IT’S “absolutely not easy to do,” but Department of Public Safety Commissioner Clement Bermudes told the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday that his department is now controlling its personnel’s overtime.
Joining him in the House chamber at 9 a.m. Friday were DPS Administration Director Kay Inos and Human Resource Manager Esther Reyes.
Besides its chairman, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, the other Ways and Means Committee members present in the hearing were Vice Speaker Joel Camacho, Reps. Roman Benavente, Marissa Flores, Denita Yangetmai, Angelo Camacho, John Paul Sablan and Vicente Camacho.
In his opening statement, Bermudes told the committee that DPS has controlled OT work while ensuring that the safety of the community is maintained and follow-up investigations on cases are continued “because we owe every victim of crime some form of closure in that regard.”
He acknowledged that DPS has a history of “excessive overtime.”
“We had to re-look at what is the department’s key mission and responsibilities,” he said. “Because, as you know, as we extend ourselves, we’re going to incur overtime because there is a finite number of personnel.”
When DPS gets involved in different activities, it may not have enough people to run a 24/7 schedule. “So that is basically how I see how OT became excessive,” Bermudes said.
He said when there are multiple activities that may demand police presence, “you ask yourself again as a department, is that part of our primary mission?” If not, DPS will either address it later or “leverage” other law enforcement agencies that are able to provide personnel.
It’s a management issue, at best, he said.
But “is controlling overtime easy to implement? Absolutely not especially when the department is running at bare minimum,” he added.
Allotted $6.6 million in the revised fiscal year 2023 budget, DPS has 15 employees per shift including regular and emergency response dispatchers, as well as a shift supervisor, to cover eight sectors across the island, Bermudes said. The department also has 35 personnel in the criminal investigation unit now working on homicide cold cases and dealing with increasing incidents of property theft, he added.
Asked by Rep. John Paul Sablan if these are sufficient, Bermudes answered, no. The ideal number of police officers in criminal investigation is between 40 and 50, he said.
Bermudes said there will still be overtime work because “you do not control that.” But, he added, “we are not looking at 40, 60, 80, 100 plus hours of overtime. That is unimaginable for an officer or even for any individual in the government or even private sector,” he added.
According to the department’s budget submission, DPS needs $9.8 million for FY 2024. The governor’s proposal for DPS in FY 2024 is $7 million. The department’s current budget is $6.6 million.
Clement Bermudes
