Investigation into Overtime Fraud at Detroit Police Department Expanding

Detroit PD

A lawsuit by a former homicide detective at the Detroit Police Department (DPD) alleging retaliation for blowing the whistle on overtime abuse has sparked a wider investigation into pay fraud at the DPD. The Detroit News reports:

The internal investigation was launched last month after allegations surfaced of overtime abuse in the Homicide Unit, according to information obtained by The Detroit News and confirmed by Police Chief James Craig.

The charges included officers allegedly filing for overtime they didn't work and writing up false subpoenas to appear in court so they could collect extra pay.

The probe recently expanded into other units, Craig confirmed, including Sex Crimes and the former Narcotics Section, which was disbanded this summer amid another internal probe of alleged wrongdoing.

It's unclear how widespread the fraud is yet, or, for that matter, just how much police overtime costs the city of Detroit, mired in a budget crisis for years. That's because, according to the Detroit police union's attorney, the department keeps poor records on overtime. Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in 2012 that as other departments faced decreases in pay of $15.3 million, cops and firefighters saw a $13.3 million increase, even while the city saw a drop in full-time "public protection" employees.

Via Michigan Capitol Confidential:

Pension costs for police and fire union employees jumped $60.4 million in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to city documents. The increase was mainly due to higher contribution rates by the city due to poor market performance of pension fund assets, the report said.

The city's report on overall salaries and wages includes overtime. Police and fire departments traditionally have triggered large amounts of overtime during staff reductions, although it is unclear if that is what happened in Detroit.

It's becoming clearer.

Reason on Detroit.

Comments

[mr lizard]

"The charges included officers allegedly filing for overtime they didn't work and writing up false subpoenas to appear in court so they could collect extra pay."

I'm ok with victimless police enforcement

[Steve G]

Cut 'em some slack, it's a freakin war zone out there! Have you heard how much we've blown on Afghanistan?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Detroit's still around, huh?

[Irish]

OT: http://www.salon.com/2014/12/2.....socialflow

RAPE TRUTHERS!

"But one woman's lie doesn't wipe out the fact that most rapists never see a day in jail. Nor does it disprove that the university failed to investigate the claims of Jackie or any of the other women Erdely interviewed. (Perhaps, if they had, we would have better information on whether this rape actually happened as Jackie said, or not.)"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The fact that feminists made up a false rape accusation is actually evidence of how pernicious rape culture is because one of their victims didn't have enough information to immediately prove it false.

I also like that Marcotte says 'most rapists never spend a day in jail' when what she means is 'most men accused of rape never see a day in jail.' How many of them are actually guilty is an open question, but one which Marcotte is uninterested in answering.

Marcotte logic!

[The artist known Dunphy]

"women don't lie about rape" - feminist meme.

Marcotte needs to understand MOST PEOPLE ACCUSED OF A CRIME NEVER SEE A DAY IN JAIL

rape is in no way unique. It is true of the entire set (PEOPLE ACCUSED OF A CRIME)

[Steve G]

Oooo, truther shaming! Get 'em, get 'em!!

Oy, birthers, truthers; what's next, 'earthers' for the AGW crowd? Or how about 'girthers' for the anti-fat shaming chicks?

[Pope Jimbo]

I thought Girthers had something to do with the needle dicks...

[Tonio]

Marcotte and Williamson richly deserve one another.

[RBS]

No more Big Macs ?

I'm pretty sure it's fake, but as usual facebook delivers some gold...

Yes! Even the evil empire has taken note!

Nothing could be better than McD's going bankrupt and closing down.

[sarcasmic]

I don't know. I've read a bit about the company losing market share.

Thing is, they're looking at the wrong problem.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s when I worked there, I saw things change. When I started there the food was really good, and by the time I left it sucked ass.

