You know that a police department is being mismanaged when a public information officer (PIO) becomes the news instead of responding to the news agencies with information on criminal cases.
What is even worse is when a Police Oversight Board Agency votes to unanimously to recommend to the APD Chief that not only should the PIO be fired but also his supervisor for abuse of overtime resulting with both being listed in the top 11 highest paid city hall employees earning thousands more than the APD Chief Command staff and City Department Directors.
What is downright pathetic is when the city’s TV News stations do not even bother to report that the APD Police Oversight Agency voted to recommend termination of APD Public Information Officer and his supervisor or APD Police Officers earning 2 and 3 times their base pay and paid $101,000 to $192,000 a year because of overtime.
There were two Albuquerque Journal front page stories regarding the $192,973 compensation paid in 2018 to APD Master Police Officer 1st Class and Spokesman officer Simon Drobik.
You can review both stories here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/1302312/dismissal-of-spokesman-urged.html
https://www.abqjournal.com/1302650/apd-reviewing-oversight-report-into-spokesmans-pay.html
CIVILIAN POLICE OVERSIGHT AGENCY RECOMMENDS DISMISSAL
On Friday, April 12, 2019, it was reported that the APD Civilian Police Oversight (CPO) Agency recommended the dismissal of APD Master Police Officer 1st Class and Public Information Officer Simon Drobik as well as his former supervisor for overtime pay abuse.
The CPO Agency investigation found that in 2018, Drobik was paid $192,973 making him Albuquerque’s highest-paid employee in 2018. The investigation also found that his supervisor was one of the city’s top 11 paid wage earners. The investigation found that throughout 2018 Drobik violated overtime and pay policies more than 50 times by getting paid simultaneously for being on call as a spokesman for APD and working “chief’s overtime” and paid time and a half stationed at local businesses.
“Chief’s Overtime” is a practice in which private companies pay the city, usually around $50 an hour, to have an APD officer stationed at their business for security while in full APD police uniform, armed and including the use of their city police vehicle. The money paid by the private businesses is used to pay the police officer time and a half per hour of their regular pay and the city keeps the balance as a fee or profit for the police service provided. Any police officer who does Chief’s Overtime must apply and get permission from a supervisor. Programs where APD Officers can also earn overtime include holiday tac-plan initiatives, checkpoints, extended training, special events like the Balloon Fiesta and security detail for high profile dignitary visits such as the US President or US Vice President, all where the City pays the overtime worked.
According to the CPO investigation, Master Police Officer 1st Class Drobik would be assigned to businesses for “chief’s overtime”, but he was also “on call” and he would leave where he was stationed to do his job as an APD spokesman and he was paid at the same time to do his other job. The CPOA investigation found that Drobik violated the policy 51 times throughout 2018 when he was also signed up to be “on call” to the field and he also worked 207 Chief’s Overtime assignments.
According to the CPO Investigation the practice officer Drobik engaged in:
“… is in direct violation of SOP (Standard Operating Procedures). … “Yet Officer [Simon Drobik] knowingly and repeatedly violated this policy to enrich himself. Despite the lack of supervision from the department, an officer’s moral code of ethics does not allow an officer to continually violate policy, especially for their own [personal] gains.”
The CPO Investigation report also singles out Drobik’s supervisor, identifying the supervisor as “Lt. M” stating:
“Lt. M” supervised Drobik until mid-October and continued to approve the overtime. … Lt. M acknowledges and was aware of Officer D’s repeated violations of APD Administrative Order 3-20-2 (6). However, [Lt. M] took no corrective actions; instead he continued to approve the Chief’s Overtime Assignments throughout 2018 until Officer D’s TDY assignment in October of 2018. …”
APD’s standard operating procedures (SOP’s), prohibits police officers from signing up for or accepting overtime shifts if they are on “on-call” status, as was the case with Sergeant Drobik as APD spokesman. The CPO Investigation also found that Drobik claimed compensatory time for going for runs with the Police Academy’s cadets 28 times, for a total of 56 hours, and he was paid time and a half to run with police cadets. Compensatory time or “comp time” is time worked in excess of the mandatory 40 hour work week and it is paid at time and a half of the hourly wage rate. Being paid for the Police Academy cadet class runs violated APD policies because comp time is only supposed to be used if an officer “accomplishes some specific objective for the department.”
