Mahwah March 20, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Police overtime to be under further review by Frank J. McMahon The cost of overtime for police officers who attend municipal court proceedings will be reviewed at the council’s March 21 meeting. The township council has discussed the 2012 increase in police overtime at three different budget review meetings. At the council’s March 7 meeting, the issue of police overtime was raised by two residents who expressed confusion about the issue and asked the council for clarification. Council President Harry Williams told the residents the issue is also unclear to the council, alluding to the fact that the council has not able to determine who specifically directs police officers to appear in court. In addition, the council has not been able to determine if the police officers who provide security for the court are on regular duty time or overtime. Mayor William Laforet claimed that the cost of the police overtime for court appearances was about $237,000 in 2012 and, of that amount, $75,000 was spent for court security officers to monitor the metal detector and protect the prosecutor and the judge, while $512,317 in revenue was generated. “That reflects a job well done by the police officers,” Laforet said. “OK, but who approved the overtime?” Councilman John Roth asked. Laforet responded that the prosecutor provides a list of police officers who are to appear in court, but he did not know the answer to Roth’s question. Councilwoman Lisa DiGiulio agreed that the prosecutor sends a list to the police station, but she asked, “When it gets over there, who authorizes the overtime?” Unable to get an answer to that question, Williams asked the municipal clerk to ask Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli, Municipal Prosecutor Dennis Harraka, and Municipal Court Judge Anthony Gianni to attend the council’s March 21 meeting. The item will be placed first on the agenda in an attempt to clarify who is authorized to direct police officers to appear in municipal court on an overtime basis, and to determine if that overtime cost can be reduced. The issue of police overtime arose when the budget for the police department was first reviewed at a council meeting in early February. At that meeting, the council was told that the police overtime cost had increased to $505,000 last year, of which $347,611 has been attributed to the overtime cost of police officers attending municipal court. Batelli presented the police department budget and told the council at that meeting that a change in the policy of the municipal prosecutor in 2012 required police officers to be present at all court proceedings concerning the summonses they issue. Batelli also informed the council that a negotiated contract agreement at the end of 2011 reduced the amount of overtime a police officer may receive for attending court proceedings. Prior to that time, a police officer would be paid for four hours of overtime if that police officer spent more than two hours in court. Now, Batelli said, police officers get paid for the actual time they spend in court. (continued on page 21)