In his wrongful-termination lawsuit, former BPD police captain William Broderick alleged that members of the homicide and drug-control unit used several methods to dishonestly accumulate overtime hours at Suffolk Superior Court.
Phantom start times . Many of the starting times on the overtime slips were earlier than the times entered in the court logbook. Broderick testified that often one detective would sign in for several others, allowing the others to start their overtime and come in later, if at all.
Phantom signatures . Internal affairs identified 94 overtime slips bearing the signature of someone other than the courthouse supervisor of cases, who is charged with verifying the times when officers log in and out.
Phantom appearances . Some slips request compensation for days when the officer never signed in at court at all. Some are for Saturdays and holidays, when the court was closed.
Double-slipping . Sometimes officers would sign out after four hours and immediately sign back in for a second overtime shift. Because of the automatic four-hour minimum for an overtime shift, this guaranteed eight hours of payment, even if the officer spent only five hours at the courthouse.
Piggybacking. Sometimes officers added their names to cases they didn’t actually work on, resulting in their being subpoenaed by the grand jury for guaranteed overtime pay.
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