According to the investigation:
“Being compensated for an activity that accomplishes no specific objective is inefficient as it wastes public money that could be used for specific activities that do accomplish a specific objective for APD and the city. …”
The CPO Investigation found that while it may be physically impossible for anyone to work for 26 hours in a day, it was entirely possible and it was permitted for Simon Drobik to “bill” in excess of 24 hours in a day under existing policies using the various categories of time billed such as “straight time”, “compensatory time”, “chiefs overtime”, “holiday leave” time and “vacation time” and “time and a half time.”
The CPO investigation recommended that APD begin monitoring officers’ overtime for irregular activity and to verify why certain officers are routinely working so much overtime resulting in “compensation exceeds that of many executives in City Government.” The Civilian Police Oversight Board (CPO) unanimously agreed to sustain the agency’s findings and recommendations for the dismissal of Drobik and his former supervisor.
Not at all surprising, Shaun Willoughby, President of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, said he believes spokesman Simon Drobik deserves every dollar he “earned” by saying:
“I don’t know a harder-working police officer than Simon Drobik. … Every single time we are given information about some atrocity inside of Albuquerque, Simon is the face that you see. He’s doing a job nobody else in the department wants to do.”
The CPO Investigation found that in reviewing Chief’s Overtime slips, the names of many of the top earners in APD were on the same Chief’s Overtime assignments that Master Police Officer 1st Class and APD spokesman Simon Drobik were on. Last year, APD Chief Geier lifted the caps on the amount of overtime officers could work each month.
The rational for lifting the cap was that APD was severely understaffed with 850 sworn police, yet budgeted for 1,040 sworn police. Chief Geier replaced the cap starting January 2019 as staffing has increased during the last year and APD is projected to have 950 sworn police by July 1, 2019.
The April 12, 2019 Police Oversight investigative report makes two major recommendations:
1. “The City of Albuquerque should ask for another Audit of APD Overtime which will include and audit of the Chief’s Overtime Program. The audit should explore the actual cost to the City of the Chief’s Overtime program versus what the Chief’s overtime program brings in. The audit should cover how many officers take time off from their regularly scheduled duty to go work a Chief’s overtime during those same hours. The audit should also explore whether or not another officer had to be called in on overtime to handle the off-duty officer’s duties on that shift on that day because the staffing level was below the 70% threshold. Lastly, the audit should determine whether or not the Chief’s Overtime Program violates the Anti-Donation Clause of the State of New Mexico.” (April 12, 2019 Police Oversight Investigation report, page 10.)
2. “APD should immediately revise its policy on overtime. Officers should be limited to working no more than 25 hours per week of overtime and that is inclusive of all overtime. The policy should prohibit officers from taking comp time or vacation from their regularly assigned duties for the sole purpose of working a chief’s Overtime assignment. APD supervisors, prior to approving a leave request, should be required to check with the Chiefs Overtime Program to make sure that the officer is not signed up for Chief’s Overtime and/or they are not taking leave to go to work a Chief’s Overtime assignment during the very same hours they are scheduled to work their assigned shift. Officers should be prohibited from working Chief’s Overtime if they are in an “on call” status. The policy should reflect any recommendations that were made by the City Auditor. Lastly, the policy should be vigorously enforced and adhered to by all APD personnel.” (April 12, 2019, Police Oversight Investigation report, page 11.)
The CPO Agency Investigation report states in bold, capital letters on page 8 of the 16-page report:
“TO BE CLEAR: THIS INVESTIGATION FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY BY ANY OF THE PARTIES INVESTIGATED”.
Notwithstanding the asserted statement that no evidence of criminal activity by the parties was found, APD has a very dubious history when it comes to nefarious conduct with “time cards” and paying overtime.
On September 25, 2018, a grand jury indicted a former Albuquerque police officer on 10 counts of fraud, embezzlement and other charges for “time card fraud” when he was a sergeant with the department. The indictment, filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, charged James Geha, 50, with computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle over $2,500; fraud over $2,500; and eight counts of paying or receiving public money for services not rendered or in the alternative making or permitting false public voucher. Geha was alleged to have bilked the city out of $13,000 through the time card fraud.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1225465/former-police-sergeant-indicted-on-fraud-charges.html
In March of 2017, a city internal audit report revealed that the Albuquerque Police Department spent $3.9 million over its “overtime” budget resulting $13 million was paid in overtime when the actual budget was for $9 million. The audit found that too often, officers did not follow the rules when it came to get overtime pre-approved or didn’t properly submit overtime documents for “grant funded” traffic over time. According to the audit, there were potentially 38,000 cases of unapproved overtime that occurred during fiscal year 2016 based on a sampling of time cards.
https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/03/30/apd-overtime-pay-abuse-and-recruitment-tool/
https://www.petedinelli.com/2017/09/20/associated-press-story-on-apd-police-overtime/
Chief Michael Geier will decide whether officer Simon Drobik and his former supervisor will keep their jobs or if other disciplinary action should be taken, if any at all.
