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Overtime Issue
Why auditor wants police pay inquiry |
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Inside Bay Area
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WHEN 19 new jurors are selected Wednesday for a year's duty on the Alameda County civil grand jury, their first investigation may be on Oakland police overtime spending.
Oakland city Auditor Roland Smith - an elected, not appointed, auditor who often has surprised City Hall with his independent spirit - said Wednesday the only way to solve the critical problem of excessive police overtime is to "get all the facts out on the table once and for all."
He strongly suspects Oakland Police Officers Association board members are getting the lion's share of overtime money.
On Wednesday, OPOA officials said although they don't think a grand jury investigation is needed, the union supports having one. It joined in Smith's request for the inquiry because of continuing media coverage and what it
views as "attacks" on the OPOA. Police Chief Wayne Tucker was caught by surprise by Smith's move, he said immediately after it was announced a week ago. Smith said when he tried to get through to Tucker after the news conference, a cadet returned the call, not Tucker.
"The grand jury has the independence and the power of the court behind it to investigate," said Smith. He has no intention of withdrawing his request to the grand jury.
The civil grand jury acts as a watchdog of government and has turned its spotlight on such deals as the Raiders' return to Oakland, which is still costing the taxpayers more than $20 million a year; school district failures and the county Office of Education; and welfare fraud, to name a few. Just about any hint of wrongdoing can be probed.
The Police Department is expected to outspend its budget by $11.7 million next year, most of it on overtime. This alarms Smith.
As auditor, he wants the grand jury to shine light on the police union, whose officers appear to be the cops getting most of the overtime jobs that have boosted their salaries way over $100,000 a year.
Smith demanded the names of the OPOA officers earlier but got no place with the request. In fact, union President Bob Valladon was reported as refusing the request because the auditor "has an attitude."
Those were fighting words to Smith, and he began plotting his strategy to get the information. It may have convinced him he had to.
Smith says excessive police spending means cutting quality-of-life activities such as parks, libraries, museums, zoos and social services.
The civil grand jury is authorized to inspect and audit books, records and expenditures to ensure the public that public funds are properly accounted for and spent.
"As they investigate, if they find evidence of criminal behavior, the jury could call for a criminal grand jury to be convened," said Jeffrey Stark, a district attorney assigned to the grand jury. He said the jury itself will decide if it wants to take up the allegations of police overtime.
If a criminal investigation is called for, the jury would call in district attorney investigators and activate a criminal grand jury, which is randomly selected from the pool of Superior Court jurors.
Stark said if the jury wants to comment and make recommendations before the end of its term next June, it can issue an interim report. Just such a report was issued earlier this year on the county's medical center, and in the past grand juries have used interim reports to address issues on a timely basis.
If the jury is to have any effect on this year's police spending, it will have to act rather quickly, so an interim report seems in order.
Names of the new grand jurors will not be known until names are drawn from a pool of applicants submitted by county judges. They review applications that have been made by citizens and nominate a pool of 25 to 30 nominees. A spin of the bottle takes place, and 19 names that are pulled become the new grand jury.
Actually only eight to 10 of the new batch may be selected because up to 10 of the present jurors may be asked to stay for a second term by the presiding judge. All five county supervisorial districts must be represented.
The grand jury meets once a week and as needed. All discussions are held in secret. This means the public won't hear anything out of the grand jury until it is ready to speak, possibly through an interim report.
Meanwhile, the city auditor will be holding his breath, as will the police and everyone interested in the police overtime problem.
E-mail Peggy Stinnett at pstinnett@newspapers.com . |
***
Who's working their days off, holidays, extended shifts & call-ins, the hard working cop. Doesnt he deserve some extra compensation ? If the City could attract, recruit, hire & train more cops (as authorized), OTW would not be an ongoing headache. In the current academy I saw only 8 OPDers (last week) and it's not over yet.
No fire, no "smoke', jim c
***
Cop union denounces call for OT probe
OPOA chief expects vindication if grand jury investigates; Oakland
auditor says he'll 'smoke out' truth
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER <mailto:hmacdonald@angnewspapers.com>
OAKLAND -- The Oakland Police Officers Association fired back Wednesday at city Auditor Roland Smith, saying OPOA members were outraged by his call for the Alameda County grand jury to investigate unchecked overtime spending by the Police Department.
Officer Bob Valladon, police union president, welcomed such an investigation, saying he was confident the grand jury will clear him and the union of Smith's allegations that the OPOA is manipulating the overtime system for its members' gain.
Union lawyer Rockne Lucia accused Smith of going too far and impugning the character of the men and women of the Police Department. Lucia said Smith's politically motivated attack was designed to drum up media attention.
"We believe the auditor overstepped his bounds," Lucia said. "This is a very serious matter."
Smith, who plans to run for re-election in 2006, said he stands by his call for a grand jury investigation and welcomed the union's cooperation with both a potential grand jury investigation and the auditor's separate examination of police overtime.
"We want to smoke out the truth," Smith said.
It is up to the grand jury to decide whether to act on Smith's request. Any investigation would be confidential until the grand jury's annual report is released.
