On Friday, August 6, 2021, the New Mexico State Auditor’s long-awaited special audit report on overtime abuse by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was released. The 64-page audit was performed by the Albuquerque accounting firm Porch & Associates LLC. The audit covers the time period of January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020. The link to the entire 64-page audit report is here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sIsbWAGpIC2mDFs8bsbQ1BhYDOSXH8Ig/view
According to the newly released audit, it is the 7th audit performed on APD overtime practices since 2014. The audit includes the second term of previous Republican Richard Berry and the first 2 ½ years of Democrat Mayor Tim Keller’s 4-year term. The 6 prior audits resulted in 17 findings and recommendation made. There was an absolute failure by APD command staff to carry out and implement the changes needed to solve the overtime problem. The released audit identified that certain APD police union contract terms and conditions are in violations of the Federal Labor Fair Standards act and that the police union contract has contributed significantly to the overtime pay abuse by rank-and-file police officers.
The links to quoted news source material are here:
https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/audit-makes-recommendations-for-apd-overtime-policies-practices/
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-police-department-audited-for-overtime-pay-for-7th-time/37248257
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/audit-apd-continues-to-abuse-overtime/6199260/?cat=500
CITY RESPONSE
When the Porch & Associates Audit Report was released on August 6, the Keller Administration, including Mayor Tim Keller, Chief Harold Medina and APD Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos, placed all the blame on former Chief of Police Michael Geier for failure to address the overtime abuse and giving preferential treatment to a select few. the Keller Administration issued a harsh statement blaming Mayor Tim Keller’s appointed former APD Police Chief Michael Geier for all the overtime abuse problems. The statement said in part:
“The former chief knowingly covered up overtime abuses and helped his favored employees’ game the system to enrich themselves. … The report makes it clear that the ‘tone at the top’ of APD was a major driver of the abuse and the failure to make needed changes. We didn’t hesitate to take bold action to remove the top cop and get the department back on track.”
Chief Geier for his part issued a press release denying the accusation saying he came up with a plan to prevent the overtime abuse, including a 25 hour weekly overtime cap, and saying it was Mayor Tim Keller who interfered with him making changes to the overtime.
Chief Harold Medina had this to say:
“The overtime problems with APD have occurred since I can remember coming on this department. … So there’s been a lot of people who could have taken action quicker than they did … I do know that it was a priority of ours. We did make the decision to put up a special order as quickly as possible. And we’re also working on auditing ourselves and creating a system where we try to catch things earlier. We encourage that type of oversight within the department.”
The link to the quoted source material is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/2419877/seventh-audit-cites-apd-overtime-problems.html
STATE AUDITOR COLÓN
In an interview, State Auditor Colón said he thinks his offices latest audit will make a difference. He said an annual audit for the city will look at this issue next year and added:
“I think the city has articulated that they’re committed to addressing these findings and to embracing these recommendations … I’ve met with the chief of police, and he has indicated that some of these 22 recommendations have already been implemented. We’re optimistic that as we continue to keep the pressure on we’ll get into a situation where we have 100% compliance.”
The link to the quoted source material is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/2419877/seventh-audit-cites-apd-overtime-problems.html
7th SPECIAL AUDIT REPORT HIGHLIGHTS FAILURES TO DEAL WITH OVERTIME ABUSE
The Porch & Associates Audit identifies the major failures of APD dealing with overtime abuse. Those failures are:
1. The failure of APD supervisors to properly monitor and pre-approve officer overtime. There is a lack of internal controls for leave requests. The special audit specifically named now-former police officer and APD Spokesman Simon Drobik. Last year a separate APD Internal Affairs investigation found he had committed rampant fraud.
2. As examples of fraud committed, the review of leave requests found that there was no record of leave request forms for one officer. In another instance an APD employee utilized system software to approve their own time resulting in over $8,000 dollars in overtime. Whether the time claimed was actually worked is unknown. In another instance, an officer submitted and was compensated for being “On call Status” 581 times in 2018. During those 51 weeks the officer worked 207 Chief’s Overtime Assignments. This is in direct violation of APD policy. Yet the officer knowing and repeatedly violated the 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 gains. The investigative report also found the officer submitted for 56 hours of compensation for 28 occasions on which he ran with the recruits at the Police Academy.