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL COVERAGE
The Albuquerque Journal with its two front page stories is the only news agency that reported in great detail the $192,973 compensation paid to APD Simon Drobik, the investigation,the reasons for the recommendation and the POB voting to recommend that Drobik be terminated along with his supervisor.
Not to be outdone by the Albuquerque Journal’s Friday, April 12, 2019 article, Channel 13 did a very short report on the CPO recommendation to fire Drobik which was in apparent response to the first Albuquerque Journal article in the morning paper, but Channel 13 failed to report in any great detail on the two CPO recommendations and failed to report on the fact that 125 police officers were paid in excess of $100,000 in 2018.
You can view the Channel 13 report here:
https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/cpoa-recommends-dismmissal-of-apd-spokesman/1922005778
Notwithstanding the Albuquerque Journal being on top of the story, the Journal and all 3 TV News stations, have totally ignored and have not even attempted to report on a very serious and the too prevailing practices within APD: 1) police officers are “billing” the city so much overtime that 125 of those officers are now in the top 250 list of paid city call employee’s and 2) some officers being paid 2, 3, and 4 times their base pay, with no questions asked.”
The two front page Journal articles where based on the POB Investigation and Report done in response to a citizen’s complaint filed by retired APD Sergeant Dan Klein on Dobrik’s overtime pay.
Notwithstanding the two front page stories, the Albuquerque Journal failed to report in any substantive manner on the two major recommendations made in the report:
1. Another audit of all APD Overtime should be done and
2. APD should immediately revise its policy on overtime.
POSSIBLE REASON MEDIA RELUCTANT TO REPORT APD OVERTIME ABUSE
On October 18, 2018, the online news outlet “ABQ Reports” published an article by retired APD Officer Dan Klein.
You can read the ABQ Report on line article here:
https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2018/10/18/Why-is-Chief-Geier-Hiding-Behind-a-PIO
Part of the October 18, 2018 Klein news article was based upon a phone conversation with a local female TV reporter who defended PIO Simon Drobik because he gave them “access” to news stories. According to Klein, the reporter knew Simon Drobik would claim 2 hours of overtime every time a reporter called him, no matter how long the phone interview lasted.
Quoting the October 18, 2018 ABQ Report article:
“When the original story on Drobik’s earnings came out I was told by a local reporter that since Drobik is a PIO he clocks “EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW HE GETS CALLED FOR. THAT INCLUDES PHONE CALLS WITH THE MEDIA This reporter stated that Drobik is called multiple times a day and that this is where his tremendous overtime earnings come from.”
The ABQ Report as to where Drobik’s tremendous overtime earnings come from should come as no surprise to anyone.
It is common knowledge among government officials and elected officials that news reporters develop sources and friendship’s in order to establish a working relationship with them to get news leads and confidential source information on news stories. There are times that elected officials will go so far as hiring news reporters.
The previous Republican Mayor Administration employed a Channel 4 news reporter as the Mayor’s Public Information Officer who later returned to Channel 4 as an investigative reporter, employed a former Albuquerque Journal reporter for 8 years who later became the “Real Time Crime Center Director and then went to work for Channel 7 as an investigative report news director, and a former Chief Public Safety Officer was employed as a news reporter at Channel 13.
PIO Simon Drobik is a news source and it is common knowledge at city hall and with APD sources that he has developed very good relations with many TV news reporters, with sources saying too close to reporters.
It is a common practice among elected officials, government officials and public information officers to actually deny access to reporters when they want to “stone wall” a story in order to kill a damaging story.
High ranking officials with the previous Republican Mayor Administration, including the Chief Administrative Officer, were known to threaten news reporters.
The previous Republican Mayor Administration was also known for denying news reporters access to city information and interviews and known to give preferential treatment to certain news agencies over others because of their personal contacts and prior employment relationships with news directors for the stations.
