Miami Police Break promise to reform ailing off-duty police system – NBC 6 South Florida

The Miami police know their off-duty employment program is ripe for abuse.

Audits have found it cannot keep track of all hours worked or money paid, and it puts public safety at risk as tired officials work more hours per day than allowed.

But despite repeated warnings and promises by the city to address the issues, the city has once again broken its promise to reform an operation that is channeling an estimated $ 1.5 million a month to officials who work on the side on special events and private security jobs.

Since 2016, the city’s audit office has twice uncovered how inadequate and incomprehensible the so-called “special employment program” is, and each time the city has vowed to make corrections not to do so later.

A January 2020 report by the city’s general auditor found that police had done nothing to fix four key findings from the 2016 audit.

In response, the city announced that the police “will use the services of an external administrator to handle the planning, collection and payment for additional tasks” and that the new system will be fully implemented by October 2020.

But resistance within the police force – including the Special Events Unit, which oversees off-duty employment that pays officers at least $ 50.50 an hour – thwarted those efforts this month.

A source involved in the acquisition described some of the arguments put forward by opponents within the police force as “absurd” to assert their power over the lucrative, sketchy system.

A call for proposals drew three valid bidders and in June 2021 a municipal procurement evaluation committee recommended the highest ranking and lowest price provider, RollKall Technologies.

But after a meeting in August to negotiate the contract resulted in a revised proposal, the forces inside the police department met and found that the cost-benefit ratio of the highest ranked vendor providing the lowest proposed price was not in the best interests of the city, ”reads a memo from the procurement department to the city manager received from NBC 6 investigators.

A public request for a copy of a “cost-benefit” analysis or other record showing why the police found this to be “not in the best interests of the city” has remained unanswered.

On November 11, City Manager Art Noriega agreed to the procurement department’s recommendation to decline all responses.

Former boss Jorge Colina, who ran the department when it promised to hire an outside manager in 2020, told NBC 6 that the decision was “disappointing” and “a missed opportunity” to correct a troubled system.

Including: The Special Events Department and the city don’t keep track of how much income officials are supposed to report on their taxes when they are paid – sometimes in cash – by companies.

In most cases, the ministry does not have any records showing exactly how much money or other social benefits civil servants receive from private employers.

It was also found that officials work more hours per day than the maximum 16 hours allowed for official and off-duty activities.

The auditors also found that officials were paid by the city for their official work for the same hours they got for off-duty work.

“It was an outrageous abuse that apparently deprived taxpayers of the services they pay for,” said Rodney Jacobs, deputy director of the CIP.

As of September 2020, officials have been paid $ 50.50 an hour for providing additional services, with employers paying an additional $ 4.50 an hour as an administrative fee directly to the city. (NCOs and other higher ranking officers are paid higher.)

The administration fees help fund the police budget and raise approximately $ 1.6 million annually from 2015 to 2018. The 2020 audit found that more than $ 103,000 in fees was overdue and there is a risk that the city will not collect other fees it should because its household unit does not get a list of all hours and jobs received from civil servants .

In its negotiations with RollKall in August, the city estimated the company would generate gross income of nearly $ 2.4 million a year based on the proposed 8.29% rate it billed companies, the additional Deploy officers. The city suggested to RollKall to cut the rate, especially for some jobs – like the Ultra Music Festival or Calle Ocho – where the special events department would still be needed for planning and coordination.

The company agreed to lower tariffs, according to the September negotiation minutes.

Two months later the project was dead.

But the city has not yet provided an explanation as to why – especially the cost-benefit analysis that the police used to convince procurement and the city manager to abandon reforms that would have resolved problems in the off-duty program.

In a statement to NBC 6, RollKall President Steven Power said it “respects the city of Miami’s decision to reassess its requirements” and “welcomes the opportunity to work with the city in the future.”

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