PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix is currently conducting an audit of overtime within the police department.
The move comes after the department changed policies to tighten overtime oversight in response to massive payments that some officers were being paid.
RELATED: Phoenix PD changes overtime rules after ABC15 report reveals big payouts
A city spokesperson said the overtime review was planned last year and is now underway as part of Phoenix’s annual audit plan.
“The Audit Committee approves the plan for the following fiscal year in April, so in this case, the recommendation was made in February of 2024, and was finalized as part of the audit plan in April 2024,” according to an email from Dan Wilson, Phoenix’s Communication Director. “It was prompted in part by staff reviews of police overtime audits from Dallas and Tulsa, as well as a request from the City Manager’s Office. The Audit recommendation came on the heels of a work group within the Phoenix Police department which convened in September 2023 to evaluate and make recommendations related to overtime management.”
ABC15 is committed to finding the answers you need and holding those accountable.
Submit your news tip to Investigators@abc15.com
Phoenix police has hundreds of sworn officer vacancies, and the department utilizes overtime shifts to ensure proper staffing.
Officers tell ABC15 it's common to earn thousands of dollars in overtime a month by working extra shifts. But in April last year, ABC15 revealed that some officers were receiving overtime payouts that exceeded $20,0000 and $30,000 for one month.
For example, Officer Kenneth Vine Jr. was paid nearly $40,000 in overtime in January 2024, records show. At the time, Phoenix police told ABC15 that the large January payout was from a build-up of several months and his “overtime slips were deemed credible.”
But after obtaining additional records, ABC15 discovered Vine Jr. received nearly $155,000 in overtime during the six-month period from December 2023 through May 2024.
ABC15 reached out to Phoenix police earlier this week with questions about Vine’s other large payouts. A spokesperson provided the following statement"
An audit was conducted of Officer Vine’s overtime slips submitted late in 2023. All of the overtime was deemed credible. The large payouts in January and February of 2024 included overtime pay for shifts he worked over the prior several months. The system only allows for a limited number of entries, so the overtime slip entries had to be spread out over a few months. In April 2024, the police department revised Operations Order 3.4 that outlines the rules on work hours and overtime hours. Additional revisions were made in August 2024. Both provided additional oversight to overtime authorization.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
