HPD trying to rein in overtime costs

HUNTINGTON -- Officials blame low manpower, a contractual agreement and a troubled court system for the Huntington Police Department's soaring overtime costs.

The department tallied 14,400 hours of overtime in the second half of 2007. That is equivalent to almost 14 full-time police officers working a 40-hour work week, not including worker's compensation costs or benefits such as health care expenses.

Annual overtime costs increased 20 percent, or almost $146,900, between mid-2004 and mid-2007. Overtime expenses totaled $854,651 in fiscal year 2006-07. That was 17.4 percent of the $4.9 million in total departmental salaries for 2006-07.

Time in court and manpower shortages accounted for about 58 percent of overtime expenses in the second half of 2007. Another 26 percent involved detective and forensic work, along with S.W.A.T. activities, prostitution stings and drug investigations, according to analysis provided by the Police Department.

The officers' collective bargaining agreement currently guarantees them four hours pay for any time they are called out during off hours. That means four hours of overtime pay regardless if the officer works for 15 minutes or four hours.

Administrators believe overtime costs will slightly decrease in the current budget, thanks to recognition, control and discipline by Police Chief Skip Holbrook.

The chief believes step one to reigning in costs is identifying the problem. He has emphasized coding time cards to explain each hour of overtime. That resulted in the analysis, which showed time in court and manpower shortages consume most of the overtime budget.

Holbrook also has punished officers for abusing overtime, according to the chief's comments at a budget hearing in March. The chief told The Herald-Dispatch the disciplinary actions involved a couple officers. He said the action involved internal investigations, and he would not release names or describe the specific nature of each violation.

"If there is any type of activity that is not authorized overtime and we catch it, we're going to take corrective action," he said.

Huntington Police Lt. Hank Dial told City Council that it was the first time officers have been disciplined because of overtime.

Holbrook said fiscal issues are not his only concern when it comes to overtime. He believes more police would reduce overtime for individual officers, thus reducing the toll long hours can take on the human body.

"We are stretched completely thin," he said. "I mean we've got officers right at the maximum amount of time they should work for health reasons and safety reasons.

"Would you rather have an officer that is fresh and ready to go or somebody that is ragged out? You want a fresh officer that is energetic and presents well to the public."

Too much time in court

Huntington police officers tallied 5,413 hours and 30 minutes in court during the last half of 2007. That is equivalent to five full-time police officers working a 40-hour week.

Holbrook said the largest problem is in Cabell County Magistrate Court, and he is not the first to complain.

The magistrate courtroom is known for delays. For example, the felony docket begins at 10:30 a.m., but the roll call is often followed by a lengthy recess and negotiation. Officers and family members wait while attorneys negotiate. The two sides often agree to a plea bargain or they postpone the hearing without discussing the case in open court.

Holbrook told City Council that he has veteran officers who have never testified in court.

"That is unbelievable to me, and that tells me there is a breakdown in the system," he said.

Fourteen months ago, the Cabell County Sheriff's Office joined the Huntington Police Department and three other law enforcement agencies in requesting a meeting to discuss the ongoing problem. Manpower and overtime costs were at issue then, and the problems continue.

Councilwoman Mary Neely said she has participated in similar meetings in the past. She said the conversation always came back to the union's contractual four-hour overtime provision and allegations that police officers unnecessarily showed up at incidents just so they would be subpoenaed for court, thus ensuring future overtime.

"Nothing ever was accomplished," she said.

Holbrook said responsibility for the breakdown in magistrate court belongs to many, including police, prosecutors and judges. He also accused defense attorneys of manipulating the system. He said he believes they frequently ask for delays with the goal of wearing down the officer.

"(They) wear law enforcement down to the point where an officer is not there, and then of course they want to dismiss the case," he told City Council. "Or they try to manipulate a case to get in front of a certain magistrate. We all share responsibility to review this process and be responsible for our different agencies to where it is a fair process."

Holbrook said the court should schedule an attorney-only meeting before any hearing date is set. That would give both sides time to discuss the case without consuming officers' time.

