Fullerton Brass Thought Money Was No Object
Back in April of 2017 we wrote a piece about FPD giving taxpayers the middle finger regarding spending cuts within the department. During budget meetings the Police Department offered the PR outfit “Behind the Badge” up for tribute in their paltry cost savings plan and that was pretty much it.
For context, during this time it was mentioned that the police department burned through over $1Million a year in overtime (OT) pay.
What most people didn’t know, hilariously, is that the Chief of Police himself didn’t know how that money was being spent (emphasis added):
“I can be made aware I am spending a lot of money in overtime, but a detailed accounting of that overtime is not available. We have codes for court overtime but, to my understanding, that is all. If the OT was spent to maintain minimum staffing I do not know. If the OT was due to a community event I do not know. If the OT was due to extended shift overtime I do not know. “
That is from the former Chief of Police himself. If Overtime was due to a community event, minimum staffing or extended shift OT he didn’t know.
Let that sink in for a minute.
The Chief of Police didn’t (and likely doesn’t still) know how OT was being used in his own department. And this went on for literal years before Hendricks got here.
![Chief_Hendricks_Headshot_Photo-1[1]](https://www.fullertonsfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Chief_Hendricks_Headshot_Photo-11-768x677.jpg)
This is where I give former Chief Hendricks some praise for at least in one aspect attempting to right a ship that the council, city manager and former Chiefs had let float adrift. Let us not forget that the officers who took the OT never brought it up or questioned it as they were perfectly happy to ride the OT gravy-train into Fullerton’s fiscal ruin.
But wait, there’s MORE! Not only was the Chief unaware of how OT was being spent, we were also burning through OT as standard operating procedure (emphasis added):
“In the last six years following KT’s death, ALL community events and requests were taken on and a large number of them were done on overtime. This was the case up until I got here. I was unaware the marching orders were “do everything and money is no object” until literally last week. In the prior months, I had used personal discernment to tell Community Services to say “no” to some things and, instead to offer an on duty Watch Commander or a beat cop or sergeant to simply swing by and say hi. No exaggeration, if someone asked for a PD display of canines, SWAT and all their equipment etc., we gave it to them. Most of those things happened on the weekend and many of the individuals responding did so on overtime.”
The mentality was “do everything and money is no object” for 6 years until Hendricks put a stop to it. This was likely a Dan Hughes and/or Joe Felz thing that just sat uncontested by our lazy, incompetent and/or corrupt city staff and council because the idea that the council didn’t know about it is laughable. The only way they didn’t know about this is because willful ignorance is bliss in council chambers and feigning ignorance works too well with low information voters.
If nothing else this shows a complete lack of budgetary seriousness for at least six years from our City Councils, City Managers, HR Director and Police Chiefs in that time. You can’t seriously talk about balancing a budget and being conscious of costs when you have standing orders that “money is no object” and your Chief of Police is ignorant of how the money in a $1Million+ budgetary item is being allocated and spent.
This is why our roads suck.
Thanks, Jen. Everything is awesome.
Heh, have a looskie at the fire department’s overtime budget as well. Fullerton’s hose draggers have been lapping up the OT shell game for years. How much longer before Fullerton decides to privatize it’s paramedics like placentia and save an enormous amount of money each year?
That will never happen. You guys still suck and have no idea what you talking about!!
We know it’ll never happen.
Residents would rather raise taxes on the rich people living in the hills.
What’s the scoop with this guy?
He pack it up and go home?
Again you idiots at FF don’t have a clue. They do know the overtime is being spent on actual police work and the officers earning the overtime is serving the needs and wants of the people of Fullerton. It’s not like the took the $$ improperly and went to Vegas. Not knowing the detailed specifics is one thing, implying that the spending was wasteful (and “no object’) is incorrect and wrong.
If your issue is that you want to get the best police and fire services that are above reproach and complaint without paying for them, say so. that’s a different argument than the one you’re trying to make.
Get a glove and get into the game.
Hey, dipshit.
The Chief of Police said it was wasteful and not priority work, not us.
Learn to read.
So true, that Chief had integrity and morals, said no one ever….
Functional literacy is not either one of your strong suits. No where does the former piece of shit Chief say it was wasteful. He mentions that as the coding system works, it’s not easy to identify where or what exactly the OT was. There is a checks and balance already in place where a supervisor has to approve OT before it gets worked. Community events are not huge money makers for cops, they are usually on your day off and only last for a few hours. Most OT goes to maintain minimum staffing and court overtime, again…sometimes on your days off. FFFF has no clue how shit works, STFU and get in the game like the previous guy said. You guys are pussy ass, bench warming hippies.
Read it again, moron.
We know you treasure your degree from the diploma mill, but you really are just a below average Joe.
Not that you should be ashamed of not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but you really shouldn’t toss around insults. Your ego is writing checks your brain just can’t count or cash!
Show me the quote for “wasteful” d Nile dipshit. He was just sayin they need to code the OT better to keep track. Go back to your computer games and tinder account. Maybe you’ll get lucky, but doubt it. You ol dried up hippie pos.
From the Chief:
Show us the OT audit to prove that it was spent in a reasonable way and wasn’t wasted. What? You can’t do that? We just need to trust you and your bootlicker friends? Kick rocks.
Oh and as for supervisors approving OT and that makes it okay that the Chief has no idea where it’s spent? I guess it’s okay that Lieutenant Rios is able to approve OT for his wife Officer Rios then, what with him being the LT in the Patrol division where she works.
If it’s not just waste being covered up it’s nepotism and corruption.
Everything is a cover up. Good grief, get a life or at least go find some space ships or maybe Bigfoot. At least you might gain some readership. And yes I’m reading…it’s like the Sunday comics used to be. Buh bye for now retards. Great scoop! Lol
Retards. Nice mouth you got there. Mom must be proud.
Enjoy your pension.
Retard. No pension yet, but I will enjoy it.
Bootlickers gonna boot lick I guess.
We’re paying out the ass and we’re getting the worst lot of on-duty criminals this side… either side of Theo Lacy.
Functional literacy isn’t really your thing, is it?
The headline is quoting the former Police Chief.
You MUST work for the city or the city attorney’s office.
Argue with Hendricks, not FFFF who, as usual, has uncovered more casual fiscal abuse care of Felz and Danny Boy.
FPD has been taking 100 percent of Asset seizure Funds. This money could be used to substidize the cost of storing a towed vehicle for low income individuals,…. or just lower the fees so that there is no asset seizure surplus fund… because there is a conflict of intrests with this fund and the FPD and incentive to keep the fees high.
Or maybe stop stealing people’s stuff without a criminal conviction.
Dumb. Not theft, the law. Waaaah waaah.
Codifying theft doesn’t negate the theft, it just gives asshats like yourself an excuse to justify it while pretending that morals and ethics don’t exist.
Lonnie the fake….Write to your legislature dumbass. Do something about the laws you don’t like…oh wait you already are. Whining. Great job.