3. The overtime practice where officers who are on vacation or paid time off can use those hours as the basis for claiming overtime pay. The audit was clear that “parts of the APOA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that allow for excess overtime compensation” are not allowed and violate the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In particular, there is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) called a “12 Hour MOU” that deals with overtime, compensation time, work shift designation policy and what is referred to as a “comp time bucket”. According to one audit, the MOU is “scarcely followed”. Additionally, there is no clear indication or definition of the Department’s minimum staffing levels for shifts worked.
4. APD standard operating procedures are not being updated to in include changing and conflicting overtime policies. Several Department policies, including Standard Operating Procedures for overtime, compensatory time, and work shift designations, have not been reviewed or updated since March 10, 2016. Many rank and file officers as well as their supervisors, which are the Lieutenants and Sergeants who approve overtime, are confused as to what the overtime policies actually are and what they mean. Instead of getting any clarification or definitive answers from the Human Resources Department, they simply developed their own interpretations and allowed questionable overtime pay.
5. APD Officers are allowed to work “Chief’s Overtime”, which is working for a private company paying for security at the same time they are on on-call status with APD. The practice is a clear violation of APD personnel rules and regulations. The SOP policies are simply ignored and the overtime is allowed by supervisors to happen. The Porch & Associates Audit found a lack of internal controls and deficiencies for Chief’s Overtime. The Department’s policy does not list or define the eligibility requirements for officers working Chief’s Overtime. Although supervisory approval is required for other types of overtime, it is not required for Chief’s Overtime. Sworn police officers are allowed to cancel their regular shifts in order to work Chief’s Overtime which is more lucrative for the officer.
6. There is automatic award of two-hour overtime award, which pays time and a half per hour, for officers who have to appear in court for Driving While Intoxicating (DWI) arraignment and trials and traffic ticket violations they write. Even though a court appearance may take only 15 minutes, the officer is allowed to claim and be paid a full 2 hours of overtime at time and a half pay as mandated by the union contract. The system encourages officers to settle cases quickly so they can go home and collect 2 hours of overtime and not work the hours of overtime paid.
7. APD doesn’t monitor officer overtime for irregular activity. The Department does not have a policy or procedure in place that prevents and detects overlapping or incorrect reported time. APD does not reconcile its overtime transactions between its timekeeping and payroll systems thereby contributing to inappropriate and prohibited overtime pay at time and a half.
SUMMARY OF 5 RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN PORCH & ASSOCIATES AUDIT
The newly released Porch & Associates Audit makes the following 5 major recommendations:
1. “It is recommended that the City negotiate with APOA to remove the guaranteed overtime and replace it with actual time. Actual time would start when the officer leaves their home, or work assignment if after a normal shift, through the time they get home.”
2. Establishing a memorandum of understanding with Metro Court and the District Court for scheduling APD Officers’ court appearances to limit officer court appearances and optimize scheduling of officer court appearances
3. “APD should consider working with the court system to implementing night court for cases that do not require a jury.”
4. “APD needs to work with the court system to use video appearances for officers going forward, and to eliminate in person appearances where possible.”
5. The Porch & Associates Audit found that people who supervise officers have developed procedures, which they then provide to other officers via on-the-job training. The audit report recommends that these informal policies and procedures be documented and included in the next version of the APD Standard Operating Procedures.
CITY HALL SALARIES WITH APD POLICE PAY HIGHEST
There are 6,966 Albuquerque City employee according to personnel record. As of July 24, 2021, APD has 940 sworn police according to city personnel records A person’s annual salary is calculated based upon the hourly wage paid to an employee times 2,080 hours worked representing a 40-hour work week for 52 weeks in a year.
The average employee salary for the city of Albuquerque in 2020 was $44,475 or $21.38 an hour. This is 27.8% lower than the national average for government employees and 34.7% lower than other cities.
https://openpayrolls.com/city/albuquerque-nm#:~:text=The%20average%20employee%20salary%20for,records%20for%20Albuquerque%2C%20New%20Mexico.
Hourly pay for an APD Police Officer is between $29 an hour right out of the APD Academy, or $60,320 yearly, and $31.50 an hour or $65,520 yearly, depending on the accumulated years of service.
The hourly pay rate for APD Sergeants is $35 an hour, or $72,800.
The hourly pay rate for APD Lieutenants is $40.00 an hour or $83,200.
