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| 12 | 0621081d | 10 | /PPACT/meeting-minutes-extraction/export/pdf/0621081d.pdf | id:8ceKnrnmgi0AAAAAAAAqnQ | 574f5c96900f0c71dbc31a8cc0d7386012fa13b53ffcf3ef786e3228322eba3e | /PPACT/meeting-minutes-extraction/export/txt/0621081d.txt | id:8ceKnrnmgi0AAAAAAAAr5Q | adb49b024873cdbfa42017087aef164cf6225067d9f90473e78c5de16158ea9e | fire | 2002 | 5 | 16 | scraped | 2 | MONROE ALLMOND | 187605a0263b4be070c699bb3da590cd | APPEAL HEARING FOR MONROE ALLMOND Mr. Lotwick introduced exhibits BRPD #1 - 9. Sgt. Randall Watson - BRPD - 28 years Sgt. Watson is Assistant to the Chief of Detectives. Corporal Allmond was under his supervision in March 2001. He was assigned to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms task force. (Project Exile) He worked primarily with federal officers. BRPD #1 - Agreement to furnish manpower and reimbursement costs of overtime costs. These costs are paid by the city and reimbursed by ATF. There is only one officer assigned to this task force with a limit of $13,000 per year. 4 Lt. Norris had concerns about the amount of overtime being worked in all agencies. There appeared to be a large amount of overtime. BRPD #2 - Report of overtime by Corporal Allmond. The report shows time beginning at 8:00 AM and most federal agencies do not start to work until later. He drove by Corporal Allmond’s home to see if Corporal Allmond was going to work at 8:00 am. His car was at home at 8:20 and still there after 9:00 am on 3/12, 3/14 and 3/16. He also checked several evenings because the report showed two hours overtime in the evenings. BRPD #2 - The overtime report showed overtime for Corporal Allmond on 3/12/01 through 3/16/01 and also what project he worked on. BRPD #3 - Report of time worked for Criminal Division Adm. BRPD #4 - Overtime record 3/19 - 3/23/01 (Project Exile). BRPD #5 - Duty Roster 3/17 - 3/23/03 showing time worked for Criminal Div. Adm. BRPD #6 - He wrote letter to Lt. Mike Morris (3/26/01). His conclusion was that Corporal Allmond was going to work at 10:00 am and putting down 2 hours overtime. Charlie Dirks asked if he rode by in the afternoon of 3/12 and he testified that he did not. In the afternoon of 3/14, his vehicle was not home. No he did not check with his supervisor to determine where he was. On 3/16, he rode by in the morning and his vehicle was home, but in the afternoon his vehicle was not home. No, he did not contact his supervisor. BRPD #2 and BRPD #4 actually lists case numbers. No, he did not call his supervisor. When asked, Sgt. Watson testified that in service training, they may not put in a full day, but they get paid for 8 hours. Henry Clark asked if Corporal Allmond might have been riding with someone else on those particular days and the reply was yes, but Sgt. Watson saw Corporal Allmond leave the house. He saw him driving his car so the car was not being repaired. Detective Lee Sheldon BRPD - 17 years Detective - Special Investigations Detective Sheldon was assigned to further investigate this matter on 3/21/01 by Supervisor Cathy Doughty. He was advised to put Corporal Allmond under surveillance and follow up on the investigation. He normally handles criminal investigations. On 3/21/01, he observed vehicle leaving at 8:37 AM and 8:52 AM on the 3/22/01. He videotaped incidents. On these days Corporal Allmond had reported overtime from 1600 to 1800 hours. BRPD #4 reported overtime on the 21* for 3 hours and on the 22™ for 3 hours. He would have to have worked from 8:00 am. He observed him leaving well after 8:00 am. When questioned about this difference, Corporal Allmond admitted he had recorded the paperwork technically incorrect, but he had put in the required amount of hours. He stated that he worked some hours on nights and weekends, but he could not produce witnesses to verify hours. Sgt. Watson talked to ATF and discussed documentation. They indicated Corporal Allmond worked different hours, but they could not verify hours worked. No arrest was made in this case. . Charles Dirks pointed out that ATF had stated that Corporal Allmond worked outside normal work hours. Mr. Dirks asked Detective Sheldon if he had followed Corporal Allmond later in the evening to see if he went other places outside normal work hours. Corporal Allmond has already testified that the time sheet did not reflect exact hours that he worked. Corporal Allmond also stated that he does go to other places. Sgt. Watson did not follow him later in the evening. No, he did not check on file numbers to see if he went to court, etc. ATF had stated that they found no reason to think that he did not work the amount of hours that he stated on his time sheets. Joe Lotwick stated that ATF could not confirm or deny the hours that he worked on these days. Corporal Allmond testified that he stated the hours the way he did simply because it