BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
A Baton Rouge Police sergeant is
suspended from the force without pay after an Internal Affairs probe.
At issue is why he called in sick
to his police job, but still showed up at his many off-duty jobs.
With every pinned badge, every
man and woman is officially deemed police officers. With the uniform, comes the
responsibility to uphold every law and department policy.
"What we have is an officer
that we found in violation of policy and procedure," said Baton Rouge
Police Chief Dewayne White.
Chief White said his Internal
Affairs division investigated Sergeant Dave Mays, a 23-year veteran of the
department.
The I-team examined their
findings. Internal Affairs said they uncovered more than 70 different times
where Sgt. Mays was paid by the city to appear in court for various court
cases. At the same time, he was also being paid for off-duty detail
assignments.
"When he left that employer,
and if he did go to court, he's supposed to deduct that time and the money due
him," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of Metropolitan Crime Commission, a
non-profit group based in New Orleans that has conducted scores of
investigations into allegations of police misconduct.
We asked him to take a look at
the case, including another major part of the investigation into Sgt. Mays.
"He works nights, so he
would call in sick at night and work his extra duty in the day," said
Chief White.
Internal Affairs said it found
mays "violated department policy" by calling in sick for his job at
the police department, but turning around and showing up for work at extra duty
jobs he had scheduled after his police shifts were over.
They outlined four consecutive
10-hour shifts, or Mays' entire workweek, where that allegedly happened last
fall.
Saturday, September 17th for
example: records show Mays clocked in at the Housing Authority at the same time
he should have been working his overnight shift at the police department.
Other days, investigators said he
put in for sick time at the department, but still showed up and got paid by
other employers, for nearly 35 hours of extra-duty jobs..
Those places being Advance Baton
Rouge's Lanier Elementary school, Ardenwood Apartments, the Housing Authority,
Oasis Christian Church, Baton Rouge General and more.
He told investigators he was not
personally sick, but took sick time to help care for his son who had a broken
wrist.
"When you have a police
officer that is being untruthful, that is milking the system, in this
particular instance, is violating internal rules and potentially also violating
some of the criminal laws that he took an oath of office to uphold, then that
undermines the public's confidence in a police department," said Goyeneche.
"You can work 10 years to
build a reputation of an agency and an errant officer can bring that reputation
crumbling down in 10 minutes," said Chief White.
Chief White reviewed the case,
and records show, he wanted Mays to resign or face possible termination.
In January, Mays lawyer wrote a
letter to the chief saying Mays denies intentionally violating any departmental
policies or state law and "declines your offer to resign."
The next month, both sides agreed
to a punishment. Mays received 90 days without pay from the police department
and was banned from doing any extra-duty jobs for a full year.
As for the department's extra
duty policy, Chief White said it has since been revisited and revamped.
"The changes are oversight.
We're building additional oversight. We're building a software program so we
can interface with payroll and extra-duty to determine if there are any other
cases like this," said Chief White.
"Working a detail is a
privilege, not a right, and your primary purpose is as a police officer,"
said Goyeneche.
In a statement through his
attorney Thursday afternoon, Sgt. Mays said he had permission from all his
private employers to stay on the clock with them while also appearing in court.
Also in a statement to the
I-team, one of those private employers, Advance Baton Rouge, said that is not
true.
Chief White said there could be
possible criminal wrongdoing here based on payroll fraud, but he said, so far,
none of the private employers have asked criminal charges be pursued.
Had enough? Write to
the Speaker of the House, U.S. House
of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the
police problem in America. Demand
mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ office on Police Misconduct.