There has been absolutely no or very little reporting by TV news stations Channels 4, 7 and 13 regarding the Police Oversight Board Agency Investigation and the Police Oversight Board voting to unanimously to recommend that PIO Simon Drobik be fired.
Further, the TV news stations Channels 4, 7 and 13 have made no reports on the extent of police overtime paid.
The single most likely reason that there has been no TV news coverage of the APD overtime story is it that the news stations and their reporters are concerned that they will denied access to information by APD and its PIO’s regarding the news crime stories that dominate their news casts that is vital to their TV news ratings.
BASE WAGES AND LONGEVITY PAY
In order to understand the full extent of the excessive amount of overtime payed to any police officer, a review of the base pay and longevity bonus pay to police officers is in order.
APD HOURLY WAGES PAID
Starting pay for an APD Police Officer immediately out of the APD academy is $29 an hour or $60,320 yearly. (40-hour work week X 52 weeks in a year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $29 paid hourly = $60,320.)
Police officers with 4 to 14 years of experience are paid $30 an hour or $62,400 yearly. (40-hour work weeks in a year X 52 weeks in a year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $30 paid hourly = $62,400.)
Senior Police Officers with 15 years or more experience are paid $31.50 an hour or $65,520 yearly. (40 hours work in a week X 52 weeks in year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $31.50 = $65,520.)
The rate for APD Sergeants is $35 an hour, or $72,800. (40-hour work week X 52 weeks in a year = 2080 hours worked in a year X $35.0 paid hourly = $72,800.)
The rate for APD Lieutenants pay is $40.00 an hour or $83,200. (40-hour work week X 52 weeks in a year = 2080 hours worked in a year X $40.00 = $83,200.)
APD LONGEVITY BONUS PAY
APD police officers are also paid longevity bonus pay at the end of a year as follows:
For 5 years of experience: $100 are paid bi-weekly, or $2,600 yearly
For 6 years of experience: $125 are paid bi-weekly, or $3,250 yearly
For 7 to 9 years of experience: $225 are paid bi-weekly, or $5,800 yearly
For 10 to 12 years of experience: $300 are paid bi-weekly, or $7,800 yearly
For 13 to 15 years o experience: $350 are paid bi-weekly, or $9,100 yearly
For 16 to 17 years or more: $450 are paid bi-weekly, or $11,700 yearly
For 18 or more years of experience: $600 are paid bi-weekly, 15,600 yearly
124 OF 250 TOP PAID CITY HALL EMPLOYEES ARE APD SWORN POLICE OFFICERS
At the end of each calendar year, City Hall releases the top 250 wage earners at city hall. The list of 250 top city hall wages earners is what is paid for the full calendar year of January 1 to December 31 of any given year. The City of Albuquerque has updated the list of the 250 top wage earners at City Hall for 2018. You can review the entire list of all 250 top wage earners in the link in the below postscript.
The listing of the city’s 250 top wage earners includes 124 APD sworn police as the top wage city hall wage earners. The list of 124 include patrol officers first class, sergeants, lieutenants, commanders the deputy chiefs, and the chief with annual pay for the year 2018 ranging from $101,000 a year up to $192,937 all under the Keller Administration.
APD CHIEF UPPER COMMAND STAFF
All 5 of the APD top command staff are “unclassified positions” and serve at the pleasure of the Mayor, can be terminated without cause and arguably the positions are 24/7 jobs.
The salaries Mayor Keller is paying his top APD command staff are significantly less than many Police Officers 1st Class, Sergeants and Lieutenants and are as follows:
Geier, Michael PD-Police Chief of Police, $159,513.60
(Former APD Chief Gordon Eden was paid $166,699)
Garcia, Eric JPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $134,249.53
Gonzalez, Arturo EPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $126,199.92
Banez, Rogelio NPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $123,856.00
Medina, Harold PD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $123,856.00
TOTAL RANGE PAID CHIEF COMMAND: $123,856.00 to $159,513.60.
The names and salaries paid to other sworn police other than the APD Chief Command staff include:
PAY RANGE $151,313 TO $192,000
Drobik, Simon – Master Police Officer 1st Class $192,937.23.
Johnson, Brian APD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $166,692.01.
Garza, Ramiro JPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $163,223.63.
Hollier, Jeremy BPD-Police, PE1, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $160,692.06.
Canales, LadioPD-Police, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $152,876.94.
Redhouse, Leighton – Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $151,313.71.
