THE Department of Public Safety has saved $400,000 after its commissioner, Edward Camacho, started reducing overtime pay three months ago.
Acting Public Safety Commissioner Santiago Tudela on Friday disclosed that the department “saved a lot of money” because of Camacho’s policy on OT.
Deputy Commissioner for Administration Franklin Babauta said aside from cutting overtime, DPS has also reduced its telephone bills and office supply expenses.
“We (no longer) reprint (the reports). We are cutting down on paper usage,” he said.
“If you look at it, it’s pretty minor. But if you look at it in the future, we are saving. So anything we can save, we try to do that,” Babauta said.
He said they had also phased out the caller identification telephones, saving the department at least $1,000.
“We used to have some caller ID telephones which we were paying about $28 a month. We don’t have to have 15 caller ID telephones. We cut it down to regular phones and are now paying only $5 to $7 a month,” he said.
“Now we are not using the caller IDs for the detectives. Why? Because we want to make sure that when you call, we keep you anonymous,” Babauta said.
The deputy commissioner said the governor’s expenditure control measures served as their guidelines.
Babauta said they want to make sure that the personnel understand that not only DPS but other agencies are tightening their belts due to the government’s cash-strapped condition.
