Clarkstown Police Overtime Audit Presented

Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan presented the results of the department’s internal audit of 2012 overtime.  The audit resulted from an overtime discrepancy was discovered, which led to the resignation of a police officer earlier this year.  Sullivan provided the audit results, which had been compiled by four lieutenants directed by Captain Anthony Ovchinnikoff, at Tuesday’s Town Board Workshop. He said no further instances of overtime were found.

According to Sullivan the audit included 704 submissions of overtime filed by 95 different officers. There were 236 instances of overtime for Clarkstown Justice Court vehicle and traffic cases, 103 for Upper Nyack Justice Court vehicle and traffic cases and 365 submissions for other matters. The total of court time amounted to 2,778 hours. 

“I never thought in February, in November we would get to this point,” said Sullivan. 

He said he felt it was incumbent for the department to conduct the investigation. 

The town’s auditor Korn Rosenbaum LLP of Pomona is also auditing the department and Sullivan said he expects the firm will make recommendations for changes.  Sullivan detailed how the four lieutenants assigned to the audit, researched the overtime submissions. He said 696 out of the 704 were verified through review of court records for vehicle and traffic cases.

Other overtime was confirmed through various other sources including sign in sheets at the county courthouse, the district attorney’s office, the state Department of Motor Vehicles and private attorneys. 

The department now requires officers making court appearances to sign in and out of its computerized Police Officer Scheduling System (POSS) and has asked the town to have the courts maintain an officer sign in sheet.  

Korn Rosenbaum requested 53 overtime sheets for their audit and the relevant documentation.

In the 13-page report Sullivan wrote, “I am pleased to report that the Town’s auditors were satisfied with the methodology employed to conduct the audit, as well as the internal controls we voluntarily instituted even prior to the results of the audit. We expect that the auditor’s final report will recommend that the Town conduct a random sampling of overtime requests in 2013 to confirm that the new procedures are being followed.” 

Several new procedures were recommended to the town board in order to track overtime more easily. Those included requiring officers to submit their overtime sheet to a supervisor when they finish the overtime assignment, keep all subpoenas and notices to appear and redesign the overtime sheet to include the date and time that the officer and supervisor sign the form.

Clarkstown PBA President John Hanchar issued a statement after the audit’s release saying the members adhere to high ethical standards.

After an isolated situation, caught by safeguards already in place and dealt with swiftly and sternly, our collective integrity was nevertheless challenged by some. We welcomed the audits, performed both by the leadership of the police department and by an outside agency, as a way to prove to the public that we value the tremendous police/public working relationship we have worked so hard to create.”