PAY RANGE $126,162.80 TO $144,510.44.
Bassett, Jeremy, Police Lieutenant, $144,510.44.
Martinez, Yvonne, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $144,421.25.
McCumber, Wayne – Master Police Officer 1st Class $142,033.83.
Correia, Donald RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $140,755.81.
Maes, Kelly RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st C1ass, $138,318.85.
McElroy, Matthew PD-Police Sergeant, $138,158.09.
Lehocky, Andrew , Master Police Officer 1st Class $137,449.07.
Languit, Luke CPD-Police Lieutenant, $134,328.74.
Price, Bryan HPD-Police Sergeant, $133,880.63.
Mc Carson, Timothy, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,742.86.
Rico, Michael KPD-Police Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,740.13.
Kenny, Sean PPD-Police Sergeant $132,604.80.
Parsons, Scott – Police Lieutenant, $131,519.64.
Frick, Sean, APD Lieutenant, $131,375.48.
Pearson, Nicholas, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $130,077.97.
Hernandez, Francisco Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $128,887.30.
Burchell, Edward – Master Police Officer 1st Class, $127,987.25.
Stockton, Robert MPD-Police Sergeant, $127,612.72.
Patterson, Christopher APD-Police Sergeant, $127,557.19.
Hernandez, Michael FPD-Police Sergeant $127,456.76.
Arnold, Jerry, Police Officer 1st Class $127,409.90.
Martinez, Vicente, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,798.71.
Breeden, Charles, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,300.45.
Wetterlund, Christopher, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,162.80.
PAY RANGE $113,498.98 TO $125,088.48
Economidy III, Byron, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $125,088.48.
Schmidt, Matthew -Police Sergeant $124,581.73.
Sandoval, Albert, PD-Police Sergeant $124,555.16.
The six figure salaries being paid to sworn police are directly attributed to “overtime” worked by those sworn police officers.
You can read the full listing of the names and salaries paid the 124 sworn police in the top 250 paid city hall employees in the below postscript.
ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY
It is downright pathetic that the CPO Agency Investigation report states in bold, capital letters:
“TO BE CLEAR: THIS INVESTIGATION FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY BY ANY OF THE PARTIES INVESTIGATED”.
The truth is, the Director of the CPO Agency Ed Harness as well as the CPO Agency investigator who prepared the report are not bona fide prosecuting law enforcement officials. The civilian Police Oversight Board does no have the authority nor is it empowered to determine nor pronounce that there is “no evidence of possible criminal activity.” Such authority lies with the District Attorney or the Attorney General and such decisions have been made before in the past.
PROBLEMS WITH POLICE OVERTIME
The six figure salaries being paid to sworn Patrol Officers 1st Class are directly attributed to “overtime” worked by those sworn police officers which is very problematic. From a personnel management standpoint, when you have a select few that are taking home the lion’s share of overtime, it causes moral problems with the rest. Consecutive shifts or excessive overtime for any police officer can lead to extreme fatigue, emotional burnout and reduce an officer’s alertness and response times and reflexes that can endanger lives and public safety. Excessive overtime paid is a red flag for abuse of the system, mismanagement of police resources or the lack of personnel.
APD has added approximately 100 police officers as a result of increases in pay and an aggressive recruitment program and bonus pay. APD is projected to have upwards of 980 sworn police by July 1, 2019. Last year, APD spent $11.5 million paying sworn police overtime and in the 2019-2020 budget it is asking for even more for overtime. The city budgeted $9 million in police overtime in the 2019 fiscal year, which ends in June 30, 2019. When APD exceeds its overtime budget, it is to the detriment of other city departments and other city employees. The additional funding must be found somewhere else, either by taking it from other departments and programs, budget cuts or cost saving measurements.
“Chief’s Overtime” has been very controversial. Arguments made by police oversight civilian advocates include the city is subsidizing private businesses over the best interest of areas of the city with high crime rates. Last year, more than 100 businesses took part in chief’s overtime, and for 16 months APD officers were allowed to work as much chief’s overtime as they wanted.
On January 30, 2019, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced it was placing a “cap” on how much overtime police officers can work in a week. APD Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said at the time that through March of 2019, APD police officers would only be allowed to work 25 hours of chief’s overtime per week. APD also announced it would be increasing what is being charged to private businesses for “Chief’s Overtime” to take into account recent APD pay raises. The hourly charge for Chief’s Overtime has to be comparable to an APD Officer’s hourly pay working for the department. However, APD has not announced if the 25-hour cap on overtime has been made permanent.