The Police Department is expected to go $11.7 million over budget this year, mostly because of overtime pay, city officials say.
Valladon and police commanders blame the department's "culture of overtime" on the council's demand that crime be reduced and reckless driving "sideshows" be suppressed despite a two-year-long hiring freeze.
For example, seven officers voluntarilyworked overtime on the day shift Wednesday, and another eight offered to cover open beats on the swing shift. But that left seven open beats that were filled through the department's mandatory overtime policy.
Police overtime costs will only be reduced once the city hires another 150 officers, Valladon said.
"The OPOA has nothing to do with it," Valladon said. "Bob Valladon has nothing to do with it."
All voluntary overtime is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, including assignments to patrol baseball and football games at McAfee Coliseum and the Arena. Those costs are reimbursed by the sports teams.
On top of his $79,068 base salary, which he earns as union president, Valladon earned $71,470 in overtime and extra pay last year. Union Vice President Rudy Villegas earned
$74,440 in overtime for a total salary of $153,508. Both were among the best-paid city employees last fiscal year.
Mayor Jerry Brown called the clash between the auditor and Valladon and the police union a "tempest in a teapot" and said a grand jury investigation was not merited.
"I haven't seen any evidence of abuse," Brown said.
While saying the Police Department is "grossly understaffed," the mayor said he would work to negotiate a more efficient way to deploy officers once the union's contract expires next year.
Valladon said the negotiations would cover some tough issues the union strongly opposes, including a proposal to change officer work weeks from four 10-hour days to five eight-hour days.
The spat began two weeks ago when Smith subpoenaed a list of union board directors, saying he suspected they were unfairly benefiting from the department's reliance on overtime.
Along with a 13-page letter to the auditor harshly criticizing Smith's actions and questioning his motives, the union submitted a copy of its May 2005 newsletter, which includes a list of the board.
E-mail Heather MacDonald at hmacdonald@angnewspapers.com
<mailto:hmacdonald@angnewspapers.com>.
***
OAKLAND AUDITOR SEEKS GRAND JURY PROBE OF POLICE OVERTIME
06/16/05 3:45 PDT
OAKLAND (BCN)
Oakland Auditor Roland Smith said today he's asking the Alameda County grand jury to investigate what he described as "excessive overtime'' at the Oakland Police Department.
Speaking at a news conference at Oakland City Hall , Smith said the powerful Oakland Police Officers Association, the union representing the city's officers, opposes recommendations a consultant recently made to reduce the city's overtime costs, which are among the highest in the state.
Smith said that when Oakland voters passed the anti-crime Measure Y last year, they provided funding to hire more officers but "it was not their intention to fund excessive police overtime.''
He said excessive overtime drains city funds for "quality of life benefits'' such as parks, libraries, museums, zoos, social services and road services.
Smith submitted 11 questions for the grand jury to address, including whether overtime has become "a de facto entitlement for well-connected OPD officers,'' whether overtime allocation to officers is based on union influence and favoritism, and whether there are flaws in the city budget process in budgeting overtime.
Smith's news conference drew wide attention at city hall and was attended by police Chief Wayne Tucker and representatives of Mayor Jerry Brown, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and City Attorney John Russo.
Afterward, Tucker said he was "a little surprised'' that Smith held the news conference because Smith has never talked to him about overtime costs except for a short talk about the costs of policing "sideshows,'' reckless car-driving rallies on weekends.
Tucker admitted that Oakland 's police overtime costs are higher than in most cities but said that's due to three factors: policing professional sports events at the coliseum complex, a large number of officers out on disabilities and a shortage of officers.
He said the city hasn't hired any new officers for two years.
Tucker said he believes the process through which officers are hired for overtime and given assignments is fair, saying no grievances have been filed over those issues.
An official at the Oakland Police Officers Association said its president, Bob Valladon, is out of town, unavailable for comment and the only person who can speak for the union.
From: "Victor Sandoval" <victorsandoval1@comcast.net>
Subject: Fw: [openline] KTVU hit piece on Valladon and OPD overtime
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 09:40:56 -0500
I thought openline might want to read what a person with insight on the KTVU segment had to say.
Vic Sandoval
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Hunt
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 7:48 PM
Subject: Re: [openline] KTVU hit piece on Valladon and OPD overtime
Vic, I don't know if you remember me but we met a couple of times in different places, I retired from Union City back in late 89 and eventually ended up as the Security Director for the Coliseum when the Raiders returned from Los Angeles. This Channel 2 segment is so much bullshit that I will write Randy Shandobil myself. When I took over the Coliseum job, we were fielding about 20plus OPD and it was mostly motor officers, as the crowds got worse and they really did, we were able to field about 70plus uniforms and we were still getting our butts kicked in the media as far away as Modesto and Sacramento . The Coliseum was paying the overtime bill for all these Officers plus a 10% or so admin fee to the City. About the 3rd season the Raiders were back we were overwhelmed and OPD could not find enough "off duty"Officers to work overtime to control the unruly crowds that even my 150plus Security guards were afraid of and then we also opened the East side. My dilemma was overwhelming and I never admitted this before but I had to go to the Sheriff to fill the bill. Now why the hell is Channel 2 not talking about what goes on over on the East side.