2019 AND 2020 LISTS OF 250 HIGHEST PAID CITY HALL WAGE EARNERS INCLUDES 160 SWORN POLICE EACH YEAR
At the beginning of each calendar year, City Hall releases the top 250 wage earners for the previous year. 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 Porch & Associates Audit failed to delve into the pervasive problem of overtime within APD involving more than just a few. The 2019 and the 2020 city hall 250 highest paid wage earnings shows the extent of excessive overtime paid to APD sworn police. For both the years of 2019 and 2020, 160 of 250 top paid city hall employees were police who were paid between $107,885.47 to $199,666.40.
To repeat for emphasis, APD rank and file sworn police officer hourly pay rates are between $29 an hour or $60,320 yearly and $31.50 an hour or $65,520 yearly depending upon years of experience. Hourly pay for APD Sergeants is $35 an hour, or $72,800 a year. Hourly pay rate for APD Lieutenants is $40.00 an hour or $83,200 a year.
In 2019, there were 70 APD patrol officers in the list of 250 top paid employees earning pay ranging from $108,167 to $188,844. There were 32 APD lieutenants and 32 APD sergeants in the list of 250 top paid employees earning pay ranging from $108,031 to $164,722 because of overtime.
In 2020, there were 69 patrol officers paid between $110,680 to $176,709, 28 APD Lieutenants and 32 APD Sergeants who were paid between $110,698 to $199,001 in the list of the 250 top paid city hall employees paid between.
You can find the list of the 250 top city hall wage for 2020 at the link under the caption “Information About City Employees”, “Learn who are the 250 Highest-Paid City Employees”:
https://www.cabq.gov/abq-view
EDITORS NOTE: In the 2020 list of 250 highest paid city hall wage earners, 160 were employed by APD, 42 were employed by the Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Department, 12 were employed by “City Support” services. The number of the top 250 paid city hall employees nose dives thereafter with 4 employed each in the Finance Department and Municipal Affairs Department, 3 were employed each for the Legal Department and IT Department, 2 were employed each for the City Council, Environmental Health Department, Cultural Services Department, and the Chief Administrative Officer, and 1 employed for each of the 12 remaining departments (Aviation Department, Planning Department, Human Resources Department, City Clerk, Transit Department, Office of Inspector General, Economic Development Department, Police Oversight Commission, Mayor’s Office, Parks and Recreation Department, Solid Waste Department and Family Community Services Department.)
When you read all 7 audits, it’s obvious the police union contract has contributed significantly to the overtime abuse. Sergeants and lieutenants, although management, are in the police union bargaining unit along with all those below them they supervise and command. Overtime pay abuse was never curtailed in 2019 nor in 2020 when the Chief’s Office and Deputies, including then Deputy Chief Harold Medina, were ordered by Mayor Tim Keller to reduce overtime abuse. For both the years of 2019 and 2020, there were 160 of 250 top paid city hall employees who were sworn police paid between $107,885 to $199,666 and includes patrol officers, sergeants and lieutenants, all whose base salary is between $60,000 a year and $83,000 a year.
The postscript to this article contains the names, ranks and pay of the 15 top wage earners at APD in the ranks of patrol officers, sergeants and lieutenants for the years 2019 and 2020.
POLICE UNION CONTRACT VIOLATES FEDERAL AND STATE LABOR LAWS
One of the most dramatic findings in the Porch & Associates Audit is that the APD police union contract violates the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Specifically, the Fair Labor Standards Act provides:
“Paid leave is not considered time worked for the purposes of computing overtime”.
The audit goes as far as saying terms of the union contract need to be negotiated and that the City can save thousands of dollars in overtime by insisting that the APOA police union and APD follow the Fair Labor Standards Act. The audit also said the City should not bargain away what is established by law.
The audit recommends that the City negotiate with the police union to remove the guaranteed overtime and replace it with actual time. Actual time would start when the officer leaves their home, or work assignment if after a normal shift, through the time they get home.
NO MENTION OF UNION CONTRACT VIOLATING STATE LAW
The Porch & Associates Audit downplays and essentially ignores the role of the APD Union membership of Sergeants and Lieutenants and the union contract in the entire overtime abuse scandal.
The New Mexico Public Employees Bargaining Act, Sections 10-7E-1 to 10-7E-26 H (NMSA 1978), governs the enforcement of the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the APD police union. Section 10-7E-5 provides for the rights of public employees and states in part
“Public employees, other than management employees and confidential employees, may form, join or assist a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining … .”
