5/29/2014 Port Authority officials fail to curb overtime pay 

Port Authority officials fail to curb overtime pay 

Ronald Marsico By Ronald Marsico 

on April 26, 2008 at 11:30 PM 

Embarrassed by years of perennially high police overtime costs, Port Authority officials called in an 

international management consultant two years ago. 

The agency paid KPMG $435,000 to evaluate its staffing practices and make suggestions to get things 

under control. Overtime had jumped 12 percent to $42.9 million over the previous year, and KPMG found 

plenty of problems-- no cap on overtime, difficulties reassigning staff to open posts, "archaic" record 

keeping and lenient sick time and disciplinary policies. 

The results a year later? 

Overtime soared even higher in 2007, hitting $48.9 million --a 14 percent jump over those already elevated 

2006 numbers and the second-highest dollar amount in agency history, behind 2001. 

Some members of the department continued to work staggering hours-- a top 10 list includes several 

officers averaging more than 70 hours a week every week of the year. 

Port Authority officials say they implemented some of the reforms suggested by KPMG but found others 

impossible given the agency's existing contract with the police union that runs through January 2010. 

"The study provided us with an outside professional opinion that confirms we're contractually handcuffed," 

said Marc LaVorgna, a Port Authority spokesman. "Significant portions ofthe contract absolutely need to be 

revised when the renewal is negotiated." 

A KPMG spokesman declined comment, citing confidentiality issues. 

The ballooning overtime costs are more than a budget concern, police experts say, arguing officers who 

work so many hours can become fatigued and prone to making mistakes. 

Overall, the roughly 1,600-member force worked nearly 838,000 hours of overtime --more than 500 hours 

per officer on average. 

Some officers carried more of the load than others. Port Authority Police Officer Morris Cofield, a 14-year 

veteran stationed mostly at John F. Kennedy International Airport, logged on average a bit more than 80 

hours each and every week in 2007. 

That workaholic pace brought a bonanza: His $82,909 base pay skyrocketed with $153,461 in overtime and 

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5/29/2014 Port Authority officials fail to curb o-.ertime pay 

then extra stipends led to a grand total of $263,468. 

Cofield, 45, had lots of company behind him on the overtime train --nine other Port Authority officers, for 

example, averaged between 62 and 77 hours every week last year. 

"That's excessive and is bound at some point to undermine that officer's ability to perform-- out of fatigue, 

if for no other reason," said Wayne Fisher, director of the Police Institute at Rutgers University in Newark. 

"Over the period of a year, there has to be a negative effect." 

Police Supt. Samuel Plumeri said the overtime is critical to filling shifts in the post-9/11 War Against 

Terrorism, particularly at the bistate agency's "terrorist-rich targets" like key airport, bridge, tunnel, rail and 

port facilities. 

"It's not Mayberry. It's the Port Authority," said Plumeri, noting he makes no apologies about putting 

security first at an agency that suffered two devastating attacks on its property at the World Trade Center. 

"I'm not trying to be cavalier about money ... but I'm more concerned about taking care of those (security) 

issues." 

Since late 2006, Plumeri said there have been publicized threats to agency facilities --like ones to blow up 

both the PATH tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan and the fuel farm near John F. Kennedy 

International Airport-- and others the public never heard about that have driven up overtime. 

"We are an intelligence-driven police department," he said. 

Plumeri said the department implemented recommendations from KPMG where possible, such as improved 

procedures for assigning overtime, but is hamstrung by the existing contract and ongoing need to fill shifts. 

Nevertheless, he said, the agency is concerned about overworked officers and takes steps to ensure they 

are ready for duty. 

Asked in particular about Officer Cofield's hours, Plumeri defended the officer and said he met him recently 

at JFK. 

"He's as physically fit as you can get-- always on post," said Plumeri, who also said Cofield's commanding 

officer had spoken highly of him. 

"Our executive officers evaluate these people before they work ... seeing if they're mentally able and 

physically able to work," said Plumeri of officers who log the most overtime. "I think we'd acknowledge the 

number (of hours) is high, but he's fulfilling a need. He's willing to work and able to work. We had identified 

posts that we needed to fill and we did." 

Critics, though, say the physical toll is too high. 

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512912014 Port Authority officials fail to curb O\ertime pay 

Washington State University Criminal Justice Professor Bryan Vila, who wrote a book "Tired Cops: The 

Importance of Managing Police Fatigue," said too much time spent on duty results in sharp reductions in 

officers' vigilance, coordination and alertness. 

"We depend on them to use their judgment judiciously," said Vila, a former law-enforcement officer himself. 

"The idea of putting them on the street impaired and armed-- it's dumb .... This is a fundamental risk 

management and human capital issue." 

Gus Danese, the department's Police Benevolent Association president, blamed the overtime issue on 

management, insisting, for example, that they failed to hire enough officers and neglected to train others to 

fill specialty shifts like K-9 bomb dog units. 

"A lot of cops don't like to work those hours, but they (P.A. officials)· force them to work those hours," said 

Danese, noting that working numerous shifts takes a health toll. "It does catch up to you. I'm not going to 

lie to you .u 

Plumeri, however, said overtime is voluntary and the agency has worked hard in recent years to beef up its 

police force and now has an all-time high number of officers. 

Overtime pay, meanwhile, is lucrative to Port Authority police officers both in the short- and long-term. 

Unlike police in New Jersey, the agency's officers are able to use their overtime to increase their pensions, 

since those checks are based on the three consecutive highest-paid years under the New York State 

Pension System. 

Cofield and other members ofthe department's 2007 list of top overtime earners did not respond to 

requests for individual interviews made via e-mail to the officers and verbal requests to the Port Authority's 

public information office. 

Andrew Scott III, former Boca Raton police chief and president of a police consulting firm in Florida called AJS 

Consulting Inc., said localities and government agencies have one glaring reason for being concerned about 

such overtime numbers-- legal liability. 

"When you get beyond 60 hours, fatigue becomes cumulative," said Scott. "The fatigue factor then comes 

into affecting reaction time, decision-making, judgment calls ... (a) lawsuit follows." 

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