Police OT deserves more oversight

The Lowell (Mass.) Sun
Posted: 05/23/2012 07:00:58 AM EDT


With all the attention given to the rise in nighttime rowdiness in downtown Lowell and the increased police presence initiated to control it, Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee's recent City Council request for a $160,000 transfer into his department's overtime account didn't seem out of the ordinary.
Upon further review, however, we have to wonder whether the most recent infusion of cash reveals shortcomings in the department's control of its personnel.
We would expect overtime to be used for major crime investigations and emergency situations, such as adding downtown patrols to quell street violence during weekend bar-hopping and drinking binges. But just $19,000 -- or 11 percent of the total cash transfer -- is going for that purpose. The bulk of the extra taxpayers' money, however, is going to fill a bunch of personnel holes that, quite honestly, should be a function of the management process -- not a taxpayer bailout.
Overtime money is being used to maintain staffing levels during vacations, for officers on short or extended sick leave, for officers attending special training sessions, and other personnel issues.
With 11 officers out on long-term disability collecting full salaries, the chief has hired three officers from another community, while seven new officers will be on board in June.
Where's the funding for these positions in the new fiscal year?
An exodus of dispatchers either due to retirement -- expected -- or sick leave --
unexpected -- means others must be trained to assume those positions. So why wasn't there a plan in place to hire dispatchers to fill the retirees' positions? It shouldn't include overtime.
Another $1,000 will be used for additional hours for the city's one active animal-control officer, while the other one is out on a personnel-related issue. Will this situation be resolved soon?
All this has contributed to a ballooning of an OT budget from the originally funded $500,000 to just under $950,000. That's a 90 percent increase in 11 months.
We realize unanticipated circumstances can arise, necessitating the need for overtime, but a significant portion of the Police Department's OT seems to be used for ongoing situations that should have been anticipated in the original budget document approved in June 2011.
A thorough review of police personnel procedures should gain efficiencies that would trim the amount of police overtime and make sure what's left is used for appropriate reasons.
Given these times of belt-tightening, we're surprised councilors, aside from Councilor Rodney Elliott, approved this transfer without questioning it.
A better question might be: How does the city have such a large sum of money -- $160,000 -- just hanging around after 11 months of the fiscal year for a noncrisis, nonemergency Police Department bailout?
Are taxpayers being gouged to fuel an OT gravy train that sat mostly idle on the tracks during the recent recession?
Just a few days after the demise of good cholesterol, we know learn there's no need for men to undergo the commonly proscribed screening test for prostate cancer.
A government panel has concluded the harm caused by the PSA blood test outweighed its benefits.
The findings conclude the small upside can't compensate for the dangers of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of nonlethal cancers. Common side effects include urinary incontinence or impotence.
It seems most cancers discovered by the PSA are slow-growing, which would not be fatal.
Ultimately, it's still up to the individual and his physician to decide what course to take.