Now to say that we (OPD) just stand around at the bar and watch the game or whatever else they were saying is absolute BS again, I can remember when there were 30 or more arrests made in the Westside Club alone, and at some Raider games there were as many as 100 plus arrests and as many or more egections.
The A's games were not a hell of lot different esppecially when they adopted the $1 dollar taco, dog and wednesday nite whatever.
I could go on and on, but I just got out of the hospital with major surgery and the vicodin along with the stress of that video has me cross eyed. I hope they look into the stats and other admin problems we had in those days and still do to some extent.
I wish my memory was better right now, I could really go off on Shandobil.
Michael O. Hunt
pass this on to Bob V.
***
From: "Samuel Maddux" <sammaddux@southernarizonawireless.com>
Subject: RE: [openline] Police Overtime
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2005 20:32:03 -0700
I was just wondering why the OPOA isn't running on-going ad's in the Tribune providing the other side of the story on these issues. For example, explaining to the voters why it has always been advantageous for the City to pay for overtime rather than hire/train/pay benefits to new officers or, for that matter, to fill existing vacancies. If the overtime money is compared to the cost of actually filling the vacancies it would create a totally different picture.
"THE WHOLE TRUTH WITHOUT POLITICAL RHETORIC BY THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT"
While looking at Oakland issues, is it really financially feasible for the City to be looking at financing another new stadium for the A's. I have great doubts that having the A's (or Warriors or Raiders) is financially positive for the City. It seems that most Cities believe that they are not viewed as real, viable cities unless they have sport franchises. Do they really bring in positive dollars to the City or, in the long run, do they cost more than they contribute. It appears that with the Raider boondoggle that the City and County will be in the red for years. That doesn't even account for the added costs relating to Police Services and other related services related to these events.
Just a few, off the wall thoughts. Sam Maddux
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 12:59 PM
Subject: [openline] Police Overtime
Article Last Updated: 6/10/2005 03:14 AM
City auditor digs into police overtime List of union board members is subpoenaed after OPOA president declines to cooperate
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER Inside Bay Area
OAKLAND -- City Auditor Roland Smith said Thursday he is auditing the millions of dollars spent by the Oakland Police Department on overtime.
As part of his investigation, Smith subpoenaed the names of the 15-member Oakland Police Officers Association Board of Directors after union President Bob Valladon refused Smith's request for the list, which is published in the association's newsletter.
Smith said he had no reason to suspect wrongdoing on the part of the OPOA or individual board members.
"But when someone refuses to cooperate, it makes me wonder what they are trying to hide," Smith said.
Valladon, an Oakland police officer, said he refused to turn over the information because Smith would not tell him why he wanted it.
"He had an attitude, and I decided I wouldn't give it to him," Valladon said, adding that he has turned the subpoena over to the association's lawyers.
Smith said his investigation was designed to expand on the audit completed by Public Financial Management Inc. that found the department must be overhauled from top to bottom to check overtime spending.
"The issue needs closer scrutiny," Smith said, declining to discuss details of an ongoing investigation or speculate when it would be concluded.
Earlier this year, Smith objected to the City Council's decision to pay the Philadelphia-based firm $180,000 to conduct an audit he said his office could complete for a fraction of the cost.
Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale) said the audit, which offered 71 recommendations to save $25.2 million during the next five years, was worth the price.
The department is expected to go $11.7 million over budget this year, mostly because of overtime pay, city officials said. Interim Chief Wayne Tucker has pledged to rein in overtime spending and has instituted changes that have reduced the anticipated spending by about $1.2 million.
Nearly $2 million of the department's overtime costs last year were reimbursed by other organizations, such as the Oakland Raiders, which pays the department to police football games. Valladon often works those shifts, which are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, as is all overtime in the Police Department, he said.
Police commanders blame the spiraling costs of overtime on the City Council's demand that crime be reduced despite the dwindling number of officers. Some city officials say the department has been mismanaged.
Fifteen of the city's top 25 overtime earners are members of the Police Department, each pocketing more than $63,100 on top of his or her base salary. Ten of the 15 members of the OPOA board made more than $100,000 last year, city records show.
On top of his base salary of $79,068, Valladon earned $71,470 in overtime in fiscal 2003-04. Officer Rudy Villegas, the board secretary, earned $74,440 in overtime for a total salary of $153,508. Both are among the city's top-paid employees, city records show.
Lt. Dave Kozicki, the lieutenants' representative on the board, earned $32,265 in overtime for a total salary of $137,781. Sgt. Thomas Hogenmiller, one of three sergeant representatives, earned $39,332 in overtime for a total of $130,557. Sgt. Dominique Arotzarena earned $43,923 in overtime for a total of $135,148. Sgt. Pedro Espinoza earned $18,601 in overtime for a total of $109,826, according to city records.
Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report.
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