The D.C. police department spent more than $30 million in overtime last year, with seven officers earning more than $100,000 for extra work, according to a review of District documents by The Examiner.
And with the District under a crime emergency where officers are required to work six-day weeks, the council has approved $8 million to cover new overtime. Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared the emergency two weeks ago in response to 13 homicides in 11 days.
The amount paid for overtime in 2005 was 15.4 percent greater than the previous year. Seventy-two of the department’s 4,251 employees earned more than $50,000 in overtime; 188 earned more than $30,000. The average MPD employee earned more than $7,000 for extra manhours.
D.C. police spokesman Kevin Morison defended the overtime, saying most of the money is reimbursed through grants, by third parties or through details that pay for themselves. Overtime hours have been cut by a third from 900,000 in 2000 to 600,000 last year. The rate of pay for overtime hours varies, depending on the duties being performed.
“It would be irresponsible to take full-time, on-duty officers out of their neighborhood patrols to work on these reimbursable details,” Morison said.
The big earners are patrol officers who live for the overtime job, rushing from one assignment to the next or detectives who spend days waiting in court to testify, according to a review by The Examiner.
Topping the list was master patrol officer Frank Buentello, a 40-year veteran who received $149,232 for 2,192 extra hours, the equivalent of 6 hours of overtime a day, 365 days a year.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey said he wouldn’t mind if everyone was as dedicated as Buentello. Seventy-five percent of Buentello’s overtime was not funded by local tax dollars, Ramsey said.
Most overtime is on a first-come, first-serve volunteer basis and as a senior patrol officer, Buentello gets first choice. Most volunteer jobs are for traffic control or photo radar, in which the officer sits in a police vehicle and resets the system every hour.
Six of the top 10 earners were detectives who spent days waiting in court to testify. Detective George Taylor Jr. worked 1,208 hours and earned $119,720 in overtime; Edward Truesdale Jr., 1,246 hours and $112,507 in overtime; and James Francis, 934 hours and $100,123 in OT. Total court overtime hours have dropped 59 percent since FY 2000, police said.
