ST. LOUIS — A state audit released Monday said ºüÀêÊÓƵ police in the last fiscal year accrued nearly $14 million in overtime, and it faulted the department for not having adequate procedures in place to monitor excessive use of overtime.
State Auditor Nicole Galloway called that amount of overtime unsustainable, but she said most of it was due to the department’s struggle to fill more than 100 vacant positions. Galloway said that effort will likely be helped by the repeal last week of the requirement that officers reside within city limits.
Over 1,200 employees of the police department were paid about $13.8 million in overtime in fiscal year 2019, Galloway’s office said. Eight employees doubled their salary using overtime, and an additional 99 earned at least an extra 50% of their base salary with overtime.
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Galloway said officers assigned to the homicide division and federal task forces were among those filing for overtime at high rates, saying, “it speaks to the crisis of crime and violence the city has been facing for some time.â€
“The department recognizes the path they are on is not sustainable. That’s why they are working to implement solutions to address these concerns,†she said, mentioning higher salaries, a cadet program to drum up interest in police work and the repeal of the residency requirement.
The audit also examined personnel who worked second jobs. Galloway said that of the 42 police department employees who worked another job during the audit period, her office found five who were paid for working two jobs at once. The duplicated time could be a result of time sheet errors, the audit said.
Police officials failed to flag workers who didn’t turn in records of their side jobs, or whose combination of jobs took up more than the department limit of 16 hours in a day. found two cases in which employees worked 21 or more hours in a day, including overtime for the department. Inspectors found another person who worked 17 hours in one day and another who worked 18.5, the audit said.
Police have improved their procedures and oversight of secondary duty, and referred one employee’s case to the FBI, the audit noted.
Separately, the audit said $439,000 worth of computer equipment bought between 2005 and 2019 was sitting in a warehouse. Inspectors recommended that the police department only buy computer equipment when needed, rather than buy it in advance and risk its going obsolete.
The Civilian Oversight Board, meanwhile, was counseled about the state’s Sunshine Law after auditors discovered that policies and procedures were discussed in closed session.
In a letter, Jimmie Edwards, director of the city’s Department of Public Safety, wrote that the department was implementing the recommended changes.