With a Downsized Police Force, Cinnaminson Works to Contain Overtime

In 2005, the was fully staffed, boasting 32 officers. A few years later, layoffs and retirements claimed the positions of eight in the department. This year, the force stands at 23 officers plus a public safety director.

However, the amount of overtime paid to Cinnaminson police totals hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, leaving some taxpayers to ask, “Why not just hire more officers?”

That’s not the solution, said Gerry Seneski, Cinnaminson’s business administrator.

“Financially, it doesn’t work,” Seneski said.

From 2005 to 2010, the township has spent about $201,000 on average on police overtime each year. Typically, about $200,000 is budgeted for those purposes, Seneski said.

But, hiring more officers isn’t the solution financially, Seneski contends. When an officer is brought back, it’s at the same salary as when he or she left. 

“Even if you were to hire somebody new,” Seneski said, “it only takes a couple of years (for his or her salary) to be up there. It would only be a short-term savings. Because you have health benefits and pension" in addition to a base salary. 

Layoffs hit the force

In 2008, the department was fully staffed and there were “conscious efforts to reduce overtime” for 2009, Seneski said. The director of public safety on committee at the time, Beau Adams, worked with the then police chief on this, he added.

The force managed to reduce overtime from $235,003 in 2008—which was a fully staffed force—to $184,796.66. 

In March of last year, layoffs were announced.

“The governor cut $500,000 of aid to Cinnaminson,” Seneski said. “We had to make that up.”

Officers were laid off and four veterans retired. Their positions were not filled.

At the time, some township employees also lost their positions, such as a public works official and three at town hall.

“We had to balance the budget,” Seneski said.

So far, in 2011, police overtime is just short of $200,000. Overtime includes shifts that need to be covered because of injuries, sickness, holidays or extra manpower. It does not include officers needed for roadwork or school functions. (The vendor pays for those events.)

Seneski said that every year, everything has basically evened out with offsets in regular salary for police officers.

“There’s been a history where there’s been an officer each year with an injury,” Seneski said. “It’s not a bad percentage at all but [it happens]. We’ve anticipated insurance refunds to cover a portion of the overtime as a result of the injury time.”

Lt. Tim Young, of the Cinnaminson Police Department, said the force does not anticipate injuries, but it happens.

“We’re not a young department,” he said.

Young took home a combined $38,795.16 in overtime between 2008 and 2010, according to figures provided by the township. The 16-year police veteran's current salary is $99,663.  

(Cinnaminson Patch obtained overtime information for the police department through an Open Public Records Act request.) 

Det. Sgt. William Covert, a 29-year member of the department, is one of its most senior members. While some may balk at his overtime pay —  a combined total of about $100,000 from 2008 to 2010 — officials say this is quite the norm.

“He covers a lot of nights; he has to do interviews,” Seneski said. “He is an exception.”

For example, Young said, if there is a drug overdose overnight, Covert will get called in to investigate.

“One case alone can generate a bunch of overtime,” Young said. “You try to control it.”

Overtime is paid out time and a half.

Overtime is optional 

On the Cinnaminson police force, some officers can rack up thousands of dollars in a year of overtime while others only get a few hundred.

Extra shifts aren’t forced or given to certain officers over others, Seneski said. 

“One guy may not be as interested as another,” Seneski said.

Ed Giordano, executive director of the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police Labor Union, said police overtime almost can’t be helped.

“As bodies go down, workload isn’t going down, positions have to be covered, so you’ll see overtime go up,” said Giordano said. “It tends to be less expensive than filling the positions.”

However, Giordano, a former police chief in Washington Township, Gloucester County, said it’s essential to “watch the balance” since with overtime, comes the overtaxing of officers.

“Fatigue and officer safety comes into play,” Giordano said.

Additionally, to concentrate on one officer’s overtime would be a disservice, Giordano said.

“They could be an anomaly,” Giordano said. “They take more overtime and they just don’t turn down the opportunity.”

This year, even if the Cinnaminson Police Department matches its high in overtime over the last six years — about $235,000 in 2008 — that would be about $10,000 for each of the 32 officers.

“That gives you a better picture,” Giordano said.

A new schedule

Michael P. King, who was hired as the police department’s this summer, worked with Young and other department heads to come up with a new scheduling system.

The new scheduling started just started last month — too soon to report on any sort of findings, King said. 

“After I came on,” King said, “I got the last year of crime statistics and calls for service. We did an analysis on what days and times are busiest. It only made sense to put more officers on the street then. We tried to come up with a schedule to not only improve the officers’ qualify of life, but to meet the needs of the community.”

After six months of this new schedule, King said he could comment on how it’s going. He said he couldn’t comment on whether the department needs more officers but he frequently meets with staff.

“We’re keeping our fingers on the pulse of the staff,” King said. “We’re concerned about them.”

Young agrees the quick answer isn’t to just hire more officers.

“We have to try other things first,” he said.

Some residents — with the recent hash of local break-ins and burglaries — have taken to the forums on Patch to express safety concerns.

With less officers patrolling the streets, is Cinnaminson any less safe?

Young said no. 

He said that the increased media presence in Cinnaminson over the past year – including the launch of Cinnaminson Patch in December 2010 – merely makes crimes more visible to the public. 

People are hearing about it more, explained Young. 

Perhaps as a result, neighborhood watch has been on the rise. Young credits those residents who can be the eyes and ears of what’s going on in the community when police can’t be everywhere.

Also, the township recently introduced a completely for residents to call.

Still, FBI Uniform Crime Statistics show that the number of violent crimes in Cinnaminson nearly doubled between 2009 and 2010, increasing from 14 to 25. But, the number of property crimes during that period remained about the same, and the number of burglaries dropped from 67 to 53, according to the statistics. 

Ultimately, it's up to individual towns to determine the appropriate size of their police forces – there is no state or federal mandate for how many police officers a municipality should have.

“I can tell you without hesitation, we have some of the best police officers here in Cinnaminson,” said King, the public safety director. “I have to compliment the [police union] with the new scheduling — that’s a management prerogative. That’s my style of leadership—to improve quality of life.”

Below is a chart detailing overtime paid to individual officers from 2008-2010, along with their current salaries:

$405,394.61***

* Salary upon his retirement in April 2011

** No longer with the department

*** Total includes side jobs performed by some officers. The township was reimbursed $170,391.61 for this work, making the actual overtime total $235,003.

Source: Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey public databases