The link to the statute is here:
https://www.pelrb.state.nm.us/statute.php
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Police officers earning excessive overtime is nothing new. It has been going on for years. During the last 10 years, the Albuquerque Police Department has consistently gone over its overtime budgets by millions. In fiscal year 2016, APD was funded for $9 million for over time but APD actually spent $13 million. A March, 2017 city internal audit of APD’s overtime spending found police officers “gaming the system” that allows them to accumulate excessive overtime at the expense of other city departments. A city internal audit report released in March, 2017 revealed that the Albuquerque Police Department spent over $3.9 million over its $9 million “overtime” budget.
https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/03/30/apd-overtime-pay-abuse-and-recruitment-tool/
The 6-figure compensation being paid to sworn police can be attributed directly to excessive “overtime” paid. There are nearly a dozen different types of overtime programs within APD. The categories where APD Officers can earn overtime include holiday work, tac-plan initiatives, training, call outs, calls for service, special events, administrative work, investigations, and court appearances. DWI check points and special events like the Balloon Fiesta and security detail for high profile dignitary visits are all events that require an extensive amount of overtime. The police union contract entitles a police officer to be paid “time and a half” when overtime is worked on any given day or week and has a mandatory 2-hour minimum overtime charge for court appearances even if a court appearance last 15 minutes, such as a DWI arraignment and much less than 2 hours time is worked.
MEDINA IGNORES HIS FAILURE OVER THE 3 YEARS AS DEPUTY OF FIELD SERVICES TO REDUCE OVERTIME ABUSE
When APD Chief Harold Medina says “The overtime problems with APD have occurred since I can remember coming on this department. … So there’s been a lot of people who could have taken action quicker than they did” he must think people are stupid enough to believe he was not one of those people. Medina for 3 years prior to becoming Chief was the Deputy Chief for Field Service. As Field Services Deputy, he knew or should have known what was happening with the overtime abuse and he did nothing. As Deputy Chief of Field services, he was ultimately responsible for reigning in the overtime abuse by his field officers. He did not.
It is truly amazing that State Auditor Brian Colón would actually say:
“I think the city has articulated that they’re committed to addressing these findings and to embracing these recommendations. … I’ve met with the chief of police, and he has indicated that some of these 22 recommendations have already been implemented.”
Are you kidding? After 7 special audits finding APD overtime abuse? If Colón truly believes that Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Medina are committed to addressing the overtime scandal, he is a fool. Mayor Keller and APD Chief Medina for the past 4 years have said the same damn thing about implementing the Department of Justice Consent Decree (DOJ) reforms and recommendations, even blaming former APD Chief Michael Geier for failing to implement the DOJ reforms. APD is still failing miserably and nowhere closer to implementing the DOJ reforms as to compliance, yet Colón believes Medina and APD when they say they will implement all the audit recommendations. When Colón says Medina “has indicated that some of these 22 recommendations have already been implemented”, that is “Medina Speak” without proof to deflect his failures as Deputy Chief of Field services for a full 3 years.
State Auditor Brian Colón has already announced he is running for New Mexico Attorney General. To that end, it is strongly recommended that Colón learn and understand what white collar crime and time card fraud is as well as learn how to figure out if and when he is being lied to by anyone, especially by a Mayor and a Chief of Police more concerned about finding a scapegoat in an election year.
Absent from Colón was any recommendations as to what needs to be done other than what is in the audits, which is extremely disappointing. After 7 Audit’s, it is painfully obvious APD incapable of implementing all the recommendations and overseeing itself, something it has failed to do even when it comes to the DOJ reforms and the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA).
NEGOTIATE NEW POLICE UNION CONTRACT TERMS
The two-year police union contract negotiated by the Keller Administration in 2018 expired on July 1, 2020. Negotiations on a new contract have been suspended predominately as a result of the Corona Virus pandemic. When a union contract expires, the terms of the expired contract continue until a new contract is negotiated. Therefore the 2018 contract terms have been extended for over a year.
The Keller Administration needs to demand that the police union contract negotiations be commenced immediately. Among the terms that need to be negotiated are:
1. Remove Lieutenants and Sergeants from the police bargaining unit and make them at will employees in order to conform with state law and federal law that prohibits management from joining the union. When the Porch & Associates Audits says that there is a failure of APD supervisors to properly monitor and pre-approve officer overtime, what it fails to disclose is those supervisors are the management positions of lieutenants and sergeants who are allowed to join the APD police union despite being management. Instead of enforcing limitations on overtime and preventing the overtime abuse, many sergeants and lieutenants simply participate in excessive overtime pay practices themselves and likely approve all overtime submitted by their subordinates to keep them happy and to maintain a working relationship with them and to garner favor with them.
