Grants help city to pay overtime to fight crime
City overtime in 2004 was $2.67 million, the same as the year before.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Odds are pretty good that anyone arrested by a cop working overtime can blame a state or federal grant.
Of $1.07 million spent for police overtime last year, about $315,000 was reimbursed, records show. The money came back to city coffers through grants or law enforcement partners.
Weed and Seed, a federal program that targets a section of the South Side, was the largest contributor with $81,193 paid out in 2004. Typically, officers working Weed and Seed details go out at night in pairs for four-hour shifts.
The Weed and Seed overtime hours, as with most grants, are available to those willing to work, regardless of rank, said Lt. Robin Lees, police department spokesman.
The arrests, many made through traffic stops from routine patrols, often include fugitives traveling with guns and drugs. Most don't have a valid license, records show.
Some of the details are "knock and talks," where drug officers check out complaints at suspected drug houses.
"It's important to stay focused on drug-related crimes because of their link to homicides," Lees said. "Without grant money, the city could not afford overtime at these levels."
The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program targets speeders and others violating rules of the road. Officers usually grab a radar gun and position their cruisers on Interstate 680 or other heavily traveled roads.
OT available
If officers want to work overtime, it's available, Lees said. There have been times when openings went unfilled for STEP and Weed and Seed, he said. STEP paid out $28,810 in overtime last year.
Lees said officers who work dayturn have the advantage because most of the grant details are generally in the evening.
The Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force, which hunts for violent fugitives, and its gang unit paid city officers assigned to them $77,948 in overtime in 2004. Last year, the gang unit's lengthy investigation of two East Side gangs led to 19 members' being indicted in federal court.
Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority receives a grant each year from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for extraordinary, not routine, police protection on their subsidized housing properties. The idea is to pay for a YMHA patrol and staff it with the same officers, not rotate.
Records show $62,623 of the $200,000 grant was expended last year as overtime, not for a dedicated patrol. Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. said he was informed of the error in late November 2004. The chief said he doesn't have enough officers to staff a YMHA patrol.
Last year, Bush mostly assigned members of his Street Crimes Unit to work overtime in YMHA housing projects. Members of the SCU also work with the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force. The task force paid out $16,673 in overtime last year.
Holiday pay accounted for $254,138.
Court appearances cost $209,927. Officers are subpoenaed to court as required for arrests they made. Standard overtime was $169,015.
Security details
Last year, a presidential election year, meant each time a candidate was in town, extra police were deployed for security, including the bomb squad, Lees said. Police did whatever the Secret Service requested.
"The presidential campaign really hit us in the head," Lees said. "Such events really draw from our resources."
The amount of overtime spent to protect presidential candidates wasn't calculated, but likely involved officers working a sixth day, he said. Sixth-day overtime was $27,668 last year, records show.
In 2004, city overtime was $2.67 million, same as the year before. Last year, though, had an extra two-week pay period, something that happens every 14 years.
Daniel Brott, tax administrator, earned the most overtime, $25,485; followed by David Joyce, street construction foreman, with $24,874; and Louis Zorella, catch basin chief, $23,858.
Finance Director David Bozanich said that over the years, the income tax department reduced staff from 14 to five. Cuts over the years eliminated positions, such as deputy tax commissioner, that Brott has been filling, Bozanich said.
Carmen Gonglose Jr., deputy director of public works, and Larry Gurlea, sewer department superintendent, could not be reached.