What happened was they switched from making things fresh to assembling to order. You went from having a freshly cooked piece of meat on a freshly toasted bun to a piece of meat that had been sitting in a steamer put on a bun that was toasted an hour ago. Then into the microwave before going to the customer. Disgusting. That's what happened to their food. Unless they go back to making it fresh (and they won't because it would require more people in the kitchen) their food will forever suck.

[Geoff Nathan]

Note that this message (the supposed Tweet) has all the earmarks of a phishing message--spelling errors, grammatical errors. That oughtta tell you something.

[sarcasmic]

Yeah, it's false.

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/bigmac.asp

[Rhywun]

I love the "whopping" 550 calories part. That's like 1/4 of the recommended daily amount - OMG HEAD FOR THE HILLS!

[The artist known Dunphy]

This is for Sarcasmic who is still erroneously referring to "Suspensionw with pay" for cops, which does not exist. But it's actually more for people who actually want to learn the reality and not live in a fantasy world.

I have explained this several times, but he is clearly either willfully ignorant, too stupid to understand or likely still so butthurt over being correctly convicted of a crime he committed (iow the justice system worked, as it sometimes does) that he simply lies...

COPS ARE PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE WITH PAY IN MANY SITUATIONS BUT NEVER SUSPENSION WITH PAY

THE FORMER IS ***NOT DISCIPLINE***.

The latter ***is***

There is no such thing as suspension with pay, and yes I have seen the media on rare occasion refer to that, but just as they make errors in all sorts of ways, they err there, just like Sarcasmic.

A cop can be placed on admin leave for many reasons (not all inclusive list)

1) he is involved in a traumatic incident , like he has to give CPR to a baby that dies in his arms (actual example in my dept). It's not punishment and it in no way reflects negatively on the officer. It's simply a means to seperate them from their current duties (patrol, detective, whatever) for a host of reasons. In the case mentioned, it's to allow the cop to get some counseling, do some healing, "refresh" the battery etc.

[The artist known Dunphy]

2) he is involved in a shooting or an incident involving an in custody death. BY POLICY, most agencies mandate admin leave. It has nothing to do with suspected misconduct. It is a prophylactic measure to protect the cop if it is controversial shooting, to protect the public ON THE CHANCE it was a bad shoot and there is something wrong with the officer (mental or criminal), to give the public the confidence that no officer will be put back on the street after killing somebody UNTIL the facts are vetted, to allow the officer time to emotionally heal, and in many agencies it is mandatory they are screened by dept. psychologist to make sure there are no PTSD etc. issues that need correcting before return to work, etc. etc., it is for the safety of the officer, many of whom are too affected by the incident to be able to work safely (be properly on guard with officer safety etc).

3. There is a training issue. Even if through no fault of the officer, there is some error discovered (he missed a mandatory class or something) that is required before he can go back to work

4) a metric assload of other reasons that have nothing to do with discipline

Suspension is ENTIRELY different than Admin leave and is ALWAYS without pay.

SUSPENSION IS ***PUNISHMENT***. It only occurs AFTER an investigation (see: due process) has been conducted and I am pretty sure it must be preceded by Loudermill but don't quote me on that.

hth

[Steve G]

potayto, potahto, the point being they get put into a paid non-work status for shit that would put the rest of us 'civilians' in jail.

[The artist known Dunphy]

Again, utterly false.

In SOME cases, they are paid during an investigation where it turns out there was criminal actions *(and they will still be culpable for those).

That is a TINY minority of the instances where cops are placed on admin leave

and NOTE: in many agencies (not all) a cop CAN be and will be SUSPENDED (which means no pay) if they are charged with a crime, or in some cases, a felony crime.

Again, depends on the agency

but "civilians' are not put in jail for the VAST overwhelming majority of shit that puts cops on admin leave.

I've been on admin leave several times, none of which had any nexus to a criminal charge etc.