Councilman Paul Farrell is a former prosecutor. He said the police department does not control whether its officer testifies, but he commended the police chief for cutting down on abuse where he can. The councilman shared stories about three officers participating in one drunk-driving arrest and previous chiefs doing Breathalyzer tests to ensure everyone gets subpoenaed.

Holbrook told The Herald-Dispatch those incidents are not occurring within his department.

"That's a lot of what I call bad information," he said. "People think we have five officers going on one case. That is not happening."

Holbrook also said day shift officers and detectives attend court as part of their normal work day. No overtime is involved with those officers.

Holbrook said the four-hour call out provision mainly affects night shift officers. He said the drug unit, which works various hours, varies when it utilizes the provision.

Manpower shortages cause overtime

Councilman Garry Black said overtime in the most recent four years accounted for 20 percent of the department's total earnings paid. That number was up 4 to 5 percentage points from the prior eight years.

"So what do you think has happened?" he asked.

Dial blamed the layoff of 16 police officers in July 2002. Holbrook said he believes that pay raises also influenced that increase.

"I'm not surprised by those numbers at all," Dial said at the meeting. "I'm sort of surprised they only went up 5 percent."

Manpower shortages are the second leading cause of overtime in the department, according to analysis conducted in the second half of 2007.

The upcoming budget calls for the hiring of six additional police officers. Dial and Holbrook expect that to help the department in time, but they warn overtime will not immediately decrease because the new officers must be trained.

Black questioned if overtime used to fill shortages on patrol shifts would be better used to hire more officers.

Holbrook supports hiring more officers, but he warns doing that will not eliminate all overtime. He said it only reduces individual overtime because the same amount of money is going to be spread across more officers with a possibility of overtime still.

"I guess on paper you can say, 'I'm taking this $4 here and pay for this,' but we may ultimately spend $5 and that $1 may be overtime," he said in an interview. "Now we're increasing the amount of police service that is going to cause you to have overtime at some point anyway."

Reimbursed overtime

The Police Department is receiving more overtime reimbursements from federal and state grants than it has in many years, according to Dial.

The reimbursements pay overtime expenses associated with projects such as the department's Bike Patrol, drunken driving enforcement and some drug investigations.

The reimbursements also pay overtime so Capt. Mike Wilson and Dial can attend community meetings. Both officers benefit from the four-hour call out provision each time they attend a meeting.

Both defended the benefit.

"I get off work, I'll wait until the 7 o'clock meeting and I'm here at the office doing work until I go to that meeting," Wilson said.

Dial said he typically works a 12- to 14-hour day on meeting days. He said those gatherings play an important role in receiving input from the community and helping the city receive more grant funding,

Both officers said the meetings require preparation and time afterward taking information back to patrol officers.

Holbrook said the community groups are comfortable with Wilson and Dial. He said they are the best conduits, until more officers are hired so beat officers become more involved.

"It's frustrating because people make that cavalier statement about that 'Well, you've got a captain that is going to community meetings,'" he said. "But the second I pull that officer off that shift and they have to wait two hours for somebody to respond or somebody doesn't respond, then it's a catch-22."

Managing overtime

Under Holbrook's administration, the department has placed a greater emphasis on coding overtime cards.

In the past, Holbrook said overtime was monitored by tracking month-to-month totals. That method showed peaks, but Holbrook wanted more detail.

"That is just watching your numbers," he said. "We want to know what we're spending our money on, how we're spending it, so it allows us to say, 'Well, can we do this better? Do we need to spread this out?"

Holbrook said future operational decisions, such as special investigations and drug raids, require the department to monitor the overtime numbers on a daily basis.

He also believes tracking the information allows the department to be more transparent and make better arguments for more manpower.

"I don't want to say 'We're watching it,'" he said. "I want to say, 'We're monitoring how we are disbursing overtime and this is how we watch it. I'll explain our system, and then I can give you the data to support what we are doing.'"

Some management issues are out of Holbrook's control.

Every police officer is a civil service employee, and that means every officer is paid on a hourly basis. That includes supervisors and managerial positions, which would be salaried jobs in the private sector.