APD UNION PRESIDENT HYPOCRISY
It is so damn laughable when Police Union President Shaun Willoughby says “[Simon Drobik is] doing a job nobody else in the department wants to do”. The truth is APD employs any number of public information officers, including civilian APD civilian Public Information Officer Gilbert Gallegos who is paid $43.65 an hour or $90,79O yearly. APD has also hired an Assistant Chief for Public relations. On October 18, 2018 Mayor Tim Keller announced the appointment of Elizabeth Armijo as a Deputy Chief of Staff at APD in charge of public and media relations. At the time of her hire, the Keller Administration did not announce the salary paid to Elizabeth Armijo, but Deputy Chiefs are normally paid between $125,000 to $140,000 a year in salary, not including benefits.
Union President Shaun Willoughby going to the defense of APD spokesman Sergeant Simon Drobik is a prime example why Public Information Officers, who are part of management, have no business being in the APD police bargaining unit, especially when they are the PIO for management and the command staff. Willouby no doubt is going to Drobik’s defense only because Drobik’s is in the collective bargaining unit. Willoughby feels his job duties include going to the defense of any and all police officers in the bargaining unit and justifying their actions even when the officer willfully and intentionally violates SOP and engages in misconduct.
It is obscene greed by Union President Shaun Willouby that any police officer should be paid twice for time worked for the identical time for two jobs. The realty Willouby does the exact same thing himself for all intense and purposes. Willouby is a full-time paid police officer and he is also paid a union salary, so when you see Willouby giving interviews or doing union business during APD business hours, he is essentially being paid for both jobs at the same time. What is further doubling is Willouby appears to do more interviews on APD policy than APD Chief Geier or Mayor Tim Keller, giving the very misleading appearance that he is representing management.
REMOVE MANAGEMENT FROM UNION BARGAINING UNIT
APD police sergeants and lieutenants are the ones on the front line to enforce personnel rules and regulations, standard operating procedures, approve and review work performed and approve police overtime and Chiefs Overtime. All Police Officers 1st class, Sergeants and Lieutenants are “classified positions” and part of the police union, they cannot be terminated without cause and have appeal rights and remedies under the personnel rules and regulations and have protections under their collective bargaining agreement between police and the city. Public Information Officers are also part of management.
Police Officers 1st class are not part of management and have every right to be represented by a union to negotiate wages and benefits. APD Sergeant, APD Lieutenants and APD Public Information Officers need to be made “at will” and unclassified and removed from the union bargaining unit to reflect they are management and in order to get a real buy in to APD management’s goals.
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
It is likely that APD Chief Michal Geier will do absolutely nothing to discipline and will not terminate APD public information Officer Simon Drobik nor his direct supervisor as recommended by the Police Oversight Board. It was Chief Geier who lifted the cap in 2018 and he approved the police contracts to provide and charge police security to private businesses. No doubt that the Chief was fully aware of the overtime problem and he knew of the abuse. It was brought to his attention last year by independent on line news publication ABQ Reports, who did and inspection of public records request to secure time slips. Chief Geier did nothing to curb the abuse.
When Tim Keller was New Mexico State Auditor, he became the “white knight” champion to find and stop “waste, fraud and abuse” of taxpayer money by government officials and employees. As State Auditor, Keller went so far as to create a “fraud investigation unit” hiring investigators to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse by government officials and employees. Keller’s audits of state and city governments garnered him extensive press coverage and public support that no doubt helped with his successful campaign to become Mayor of Albuquerque. Keller became Mayor less than two years after being elected State Auditor and resigned with two years left in his term as auditor. Mayor Keller is given credit for asking for the investigation of Drobik’s overtime. Mayor Keller now needs to “walk the walk” himself and put a stop to any “waste, fraud and abuse” when it comes to APD overtime within the very city government he now heads.
It is true that Mayor Tim Keller cannot be involved in personnel decisions for classified employees like Drobik, but he damn well sure can order the recommended audits, put a cap of 25 hours on overtime and order the complete revamping of APD overtime policies. However, Mayor Keller may be reluctant to order the total and complete revamping of APD overtime policies given the fact that he was endorsed by the police union and probably still feels indebted to the union and will want the unions support when he runs for reelection in 2021.
