SANFORD, Fla. — There's a new scandal inside the Sanford Police Department and it has to do with payment for off-duty jobs. A handful of officers made tens of thousands of dollars extra by taking advantage of loopholes in the sign-up system so they would get the most after-hours work.
WFTV asked why they weren't fired for cashing in.
The Sanford police chief is instituting a host of tough, new rules after an investigation found "catastrophic systemic failure" in the officer sign-up process for off-duty jobs, like working a few extra hours of security at a nightclub or business.
That failure meant certain officers unfairly got huge amounts of extra work and extra pay. At the top of the hierarchy were the three coordinators who oversaw off-duty work, officers Nigel Price and Pedro Rivera and Lt. Mike Taylor.
It seems those officers would often have their buddies sign up for off-duty work in the computer system that they never intended to do. Then, when those scheduled officers cancelled on the job, perhaps a nighttime security shift at a Sanford bar, the top three would swoop in, taking the extra work and extra pay before any of their fellow officers got a chance.
Over the past two years, police say Rivera raked in an extra $29,000, Price an extra $23,000 and Taylor an extra $19,000, on top of their regular pay.
That extra cash is paid by the businesses who hire the off-duty cops and is not calculated into pensions. Most officers made less than $5,000 with the off-duty jobs.
The investigation started when the rank-and-file noticed the same people kept getting certain gigs. Sheriff's investigators found the "gaming of the system" was worst at the top, but happened throughout the department.
The Sanford police chief said the conduct of the three coordinators may have been unseemly, but it wasn't technically against policy before the changes, so they can't be fired.
All three will be suspended from off-duty jobs for 90 days.
WFTV