was the easy way to do it. He should have stated the exact work day and work hours that he actually worked. He could not supply any person to verify his exact work hours. Detective Sheldon testified that he mainly did surveillance in the mornings. He did not check other hours during the night, etc. Detective Sheldon was checking to see if any public records were injured. They may have found probable cause, but they could not have supported criminal charges. Corporal Allmond stated that he sometimes makes phone calls from his home during investigations, so he might have been working while he was still at home. Sgt. Watson indicated that the times on the sheet did not coincide with what he saw. Corporal Anny BRPD - Internal Investigations Corporal Anny stated that he did no surveillance. He received reports only. He called Corporal Allmond and gave him an opportunity to explain the allegations. The only explanation Corporal Allmond offered was that he just put 8 - 4 instead of the actual hours that he worked. Sometimes he worked nights, Saturday or Sunday. It was just easier to put 8 - 4 and then 4 - 6 overtime. Corporal Allmond stated that he had no one to collaborate his hours. He stated that he sometimes interviewed persons that were located closer to him to help other investigators. | He also stated that he might have served subpoenas on weekends. His supervisor at ATF _ expressed that he felt that Monroe had worked the amount of hours that he claimed due to the work that he produced. He had no way of collaborating the actual number of hours worked. Mr. Bonaventure, his supervisor at ATF stated that Corporal Allmond was an outstanding worker. When asked by Cynthia Wilkinson ifhe still worked at ATF, Corporal Allmond stated that he did not because BRPD had terminated his work at ATF. Chief Englade had stated that the only thing in question was Corporal Allmond’s record keeping. Corporal Anny testified that it was normal procedure for employees to document actual hours worked. Joe Lotwick reiterated that the documents do not reflect the actual hours that were worked. Corporal Allmond may have worked the actual amount of time, but not the actual hours that he recorded on the reports. Corporal Allmond BRPD #2 and #4 Reports from March 12 and March 16 Corporal Allmond testified that he prepared these reports and these reports were approved by Mr. Bonaventure. Chief Englade - Chief of Police Chief Englade issued a predisciplinary letter (BRPD #8) on 5/18/01. The predisciplinary letter states the disciplinary action and the rules and regulations that were violated and also states civil service laws that were violated. The predisciplinary hearing was held on 5/30/01. Chief Englade stated that it was very important to document the actual hours worked. Members of a task force especially should document the actual hours because they are trusted to work the number of hours that they report. Chief Englade would have no way of knowing that he did not work those specific hours. The Police Department is pretty structured and he expects the hours to be reflected accurately. You should always document factual information. Charles Dirks reiterated that Mr. Bonaventure stated at the pre-disciplinary hearing that he felt that Corporal Allmond actually worked the total amount of hours that he claimed to work. Mr. Bonaventure was very complimentary of Corporal Allmond. Charles Dirks also referred to the fact that by union contract, police officers can be paid 100% of time in school and only attend 75%. (Chief Englade stated that this only refers to schools.) He also referred to police officers going 10-8 from their home. Chief Englade does not condone police officers going 10-8 from their home. Chief Englade stated that this investigation started out as a criminal and Internal Affairs investigation. He considers reporting time incorrectly as injuring a public document and he considers it a serious offense. Captain Ben Odom Captain Odom testified that at the predisciplinary hearing, Mr. Bonaventure indicated there was no problem with the amount of hours or with the time reported as worked. Corporal Monroe Allmond Jr. BRPD Corporal Allmond was assigned to ATF task force. Mr. Bonaventure was his supervisor from whom he received his orders. This is a joint task force to prosecute illegal guns. They averaged convictions of 100 felons per year. In the burglary division each person had about 25 to 30 cases. ATF is basically paper churner. They handle about 100 cases per year. Corporal Allmond had to interview all persons involved because reports were incomplete. He did a lot of paper shuffling and driving around. He had no specific start time for workday. He had to go to other parishes where the conviction had been made and obtain certified documents and to obtain certified court minutes. He created this situation because he got complacent. He