2. Negotiate a term that makes it clear that “paid leave is not considered time worked for the purposes of computing overtime” in order to comply with the Federal Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA).
3. Negotiate a term that whenever it is determined that overtime was paid in violation of APD standard operating procedures and overtime policy, the overtime pay must be refunded to the city either in single lump sum or garnishment of wages.
4. The Albuquerque City Council needs to enact as part of the city’s personnel rules and regulations prohibitions to remove the guaranteed overtime and replace it with actual time. Actual time would start when the officer leaves their home, or work assignment if after a normal shift, through the time they get home.
INITIATE CIVIL ACTION FOR FRAUD TO RECOVER FRAUDULENT OVERTIME PAID
One or more of the audits have identified just a few of the most egregious false fraudulent overtime claims paid by APD employees. It is commonly referred to as “time card” fraud and the city has been successful in the past in making a recovery. The city does have grounds for a civil cause of action to recover the fraudulent overtime pay. To that end, the City Attorney should make immediate demand for repayment of all fraudulent overtime pay and if refused by the employee, terminate them and immediately file a civil collection claim against the employee.
ABOLISH OVERTIME, IMPLEMENT SALARY STRUCTURE
Mayor Keller, Chief Medina and the Police Union President all proclaim that the shortage of APD sworn police is a major culprit in APD busting its overtime budget time and time again. The truth is when APD was fully staffed at 1,100 full time police over 10 years ago and even when the department dropped to as few of 830 sworn police and now at 930 police, the department always busted it overtime budgets. When that happens, it affects other departments because the money must come from somewhere. The point is that as long as overtime is offered, there will be more than a few that will “game the system” which is now proven by the list of 250 top wage earners for the years 2019 and 2020.
One guaranteed way of stopping anyone within APD from gaming the system when it comes to overtime is to simply abolish the existing system of overtime pay and bonus pay. Sooner rather than later, the city and the APD union need to recognize that being a police officer is not trade work justifying hourly wages, but a learned profession that requires employees to work whatever time is necessary to get a day’s work done that may arise in that day. APD police can be compensated with a decent salary and not merely paid hourly wages.
A complete restructuring of the existing APD 40-hour work week and hourly wage system needs to be implemented. As an alternative to paying overtime and longevity bonus pay to APD officers, the city needs do away with APD hourly wages and time-and-a-half for overtime and implement a salary structure based strictly on steps and years of service.
A base salary system for all sworn police officers should be implemented with step increases for length of service. The longevity bonus pay would be eliminated and built into the salary structure. Mandatory shift time to work would remain the same. If more time is needed to complete a workload or assignments for the day, the salaried police officer would work it for the same salary with no overtime paid and a modification of shift times for court appearances. Officers would have control over time worked.
APD Patrol Officers First Class who handle DWI during nighttime shifts should be required to change their shift times to daytime shifts when the arraignments and trials occur to prevent overtime pay. As an alternative to DWI arraignments, the City Attorney’s Office should explore the possibility of expanding or modifying the Metro Traffic Arraignment Program with the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office assisting to include not just traffic citations but DWI arraignments to eliminate the need for APD officers to appear.
Until the APD salary structure is changed, APD will always have Patrol Officers First Class making 2, 3 and even 4 times their base salary, and emotional burnout will be the norm, not the exception endangering public safety. Until the APD salary structure is changed, you will also have more than a few employees “gaming the system.”
When APD exceeds its overtime budget, it is always to the detriment of other city departments and other city employees, many who work just as hard as a police officer, but that does not matter to police. Their attitude is that they take their life’s into their hands every day and for that reason alone are entitled to be paid overtime as they see fit and anytime they want it.
Overtime pay abuse is just one example of the attitude of self-entitlement by APD, its command staff and rank and file. The mayor, APD management and City Council are being foolish if they do not realize that when APD exceeds its overtime budget, it causes morale issues and resentment within other city departments and employees who are not paid overtime.
CONCLUSION
You would think that APD and its management over the years, would have learned its lesson after all the prior audits, but they did not and greed once again got the better part of Albuquerque’s finest. The fact that APD management did not learn anything from prior audits is a reflection of “self-entitlement” that seems to be ingrained in APD’s DNA at all levels, management and rank and file alike.
