Taking Responsibility: Matt Drew for City Council

The Audit Services report on the DPD overtime investigation was released this morning.  It’s not pretty.

I’ve not commented much on this because I’ve worked 100+ hour weeks myself many times in the past, and known many others who do – such time is not necessarily out of order, though it is indicates a management problem or the typical workload at a startup.  However, the finding of the Audit Services report is that very few of the hours claimed by the officer were able to be documented via email, phone records, and system logs from the computer system she used for her work.

The key passage in the report is this one:

The SEC’s immediate supervisor is Captain Charlene Balch.  In the fall of 2008, the SEC’s immediate supervisor noted that the SEC recorded an excessive amount of overtime for the month.  She questioned the overtime and took it to the Deputy Chief.  Per the immediate supervisor, the Deputy Chief acknowledged that she was aware of the overtime and compensatory time claimed.  The Deputy Chief also stated that because the SEC was not allowed to work any off duty jobs, she was allowing her to earn extra time.  From that point foward, the Deputy Chief assumed the responsibility for approving the SEC’s leave, compensatory time and overtime.  Captain Balch continued to evaluate the SEC’s Towing Inspector duties; but not her duties as the SEC.

At this point, it looks like things are now being handled effectively for this case, and I would not be surprised to see some felony fraud indictments, both for the officer and for the Deputy Chief if it turns out she knowingly approved fraudulent overtime.  I also think the focus on restitution is the right way to go.

This should prompt a review of all overtime and secondary work at the Department, especially overtime approved by Deputy Chief Council.  I am also troubled by Chief Lopez’s acceptance of an 80-100 hour work week as normal in his previous job and apparently on this one as well.  I’ve worked that schedule, and I’m pretty sure that I would not want our police officers to potentially be making life and death decisions in that state of mind.  Here’s hoping we can bring some good out of what has rapidly become a major embarrassment to Durham.