11 cops reinstated, 3 resigned

The Department of Public Safety has reinstated 11 of the 28 police officers who were placed on administrative duty for allegedly incurring illegal overtime. Of the 28 officers, three have already resigned.

DPS Commissioner Clement Bermudes said that, as of last week, he has reinstated 11 of 28 police officers he had previously placed on administrative duty pending an investigation into alleged unjustified overtime hours incurred.

“Just a few days into my appointment, we started investigating officers that were allegedly accumulating excessive amounts of illegal overtime hours. I’m happy to report that I’ve reinstated 11 officers because, after a thorough investigation, they have been exonerated of any illegal administrative actions. I’m really happy because that is 11 more officers that are out in our community,” he said.

Unfortunately, three of the 28 who were on administrative duty have resigned, Bermudes said.

“There was a total of 28 who were put on administrative leave. Of that 28, three have resigned. We’re slowly but surely returning officers back to duty,” he said.

So far, Bermudes said, he is happy with the outcome of the investigation because officers are being reinstated.

“The front-line is my priority because that is where we engage the community, and that’s who responds when the community needs help. So I’m really happy that we’re reinstating officers,” he said.

Bermudes is asking for the community’s patience as the investigation into the remining 14 continues.

“Patience is key because we don’t want to rush this investigation. We want to make sure that we thoroughly investigate the issue and we have been doing that,” he said.

As for consequences, should any of the remaining officers be found unqualified to return to duty, Bermudes said criminal charges will likely be filed against them.

“If they don’t qualify to return to full duty, then more than likely criminal charges will be filed against those officers,” he said.

He said this investigation is part of his overall goal to rebuild trust within the community and department through transparency and equality.

Last year, the transition team assigned to DPS determined that the department requested approval for over 11,000 hours of overtime—roughly one year and a half’s’ worth of regular work hours—in just one pay period in December.

More specifically, the transition report noted that a whopping 11,127.25 overtime hours were requested for the pay period from Dec. 4, 2022, to Dec. 17, 2022.

In addition, the transition team also stated that upon review of timesheets and OT requests from January 2022 to January 2023, it found that DPS has been paying out excessive OT accruals for the same group of officers, some higher-ranking officers and certain lower ranking ones as well—specific to certain sections.

The transition team found that, of the over 11,000 hours in overtime, about 4,000 OT hours, roughly about five-and-a-half months of regular hours, were requested for 40 officers who were allegedly part of former DPS commissioner Robert Guerrero’s “inner circle.”

The transition report said there is reason to believes that possible fraud and theft of government time was committed.