By Maria Cramer
The Boston Globe
BOSTON — Boston police officers collected more than 400 hours of overtime pay over a two-year period for court appearances that were not officially requested by the prosecutors overseeing the cases, according to a Globe analysis of a costly system that police acknowledge has been ripe for abuse.
The 32 officers, from the department’s drug unit, received pay for 91 instances in which they said they were called to testify in court for trials, case conferences, or motions hearings — claims that were not backed up by copies of court notices kept by the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
The Globe discovered the pattern as part of a review of 40 cases between 2008 and 2010 that appeared to draw an excessive number of officers to court on the taxpayers’ dime. In each case, the Globe compared the list of officers who had received overtime for the case with the list of those who had been summoned by the district attorney’s office, which is primarily responsible for calling officers to hearings.
Full Story: Officers got OT for work unbidden