By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CINCINNATI — Police officers who work extra hours at private businesses soon will have to pay the city back almost $5 for every hour.
The “service charge,” as the city is calling it, means that an officer who works off duty at a library or grocery store will pay $4.90 for every hour worked. A police officer earns $31 an hour, a rate set by union contract, with amounts increasing by rank to $47 an hour for captains. The money, starting April 15, will come out of their paychecks via payroll deduction.
The plan sounds “almost like extortion” to James Pasco, president of the national Fraternal Order of Police. In policing 40 years, he has never heard of anything like it.
“It’s basically saying, ‘You can work in my town, but I’ll take five bucks every time you do it,’ ” he said. “It’s become open season on public safety personnel.”
The charge is nothing more than “something the city came up with to (help) balance the budget,” said Kathy Harrell, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. She and the union’s lawyer, Steve Lazarus, have been aware of the idea since council passed the budget in December but they’re waiting until it goes into effect to determine if a grievance can be filed against the city.
“Officers have already asked us to take legal action,” she said.
City officials don’t deny the idea of charging officers who work extra came up as a way to raise money in a year when the city’s budget deficit was $54.7 million. The charge is expected to collect about $750,000 a year.
The money will offset the administrative costs of managing the off-duty work program. The department started managing the program years ago to to ensure some officers don’t work too much and to watch for possible ethical issues, such as when officers work for troubled bars.
Departments elsewhere have faced scandals over off-duty work, including in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year when it was discovered officers worked off duty for a Ponzi schemer.
Cities handle the work in different ways. In Dayton, Ohio, officers can’t wear their city-issued uniforms or carry the weapons they use on duty. Some, including Miami Beach, Fla., and Pittsburgh, charge an administrative fee to the businesses who hire the officers.
Officials here considered charging the fee to the businesses and agencies who want to hire the officers but instead in December voted to charge the officers.
Copyright 2011 Gannett Company, Inc.