About 250 Cleveland police officers cleared out lockers and turned in badges after the city told taxpayers it could no longer afford them.
It takes lots of your money to keep cops on the street. NewsChannel5's Ted Henry investigated what some of Cleveland's top cops are earning in "comp" time.
In 2001, 45 deputy chiefs, captains and commanders earned 9,753 hours of comp time. That's more than 4.5 years worth.
In 2002, they earned 8,120 hours -- nearly 4 years. And last year, they earned 6,836 hours -- more than 3 years worth of comp time.
Henry took those numbers to City Hall for some answers.
"I don't know if that raises a red flag in your estimation or not, but to the average person that does seems excessive -- it almost seems impossible," Henry said.
"If there's an inordinate amount of time, that does send up a red flag and we do take a look at that," Public Safety Director James Draper.
Henry also discovered that Cleveland police can bank every hour they earn in comp time. That adds up because officers can also cash out at their highest pay rate, even if those hours were earned at a much lower rate.
Records over three years showed some command staff with comp time ranging from as little as 32 hours to 2,000 hours. That's equal to a full year.
Deputy Chief Tim Hennessy, who earned nearly 800 hours of comp time in the last three years, said the system is tightening up.
"Chief Lohn is requiring that all overtime, which includes comp time and paid overtime be absolutely necessary and be justified," Hennessy said.
He said some of his hours include vacation time not used and holidays worked.
"How does that happen that so many comp hours get accumulated that way?" Henry asked.
"Now, if you saw one of their event schedules, the commanders are 24/7. They're at everybody's ward club, they're at summits, town hall meetings, It's not unusual they can accumulate that kind of compensatory time over a year's period," Hennessy said.
"When we talk about the potential for red flags to be raised over issues, I'm wondering about whether or not a red flag would be required for one individual who reported earning more than 1,237 hours of comp time. And this was really comparable to more than 30 weeks of comp time. It almost seems impossible to accumulate 30 weeks of comp time," Henry said.
"You have to keep in mind you're talking about 800 hours when 1,200 appear on the books, because it's time and a half," Hennessy said.
"But 800 hours, I would think that would raise a red flag with somebody," Henry said.
"That's right it should be looked at, but its something that's doable," Hennessy said.
The Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association said when beat cops were being let go last month, Association President Bob Beck argued that cutting out excess spending in the command staff could have saved jobs.
"They refused to do that. So, where are we here? Where are our priorities? Did they really want to save 100 jobs or did they want to pay more overtime in other areas. That leaves a sour note with me," Beck said.
And here's how it cost you.
Assume a captain's minimum salary is $74,940.19. That's $876,800 of your tax dollars for the last three years of comp time alone.
The city promised in tough economic times that it will keep track of how comp time is earned.
"Given the financially difficult period the city is faced with, could that, should that happen today in 2004?" Henry asked.
"Well, as Chief Hennessy said, Chief Lon and I have talked and the top priority was to get hold of overtime. And absolutely it should be looked at. If something looks like it's inordinate we're going to take a look at it. Remember what Chief Hennessy said, It must be absolutely necessary before we sign off on it. So if that was happening at this point it would be examined," Draper said.