Salary and overtime figures at the Baltimore County Police Department leave no fiscal stench. With $28,329.52 in overtime, Information Processing Manager Karen Weber made the most extra pay at the Baltimore County Police Department in 2006. That bumped her total salary to $77,937.52, according to records supplied to The Examiner by the county.
No one in the department doubled their salary from overtime, and only a handful pushed their salary over $100,000 because of working extra hours. The vast majority of the 66 members of the force making more than $100,000 made little or no overtime. (Click here to download the entire salary and overtime file.)
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No one even came close to working 50 percent more than their regular hours.
The department spent $6.274 million on overtime in 2006. It budgeted $11.045 million for fiscal 2007, which ends June 30. Since the salary records supplied to The Examiner covered calendar year 2006, the two figures do not correspond perfectly. But both cover a year-long period and at the very least show spending below budget. Way below budget. We?ll have to wait to see the most recent spending. But we?re impressed.
This is how a police department should be run and makes the county force look like a model of fiscal prudence compared with the Baltimore City police, where records show 37 officers at least doubled their time in 2006 and many of the 121 earning over $100,000 did so solely because overtime boosted their salary 100 percent or more.
Then there is the issue of budgeting. The city police department budgeted $7 million for overtime and spent $37 million in 2006. We don?t accept the argument from the police department that the budget process, not the leadership, is at fault. No good reason explains a 500 percent understatement ? and City Council members? and former Mayor Martin O?Malley?s blind acceptance of it.
And no rational person can argue police officers working double time every day make city streets safer. Police officers are not robots, they need sleep and exercise and time off with family and friends to relax and to be able to do their very dangerous job well.
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, Mayor Sheila Dixon and Fraternal Order of Police head Paul Blair falsely accused The Examiner of endangering officer?s lives by publishing salary and overtime information. Accurate information about how the police spend their time and money can only positively impact public policy ? and ultimately, public safety.
Those departments with nothing to hide have nothing to fear. And sunshine can only help citizens and their elected representatives scrutinize whether taxpayer money is being effectively used to reduce crime.