One action that would clearly stop “overtime abuse” would be for Chief Geier or Mayor Keller to order as a condition of work or return to work a refund of all the overtime paid during the time an officer is doing two jobs at once and being paid twice in violation of APD standard operating procedures.
Further, Mayor Tim Keller can and should refer the entire CPO Investigative report to the Bernalillo County District Attorney or the Attorney General and allow them to determine if there is “no evidence of possible criminal activity by any of the parties investigated” as well as others.
POSTSCRIPT
The 124 sworn police officers who were paid between $101,633.11 to $192,037 for 2018 calendar year under the Keller Administration and their names and their pay are as follows:
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $151,313 TO $192,000
Drobik, Simon – Master Police Officer 1st Class $192,937.23.
Johnson, Brian APD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $166,692.01.
Garza, Ramiro JPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $163,223.63.
Hollier, Jeremy BPD-Police, PE1, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $160,692.06.
Canales, LadioPD-Police, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $152,876.94.
Redhouse, Leighton – Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $151,313.71.
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $126,162.80 TO $144,510.44.
Bassett, Jeremy, Police Lieutenant, $144,510.44.
Martinez, Yvonne, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $144,421.25.
McCumber, Wayne – Master Police Officer 1st Class $142,033.83.
Correia, Donald RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $140,755.81.
Maes, Kelly RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st C1ass, $138,318.85.
McElroy, Matthew PD-Police Sergeant, $138,158.09.
Lehocky, Andrew , Master Police Officer 1st Class $137,449.07.
Languit, Luke CPD-Police Lieutenant, $134,328.74.
Price, Bryan HPD-Police Sergeant, $133,880.63.
Mc Carson, Timothy, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,742.86.
Rico, Michael KPD-Police Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,740.13.
Kenny, Sean PPD-Police Sergeant $132,604.80.
Parsons, Scott – Police Lieutenant, $131,519.64.
Frick, Sean, APD Lieutenant, $131,375.48.
Pearson, Nicholas, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $130,077.97.
Hernandez, Francisco Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $128,887.30.
Burchell, Edward – Master Police Officer 1st Class, $127,987.25.
Stockton, Robert MPD-Police Sergeant, $127,612.72.
Patterson, Christopher APD-Police Sergeant, $127,557.19.
Hernandez, Michael FPD-Police Sergeant $127,456.76.
Arnold, Jerry, Police Officer 1st Class $127,409.90.
Martinez, Vicente, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,798.71.
Breeden, Charles, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,300.45.
Wetterlund, Christopher, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,162.80.
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $113,498.98 TO $125,088.48
Economidy III, Byron, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $125,088.48.
Schmidt, Matthew -Police Sergeant $124,581.73.
Sandoval, Albert, PD-Police Sergeant $124,555.16.
Jones, Aaron M., PD-Police Sergeant $122,687.41.
Solis, Emmanuel, PD-Police Officer 1st Class $120,859.89.
Solis, Brenda, – Senior Police Officer 1st Class $120,202.55.
Haugh, Paul, – Police Sergeant $116,785.41
Frazier, Jared Senior Police Officer 1st Class $116,584.31
Pitzer, Brian -Police Sergeant $116,233.46
Mcpeek, Luke, Police Officer 1st Class, $116,079.13
Brown, Jason, Police Officer 1st Class, $116,019.57
Altman, Steve APD- Police Lieutenant, $115,945.46
Pholphiboun, Phetamphone – Senior Police Officer 1st Class 115,789.25
Garcia, Jennifer, Police Lieutenant $115,466.52
O’Neil, Craig -Police Master Police Officer 1st Class, $115,449.83
Walsh, Johnathan – Senior Police Officer 1st Class, 115,362.83
Vigil Jr, Thomas – Police Officer 1st Class, $114,873.36
English, Michelle – Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $114,843.40
Martinez, Dominic- Police Sergeant $114,744.44
Avila, Michael APD-Police Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $114,608.23
Acosta, Arthur – Master Police Officer 1st Class, $114,301.75
Velarde, Mark – APD-Police Commander, $113,775.47
Hernandez Jr, Jimmy – Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $113,711.03
