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Second Police Overtime Scandal Exposed;
Stress Disability Awarded to Two

In addition to the overtime scandal in which Portland Police clocked in for $165,000 worth of overtime (let's call it the Central Precinct overtime scandal­see PPR 18), it has been revealed that officers have been feeding from the overtime trough for years under questionable circumstances.

The Oregonian reports that 17 officers each made $30,000 in overtime in 1999, and that every year since 1995 the Police Bureau was at least $1 million over budget on overtime (March 9). Practices included registering hours between the end of a night shift and court time the next day as overtime. In other words, the officers would get off duty at 4 am, go to court at 9 am, be done at 2 pm and charge the city for 10 hours of overtime (4 am to 2 pm) although they were actually not working for at least five hours. Fortunately, the City's new contract with the PPA (see article sidebar) has made clear exactly what does count as overtime worked.

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The City Auditor should be conducting a full audit by the time you read this. Let's hope that any deliberate attempts to defraud the City are treated as such.

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In a March 11 editorial, the Oregonian called oversight of the Bureau's time slips "abysmal" and the behavior of the officers taking advantage of contract loopholes "scandalous."

Attorney Spencer Neal, in a letter to the Oregonian (December 26, 1999), wondered why the FBI had not yet been called in to investigate the Central Precinct overtime scandal. Neal, Portland's most infamous lawyer when it comes to challenging police misconduct, noted a number of potential criminal charges which could have been levied against citizens had they "stolen" money from the City. "Maybe this matter is beyond the capabilities of the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, which relies upon these same officers to get convictions when private citizens are being prosecuted for similar crimes."

On December 15, the Oregonian reported that county prosecutors are working with the Oregon Attorney General's office as well as the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General. District Attorney Mike Schrunk claims that the federal and state assistance is only to "help ascertain what the facts are."

The article explains that testimony police were compelled to give can not be used against them in criminal prosecution, but says that those statements might be used to build cases against other officers.

Meanwhile, Sergeants Richard Barton, Bradford Bailey and Rocky Balada, facing termination or demotion from the Internal Affairs investigation of the scandal (see PPR 19), filed stress- related disability claims over the proceedings. The Oregonian reported on March 17 that the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund had awarded Barton and Bailey's claims of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder brought on by the investigation. Barton claims PTSD relating to his part in the shooting death of 12-year-old Nathan Thomas and the man who held him hostage back in 1992, and Bailey's stress goes back to witnessing one shooting by other officers in 1994 and firing at a suspect ­but not hitting her­in 1992.

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Both Mayor Katz and Portland Police Association Vice President Leo Painton are calling for more immediate psychological assistance after traumatic experiences; Painton says police should also be tracked throughout theircareers to look for "a pattern of behavior" indicating a problem. (Oregonian, March 18). We think that all officers who use deadly force should be considered aliability to the City. Other shooter cops who were suspended or fired for subsequent activity include Brad Benge, fired for stealing and selling marijuana from the police evidence room, and Michael Barkley, indicted and cited by a judge for lying to investigators and "misleading" the family he was accused of defrauding.

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What other kinds of undue stress are officers undergoing due to this investigation? Some insight is offered in the February Portland Police Association newsletter, the Rap Sheet, by Officer Carol Miller, the Bureau's new Employee Assistance Program coordinator. Miller notes that she found herself thinking about these difficulties when she spent her first days at work helping officers affected by the "Central Precinct Investigation," her euphemism for the overtime scandal.

Miller admits she worked at Central Precinct and participated in many Northstar drug missions during the time the fraudulent time cards were being filed. "It was perhaps my most difficult task in my short PPB career to go through the Internal Affairs interviews. The line between loyalty and honesty was quickly brought to the surface."

That line, the thin blue line, must be redrawn so that officers' testimony always falls on the side of honesty.

April, 2000
Also in PPR #20

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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