Newsroom Archive

The Commerce Department Inspector General, Johnnie E. Frazier, has issued a report summarizing the results of his investigation of Census 2000 operations in South Florida and concluding that the Census Bureau's steps to correct problems there were sufficient to ensure a complete and accurate count. The Census Bureau re-enumerated 63,000 housing units in the Hialeah, Fla. area, including the city of Hialeah, to ensure an accurate count after the bureau found substantial procedural errors on the part of local census staff.

Frazier states in the report, "We reviewed the special re-enumeration procedures and visited each of the three offices conducting the re-enumeration. We believe that these special procedures, along with the oversight provided by headquarters, should have been adequate to ensure that the data collected was complete and accurate."

"We are gratified that the Inspector General's office has supported our actions," said Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt. "We are confident we have a quality census in South Florida, thanks in great measure to the extremely high levels of public cooperation."

"Our highest priority throughout Census 2000 has been in achieving a quality count," Prewitt said. "We kept our promise to exhaust every procedure designed to produce a better census and to stay in the field until we were confident we had completed the job."

The Census Bureau has been cooperating with the Inspector General's office of the U.S. Department of Commerce since early June in its assessment of enumeration activities in Hialeah.

Copies of the Inspector General's report may be obtained by contacting the Public Information Office on 301-457-3691.