law request for the report and blocked its release in two federal court cases. But the Post-Dispatch recently obtained key elements of the report from a law enforcement source. Multiple other sources have confirmed its authenticity.

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In the audit, police officials largely blame the unit’s former director, Lt. Roger Engelhardt, who was fired in 2021. The audit, Sack has said in court testimony, led to an internal investigation of Engelhardt and morphed into a criminal investigation, with the audit’s contents referred to the FBI. Engelhardt has not been charged with a crime.

The report alleges Engelhardt was double-dipping — being paid by private employers as he was supposed to investigate police shootings.

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