is a work-a-holic. He probably worked many more hours than reported. They had just started a new federal program which would have generated more work and more money. They sent him to school to prepare for this work. They limit each agent to $13,000 per year. The federal government is responsible for paying overtime. From 10/31/00 to 9/30/01, he did not receive the full $13,000 in pay. The government year ends in October. The budget is not approved until January, but he worked during that period from October to January. All of his case numbers were reflected accurately. Joe Lotwick asked Corporal Allmond how did he record his overtime hours when he worked in the burglary department. Corporal Allmond responded that due to overtime constraints, sometimes the supervisor would let them work flexible hours but not get paid for them, but receive compensatory time off. He does not know how long he reflected his hours inaccurately. Joe Lotwick - Closing Mr. Lotwick acknowledges that a 15 day suspension is a painful suspension but the Chief | considers this a very serious matter and the 15 day suspension indicates that. It was . serious enough that this originally started out as a criminal investigation. It was only at . the conclusion of that investigation that it was determined that there was not evidence enough to receive a criminal conviction so it became strictly an administrative disciplinary matter. There was probably enough evidence to make an arrest but they did not feel they could prove criminal charges. All of us have worked on an hourly job and we had to accurately record overtime hours. By keeping the records in the fashion that he did, he sets himself up for the accusation that he was committing some kind of payroll fraud. Corporal Allmond admitted that he did not accurately record the hours worked. According to BRPD#9, there is no way for either Corporal Allmond or Mr. Bonaventure to tell exactly what hours Corporal Allmond worked on the days in question. All of us have worked on an hourly job and we had to accurately record overtime hours. Accuracy in police officer records is critical in everything that they do including investigations, fact gathering reports and also in the records of their own time. This is especially true when those time sheets are prepared for the purpose of being submitted for compensation from another agency. The only question is the severity of the disciplinary action and he asks that the Board sustain the entire suspension. Charles Dirks - Closing Corporal Allmond has acknowledged that BRPD#2 and BRPD#4 do not accurately reflect the hours worked but they do reflect the number of hours worked. There has been no evidence to suggest that he did not work the number of hours reported but only that they were reported incorrectly as to the times that he worked. The federal office did not have a problem with the number of hours paid and they were the agency paying for this overtime. We’re dealing with the fact that the records are inaccurate, but there are other inaccurate time sheets as you have heard here today. The Chief says this is because of a union contract but they are still inaccurate. No harm has been done to the department. The department does not pay for this overtime. There was no fraud and no harm done. Fifteen days is a large suspension. The punishment does not fit the crime or at least the allegations. I ask the Board to reduce the suspension to less than fifteen days. Lyle Johnson made a motion to reduce the suspension from fifteen days to seven days suspension. This motion was seconded by Daryl Edgens. Lyle Johnson stated that he does not believe that this was payroll fraud and was not intended to be payroll fraud. If it was, he does not think that he would have done it in 9 such a plain out shoddy way that he did it. He thinks that it is a case of laziness just like he said. Did he try to steal? There’s no proof that he did. I think it was a very shoddy investigation and I think the shoddy investigation goes back to laziness just like what Monroe did. It was a far reaching grasp with only five days. That goes to show you how shoddy an investigation it was. If they had done a good investigation, then it’s very possible that everything would have come out and you could see that either the man was either just lazy and did not do it right or that it was payroll fraud. They didn’t prove anything other than that. That he just did the paperwork a little lazy. Vote: Cynthia Wilkinson No Lyle Johnson Yes Henry Clark Yes Daryl Edgens Yes Chief Johnston Yes The Board has voted to reduce the suspension to 7 days. Motion to adjourn was made by Daryl Edgens and seconded by Henry Clark. Motion approved unanimously. Meeting adjourned. vA Chief G. L. J obyiston (Ret.), Chairman unicipal Firé & Police Civil Service Board May 18, 2002 10 | Appeal hearing: MONROE ALLMOND on 2002-5-16 |