Duda, Christopher – Police Officer 1st Class $113,686.70
Nelson, Eric -Police Sergeant, $113,676.40
Swessel, Robert APD-Police Master Police Officer 1st Class, $113,631.63
Trebitowski, Justin, Police Sergeant, $113,498.98
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $109,315.89 TO $112,516.27
Chavez, Matthew Police Sergeant, $112,516.27
Griffin, David Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $112,184.05
Shook, Michael. Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $112,127.41
Lujan, Jude -Police Sergeant, $112,105.32
George, Christopher -Police Commander, $112,051.14
Lowe, Cori MPD-Police Lieutenant $112,042.96
Jojola, Eric, -Aviation, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $112,012.36
Curtis, Kyle -Police Sergeant, $111,713.00
Rogillio, Justin Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $ 111,459.55
Hernandez, Armando F. Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $111,333.69
Geno Virgil -Police Master Police Officer 1st Class, $110,790.71
Tafoya, Dennis -Police Sergeant $110,515.94
Westbrook, Jason, Police Sergeant, $110,467.02
Martinez, Christopher Police Officer 1st Class 110,462.11
Deyapp, Lena, Lieutenant $110,409.49
Franklin, Daniel Senior Police Officer 1st Class 110,353.90
Barraza,ReneP -Police Lieutenant $110,322.89
Lewandowski, Kamil – Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $109,704.42
Espinosa, Timothy, -Police Lieutenant $109,431.88
Sanchez Jr, Arturo – Commander $109,377.75
Burke, Joseph MPD-Police Commander $109,324.78
Middleton, Robert LPD-Police Commander $109,315.89
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $105,076.20 TO $108,946.45
Montano, JoshuaPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $108,946.45
Rivera, Donovan JPD-Police Lieutenant, $108,887.81
Richards,Joshua , Police Sergeant $108,769.94
Champine,Daniel, Master Police Officer 1st Class $108,688.47
Hotle, Timothy Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $108,637.13
Saladin, David Police Lieutenant, $108,530.11
Henckel, Louis, Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $108,025.43
Sanders, Nicholas, -Police Lieutenant $107,908.60
Wallace,Sean, -Police Lieutenant $107,162.20
Griego, Jon JPD-Police Commander $107,107.76
Anderson, Hollie , Police Sergeant $107,028.92
Hernandez, Kevin, Police Officer 1st Class $106,998.58
Abernathy, Jeffery, Police Sergeant, $ 106,746.23
Willsey, Cody, Police Officer 1st Class $106,555.32
Barnard, Jeffery R.PD-Police Sergeant $106,080.11
Miller, Michael -Police Commander $106,066.92
Sanchez, Jose -Police Lieutenant $106,009.53
Burton Whitney N., PD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $105,751.51
Duran, Paul -Police Commander $105,715.70
Ortiz, JamesPD-Police Sergeant, $105,650.05
Pelot, Jerrod, Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $105,625.48
Landavazo, Mark -Police Sergeant, $105,556.20
Collins, James WPD-Police Commander, $105,551.20
Reeder, Matthew -Police Sergeant $105,384.17
Campbell, Michelle MPD-Police Commander, $105,076.20
POLICE OFFICERS PAID $101,633.11 TO $104,987.69
Luna, Michael APD- Master Police Officer 1st Class, $104,987.69
Brodbeck, Michael, – Police Sergeant $104,444.00
Simmons, Ferris APD- Police Lieutenant $104,370.87
Hunt, Justin, Police Sergeant, $104,240.59
Edmonson, Larry RPD-Police Master Police Officer 1st Class $103,980.08
Porlas, Dwight -Police Master Police Officer 1st Class $103,913.13
Candelaria, Deirdre -Police Master Police Officer 1st Class $103,714.21
Sather, Jonathan CPD-Police Lieutenant, $103,570.91
Cottrell, Zakary FPD-Police Lieutenant, $103,508.14
Juarez, Terra – Master Police Officer 1st Class, $103,502.51
Wild, Amanda -Police Sergeant $103,327.14
Olvera, Donovan, -Police Commander, $103,164.40
Groff, Matthew SPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $103,119.45
Oates, Michael, Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $103,023.11
Brown, Eric- Police Sergeant $102,843.60
Babcock, Tod, Master Police Officer 1st Class $102,420.66
Jones, Michael, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $102,357.23
DeAguero, Daren JPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class $102,060.09
Meyer, Jesse, Master Police Officer 1st Class $102,001.77
Roach, Gerald, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $101,968.25
Moreno, Alan Police Officer 1st Class, $101,633.11
You can review the full 2018 listing of all 250 top paid city hall employees at the City of Albuquerque web page.