Again, it occurs in EVERY shooting and only a tiny percentage are criminal

and i have investigated scores of "civilian shootings' that resulted in neither jail time nor firing.

you are simply wrong, because people dont want to admit they weere wrong and didn't understand what admin leave IS

[Steve G]

Again, utterly false

Really? And what's the indictment rate of police vs non-police again?
Again, put into a non-work status to await the automatic rubber stamp of a grand jury. I wish we all could be so lucky...

[Tonio]

That is a TINY minority of the instances where cops are placed on admin leave

But no actual numbers or references, eh, Dunphy?

[sarcasmic]

A lawsuit by a former homicide detective at the Detroit Police Department (DPD) alleging retaliation for blowing the whistle on overtime abuse has sparked a wider investigation into pay fraud at the DPD.

A mythical good cop.

[Pope Jimbo]

You'd hope, but I'm guessing that it is more likely that he blew the whistle after having his OT pay denied.

Sour grapes if you will.

[sarcasmic]

Yeah. That's why I said mythical.

[paranoid android]

His name isn't Alex Murphy, is it?

[antisocial-ist]

Not anymore.

[The artist known Dunphy]

Btw, to clear this up yet again for the ignorati

a common belief is that if an agency has a lot of officers working OT, it means they are being bad with funds, there is corruption and/or it is costing taxpayers.

SOMETIMES TRUE

In many cases, (such as my agency), administrators ADMIT TO and INTENTIONALLY staff under the required FTE's required to fully staff all patrol districts etc.

Iow, they need X officers to cover all the districts and specialty squads (detective etc) such that NO overtime would incur UNLESS there are events outside normal duties (court overtime, officer held late on a shift due to incustody arrest/paperwork he has to complete before securing etc.)

An agency may staff, for example, 15% UNDER FULL FTE levels.

This means overtime MUST be worked by officers JUST to fill the "normal" shifts.

Why is this done?

Because it is cheaper (check the math) to UNDERSTAFF and pay SOME overtime to officers than to fully staff.

Even though officers on OT get time and a half, it is STILL cheaper than fully staffing because in addition to salary, each officer has vacation/sick leave costs, costs to recruit, train them (during FTO two officers must handle LESS than a normal caseload for one officer due to training time, slower performance, etc. etc. ) , social security costs, medical care costs, and all those other ancillary costs that ANY employer understands - employees cost more than JUST wages.

[The artist known Dunphy]

so, since TOTAL costs (remember, it costs about 80-200,000 dollars depending on agency just to recruit, test, train, etc. an officer up to the point they are independent on their own. And new officers are still less efficient in general for a couple of years.

So, APART from the training etc. costs for each additional FTE , there are the day to day costs I mention (social security vacation sick leave medical etc.) per officer hour worked

THAT is why in many cases, it is actually CHEAPER to understaff and have X overtime paid out than FULLY staff and have no overtime pay out (again,except for shift extension, court attendance etc. which you will have in either case)

hth

[Tonio]

Some numbers...but no links, citations or references.

[Steve G]

The charges included officers allegedly filing for overtime they didn't work and writing up false subpoenas to appear in court so they could collect extra pay.

Well then, I'd sure sleep well at night if I were a Detroit taxpayer knowing that my metro services are being 'good with funds'.

[DesigNate]

You aren't respecting mah authoritah and knowledge...You are all just a bunch of ignoratti!

[Almanian!]

God, derpfee - what a schmoo. The overly-long, tldrs. The bullshit hairsplitting.

What an awful life. So sad.

[paranoid android]

Yeah, I'm just gonna filter him now, mostly because it tires my wrist out having to scroll past those endless rants to get at any intelligent comments. If I want to listen to a monomaniacal crackpot tilt at the windmills in his head, there are plenty of homeless people in this city that could oblige me.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, this. It's just so ENDLESS. Jesus fucking CHRIST give it a rest.

[BuSab Agent]

Dunphy Reader's Digest version:
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

[Rhywun]

people like me!

No they don't.

[Steve G]

Wouldn't think I'd need to add a sarc tag to anything around here, but since you appear to be new: THAT WAS SARCASM