Police expand probe of doubled detail pay
The Boston Police Department launched internal affairs investigations of 13 more officers accused of double dipping yesterday, bringing the total under scrutiny to 20, following a Globe investigation that found hundreds of officers have been collecting pay for working private details in separate locations at the same time.
Police internal affairs officials say more officers are likely to be investigated as the department continues to sift through detail payroll records, after the Globe reported there were 724 instances in which officers were paid for being in two places at once. Three hundred and ninety-six officers received pay for the overlapping shifts, the Globe found in its analysis of 2 years of payroll records. Police officials acknowledge the department's antiquated computer system has no way of detecting overlapping shifts -- or other abuses that have allowed some officers to cheat for extra pay for nearly a decade, despite several revelations of widespread abuses.
The Globe discovered in 1998 that hundreds of officers worked details on the same days they called in sick or injured for regular shifts, a practice that earned them sick pay in addition to detail pay. A police spokeswoman at the time, Margot Hill, said, ''We have known our systems are fraught with error for some time and we are trying to correct it."
But nothing was corrected, according to John E. Zuccaro, who has run the department's Paid Detail Payment Unit since 1990. The department's computer payroll system still has no checks in place to prevent officers from collecting sick pay and detail pay on the same days.
In 2000, a Globe Spotlight Team report revealed that 20 officers worked private details on the same days they skipped out on court dates, resulting in the dismissal of criminal cases. The police commissioner at the time, Paul F. Evans, contended, ''It's not a cop problem. It's a systems problem." He pledged the system would be reformed.
Still, the department has not updated its computer system.
''It's a system we've relied on since the early 1970s," Zuccaro said.
Mary Jo Harris, the police department's chief legal counsel, said the department asked City Hall for permission to hire Digital Equipment Corp. to overhaul the police computer payroll system after the Globe's 1998 story. The request was turned down, Harris said, because the city had plans to integrate many separate payroll systems, including the police department's, and program them to detect fraud.
The computer system's ability to catch abuses was to be completed by 2000, Harris said. But four years later, the company hired to design and install it, California-based
''The phase-in was slower than originally thought," Harris said. ''It didn't meet the deadlines we anticipated." She said the department still has no timetable for the changes.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday played down past abuses of the private detail system and said his administration has made reforms to correct flaws in the system. ''Every time, we fix it," Menino said. He declined to say what reforms have been made. He also insisted that deliberate double dipping was not widespread in the police department.
''One abuse is too many, but we can't condemn a whole operation," he said.
The police department's Internal Affairs Division began investigations yesterday of Patrolman Joseph F. Scannell, who was paid to work at least two details at once on 23 occasions during the 2 years studied by the Globe; Lieutenant John H. Danilecki, who collected pay in 17 cases of overlap; Patrolman Alfred A. James, nine; Patrolman Darius M. Johnson, eight; and Patrolmen Christopher K. Shoulla, Paul J. Sullivan, and Kevin C. Coyne, seven each.
Detective Joseph C. Britt and Patrolmen Shawn Harris, John P. Ridge, Sherman Brown, and Paul E. Hayward are being investigated for six cases of double payment each, and Patrolman Richard D. Cintolo for five instances.
Those officers join seven already under investigation.
''We are moving full speed ahead with our internal investigations," Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said yesterday. ''If somebody has violated the law and done something criminal, those people would be referred to the appropriate authorities. I've said time and time again, we'll go where the truth takes us. People will be held accountable."
Deliberately filing time cards to receive pay for more than one detail at the same time could be prosecuted as larceny, prosecutors say. Convictions could result in sentences of up to five years in prison.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley will review the results of the internal affairs investigations and file criminal charges if appropriate, according to his spokesman, David Procopio.
''Commissioner O'Toole has pledged a full and fair review of these cases," Procopio said yesterday. ''Upon completion of that review, we will examine its results and determine if there is evidence of wrongdoing that rises beyond violation of departmental rules and regulations to the level of criminal conduct."
O'Toole met yesterday with the national auditing firm Ernst & Young to initiate an audit of the department's management of details.
O'Toole said she has been concerned about paid details since she became commissioner in February, saying better supervision could prevent officers arriving late to assignments and leaving early. Officers often don't wear hats and sometimes take unauthorized breaks. She said, however, she was unaware of the widespread double dipping until the Globe investigation this week.
''My hope is that there won't be a fourth story," O'Toole said, referring to the previous Globe investigations.
Globe correspondent Heather Allen contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. 