The city and the APD union need to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract immediately. Unless action is now taken by the City based on the audit, it will have been a total waste of time and taxpayer money. The audit will be relegated to collecting dust on some government shelf destined to be place into some government records archive until an 8th audit is performed on APD’s overtime and the process of overtime abuse by APD continues as New Mexico State Auditor Colón moves on to his next campaign.
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POSCRIPT
In the interest of relevant disclosure, following are the names and salaries of the top 15 sworn police officers, sergeants and lieutenant in the years 2019 and 2020:
2019 TOP PAID SWORN POLICE OFFICERS
APD LIEUTENANTS:
There were 32 APD Lieutenants in the list of 250 top paid employees in 2019 earning pay ranging from $108,031 to $164,722. Hourly pay rates for APD Lieutenants is $40.00 an hour or $83,200 yearly. The 5 highest paid APD Lieutenants for 2019 were:
1. Languit, Luke C Lieutenant $164,722.80
2. Patterson, Christopher Lieutenant $138,606.30
3. Jones, Aaron M. PD-Police Lieutenant $136,824.53
4. Bell Garcia, Jennifer L Lieutenant $134,492.33
5. Bassett, Jeremy D Lieutenant $132,599.17
APD Sergeants:
There were 32 APD Sergeants in the list of 250 top paid employees in 2019 earning pay ranging from $109,292 to $193,666. Hourly pay rates for APD Sergeants is $35 an hour, or $72,800 a year.
The 5 highest paid Sergeants in 2019 were:
1. Hernandez, Michael F Police Sergeant $193,666.40
2. Pholphiboun, Phetamphone B Police Sergeant $166,813.86
3. Lopez, Daniel J Sergeant $154,969.57
4. Martinez, Dominic P Sergeant $149,152.48
5. Hunt, Justin R Sergeant $140,961.94
APD Patrol Officers:
There were 70 APD patrol officers in the list of 250 top paid employees in 2019 earning pay ranging from $108,167 to $188,844. Hourly pay rates for Patrol Officers is $29.00 an hour to $31.50 an hour depending upon years of experience. The 5 highest paid Patrol Officers in 2019 were:
1. Johnson, Brian, Senior Police Officer 1C $188,884.04
2. Drobik, Simon Master Police Officer 1C $166,484.67
3. Pearson, Nicholas R Master Police Officer 1C $149,157.79
4. McCarson, Timothy W Senior Police Officer 1C $147,207.30
5. Hollier, Jeremy B Senior Police Officer 1C $143,229.86
2020 TOP PAID SWORN POLICE OFFICERS
On January 28, 2020 , the 2020 listing of the top 250 wage earners was posted on the city web. It reflects for a second time that of the 250 top wage earners 160 sworn police officers are making between $110,648 to $199,001 a year. The breakdown by rank and wage is as follows:
28 APD Lieutenants earned pay ranging from $111,382 to $186,944 a year
32 APD APD Sergeants earned between $110,698 to $199,001 a year
65 sworn police (Master police, Senior Police, Patrol Officer) earned between $110,680 to $144,255
The top 15 of sworn police officers, their titles and what they earned in 2020 are as follows:
Hernanadez, Michael F., Sergeant, $199,001
Edison Jim A., Lieutenant, $186,944
Johnson, Brian A., Senior Patrol Officer, $176,709
Pearson, Nicholas R, Master Police Officer, $172,709
Hunt, Justin R., Sergeant, $163,372
Pholphilbourn, Phetaphone, Sergeant , $162,390
Richard, Joshua, Sergeant, $150,652
Champine, Daniel J., Master Police Officer, $150, 264
Lopez, Daniel, Sergeant, $149,281
Economy III, Byron G., Sergeant, $149,098
Rico, Michael K ., Senior Police Officer, $148,938
Del Geco, Raymond E., Lieutenant, $148,028
Mc Carson, Timothy W., Senior Police Officer, $148,938
Jones, Aaron M, Senior Police Officer, $147,843
Price, Bryan H., Lieutenant, $144,796
Solis. Brenda M. Senior Patrol Officer, $144,796
Lehocky, Andrew T., Master Police Officer, $144,255
Schmidt, Mathew T., Sergeant, $143,542
Hernanadez, Armando F., Sergeant $140,329
Taylor, William H., Sergeant, $139,935
